142 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



very time these atrocities were being perpetrated the squadron of Com- 

 modore Biddle lay in the harbor of Yeddo, and our Government fondly 

 imagined that it had made a favorable impression on the people of 

 those islands in respect to American dignity, moderation, and power. 



Similar to the experience of the Lawrence was that of the Lagoda, of 

 New Bedford, also wrecked on these, then inhospitable, islands. Those 

 of the crew who survived the wreck were so inhumanly treated by the 

 Japanese into whose power they were so unfortunate as to fall that one 

 of their number in sheer despair relieved himself of further torture by 

 taking his own life.* 



Another class of accidents to which whalemen seem peculiarly 

 liable, but which, because of the care and vigilance exercised by the 

 officers and crew, is of rare occurrence, is destruction by fire.t When 

 indeed this casualty does occur, it is usually the result of some circum- 

 stance which might occur in any vessel. The case of the Cassander, of 

 Providence, R. I., Henry Winslow commander, was one of this kind, 

 and its narration is given, not so much in illustration of perils inciden- 

 tal to this pursuit, as to record the sufferings of her crew on account of 

 that disaster. 



Vessels in the merchant service have, as a general rule, a certain 

 series of courses to steer. They usually make the shortest distance from 

 port to port. Hence in case of accident to the vessel they are in, the 

 crew have only to continue in their course in order to insure most speedy 

 relief. Not so with the whaler. Her cruising ground may be hundreds 

 of miles from the tracks of merchantmen, and she may be a solitary 

 cruiser on that station. Hence the destruction of the vessel involves 

 far greater risk and possibly privation and suffering to the crew. 



The Cassander sailed from Providence on the 19th of November, 1847. 

 Nothing worthy of special mention occurred until, on the morning of 

 the 1st of May, 1848, between 4 and 5 o'clock, the cry of fire was raised-! 

 The wind at the time was blowing a moderate gale from the northwest. 

 All hands were instantly on deck, and search for the source aud cause 

 of the fire was made. It was fouud that it was raging most severely in 

 the lower hold, apparently near the foremast, where four barrels of tar 



* Fifteen of the crew of the Lagoda reached the shore alive ; one subsequently died, a 

 victim to the barbarities of his captors ; the thirteen survivors were rescued by the 

 United States ship of war Preble in 1849. The Preble also took on board a sailor named 

 Ronald MacDonald, formerly of the whale-ship Plymouth of Sag Harbor. MacDon- 

 ald received his discharge and was given a whale-boat furnished with books, provisions, 

 &c, and left the ship off Japan in June, 1848, with the expressly avowed purpose of 

 visiting the Japanese islands. He landed upon one of them and was immediately 

 captured, deprived of his books, and imprisoned. Having nothiug to occupy his time 

 he turned his attention to teaching his captors the English language, and soon had 

 quite a class receiving instruction. But his presence was a thorn in the side of the 

 Japanese, aud they availed themselves of the first opportunity to get rid of him. 



1 Incendiary tires, which became of disastrous frequencey in later years, are not meant 

 when we speak of this immunity. 



t This account is taken from that of the captain, published in the Baltimore Sun. 



