INTO THE PACIFIC I4I 



by the cold douche, was sitting waist deep in the shallow 

 stream singing the opening lines of Stephen Foster's 

 sentimental song 'Open thy lattice, love.' 



'Split my topsails!' cried Thomas, recognizing the deep 

 bass voice, 'if it isn't old Jamie. Haul him ashore, lads, 

 before he founders.' 



It was two hours later that Thomas and Hamm got 

 the last of the liberty men safely on board ship. 



At first light all hands were called, the anchor was 

 weighed and sail was set. 



Then seven months out from Nantucket and the pre- 

 liminaries, as it were, completed, the ship felt her way 

 through the silver light of a February dawn out into the 

 Pacific where her true objective lay. 



For her company it was the commencement of three 

 long years of cruising from one whaling ground to another 

 according to the seasonal movements of the sperm whale ; 

 three years of burning sun and sudden tropical storm ; of 

 constant dangers from hidden reefs in poorly charted 

 seas; from hostile natives whose greatest delight was to 

 massacre a crew and plunder the ship; from sickness and 

 disease that awaited them on the island shores; from the 

 dreaded scurvy that knocked the men down like skittles 

 when their diet was deficient in fresh fruit and vegetables ; 

 and with every new chase after the prey the danger of a 

 boat stove in or men drowned by an enraged sperm whale 

 which, unlike the right whale, was armed at both ends. 

 Three years of fighting the boredom and 'whale sickness' 

 that descended upon men during the long weeks when, as 

 often happened, no spouts could be sighted ; three years in 

 which to fill the hold with oil and even then another six 

 months to cross the ten thousand miles to home. It is no 

 wonder that these men referred to a whaling voyage of a 

 mere few months as a 'plum-puddin'er'. 



During dayhght the ship cruised over the grounds with 

 the eyes of her three lookouts sweeping a ten-mile wide 



