SCATTERED ROCKS, SHOALS, AND VIGIAS. 595 



the purpose of making astronomical observations, being at the distance of 

 200 miles from Corvo, of the Azores, descried a dusky body, over which 

 hovered a number of gulls, a bird seldom seen at such a distance from land; 

 at first he imagined it to be a rock, but on coming near, in order to observe 

 it more closely, he found it to be the dead carcase of a whale of monstrous 

 bulk. — ^ 



We have shown in our works on the other great Oceans, how easily 

 an animated as well as a lifeless being may be mistaken for a rock. At 

 noon, on August 1st, 1818, the Northampton, Captain Tebbut, on her 

 passage to India, was in lat. 40° 45' S., long. 24° 3' B. On the next day 

 an object appeared right ahead, like a boat ; on nearing, it looked like the 

 wreck of a vessel, two parts being above water, at two ships' lengths from 

 the lee-bow. The barnacles could be distinguished by the naked eye ; but, 

 when abeam, the creature went down. It proved to be a thrasher. Captain 

 Tebbut says, " At the time we came up with the animal, the two parts 

 above water seemed to be like a wreck, bottom upward. When I first 

 saw the barnacles, the part covered with them looked rugged, and I was 

 firmly of opinion that it was a rock above water ; so much so, that I looked 

 over the lee-bow to see that we were clear of it, ordering the man to star- 

 board the helm." 



A similar instance is recorded in the "Journal of the Royal Geographical 

 Society." "A frigate was one day running into the Rio de la Plata, with 

 her studding-sails set, when the look-out man at the mast-head reported 

 breakers on the bow. The captain, believing that such a danger could not 

 have escaped the notice of the Spaniards, and having also a tolerable chart 

 of the river, suspected it must be some floating object, and ordered the 

 ship to be steered directly for it. The officers were on the alert ; glasses 

 were frequently directed to the spot, and all concurred in representing it 

 as a rock a little above water. Anxious looks were directed to the captain, 

 whom they now considered as unnecessarily running into danger ; but that 

 officer kept carefully watching his approach, and, as the studding-sail 

 boom was just over it, the cetaceous monster (for such it was) hastily made 

 off; and, rising again to blow, finally disappeared. It was observed to 

 have an excrescence on its back, covered with shell-fish. The sea broke 

 gently on its weather side, and appeared becalmed to leeward ; and so 

 perfectly did it resemble a rock, that, had the vessel passed at a distance 

 without disturbing it, there can be little doubt but it would now have had 

 a place upon the list of vigias. 



" It is to be observed, in this case, that there was only a little ripple 

 about the body, but no breakers ; and this circumstance had not escaped 

 the intelligent eye of the commander." 



The dead carcase of a whale may even approach nearer in appearance 

 to a permanent danger than a living one. Captain Vidal, in H.M.S. Styx, 

 while passing from Terceira to St. Michael's, on July 20th, 1844, the mast- 

 head man reported the appearance of breakers on the starboard bow ; the 

 wind was West, and there was a little swell. " I have no hesitation in 

 stating that this object (a dead whale) so much resembled a sand-bank, or 

 a tide-rock at low water, that had I left it unexamined I should certainly 

 have reported the probability of its being either the one or the other, and 



