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124 
Danger In Whaling . 
Myth, Says Waters 
Artist-Aviator Returns with 
William H. Tripp from Two 
Months’ Cruise on 
Schooner John R. Manta 
The far-famed 1 'dangers” of 
the whaling industry, renowned 
with close association through 
song and story in New Bedford 
for many years, was given a de¬ 
cided setback today with the ar- 
rival in this city of Don Waters, 
sailor, artist and aviator, and Wil¬ 
liam H. Tripp, 165 Newton street, 
and official of the First National 
Bank of this city. 
Waters, a man hardened to danger, 
scoffs at the dangers connected with 
the whaling industry, and he is quali¬ 
fied to judge, for he and Mr. Tripp 
have been whaling for the past two 
months on the schooner John R. Man¬ 
ia, Capt. Antone J, Mandly, of this 
port .uvf in that time Wafers saw sev¬ 
en whales taken by the old-fashioned 
methods in vogue 50 and 60 years j 
ago. 
“There is no more danger in whaling 
fl.s I saw it than, there is in going 
out and sticking an old cow in a pas- 
ture." said Waters. “The only danger 
of disaster to the expedition lies in 
the carelessness of the whalemen 
themselves, and with this factor taken 
cnre of and eliminated as far as pos¬ 
sible. the taking of whales is as mild 
a pastime as one would care to see. 
The dangers attendant fo the industry 
are greatly over-rated, and nothing 
5,0 impressed me on the cruise of the 
Alam l as the absolute boredom of the 
whole affair which was broken with 
gome incidental and very hard work. 
“There Is certainly no fun in stir¬ 
ring up a ‘white ash breeze.' The 
h milling of a 16-foot oar for several 
hours at a time while in the pursuit 
of a whale traveling away from the 
whaleboat is no fun and results only 
in blistered and bleeding hands, but 
this hard work is in no way danger- 
ous.*’ 
The John R. Manta sailed from New 
Bedford under the command of i apt. 
Mandly May 2. She is a 100-ton, two 
masted schooner of the old whaling 
type and probably will be the last 
whaler to sail from this port. The 
cra/t struck in on a southeast course 
days was on the Hatteras 
the edge of the Gulf 
and in three 
Orounds at 
stream. 
Sight 
Wh; 
r Third Day 
On the third day, according to Mr, 
Waters. Capt. Mandly ordered a mast¬ 
head watch set and no sooner had the 
men gained the lookout when whales 
were sighted. These whales however, 
wore of no use, since they were or 4he 
fin-back variety and the Manta wns ( 
out after sperm whales. 
The fourthday saw sperm->vr.aies 
raised and the cry of “Thar she blows." 
or the 1925 version was heard from the 
liasthead. Boats were immediately 
lowered and two 20-barrel cows were 
taken. It was at that time that the 
Manta was sighted by the tanker which 
subsequently reported the Manta fast 
to two whales. 
Mr. Waters said that these two 
whales were stripped and the blab¬ 
ber allowed to ripen for a day before 
trying out, a very odoriferious pro¬ 
cess. 
• Friday and Saturday seemed to be 
the Manta's ducky days, according to 
Mr. Waters, who said that the first 
two whales were taken on the first 
Friday out, the third on the next day, 
Saturday, the fourth on the follow¬ 
ing Friday, and the fifth and sixth cn 
the next Saturday. 
Then, according to Mr. Walters, fol¬ 
lowed a period of intense monotony, 
tiot a whale being sighted for several 
-weeks, and one which was fastened 
Into, getting away due to the iron 
pulling out. The last whale taken by 
the Manta was fastened into last 
Tuesday, Waters and Tripp leaving the 
Manta on Wednesday, transferring to 
the United Fruiter Virginia, and land¬ 
ing tin New York Thursday. They 
came up from that city today. 
Smooth Voyage 
The two amateur whalermen re¬ 
ported a beautifully calm voyage, Mr. 
Waters commenting that at any time 
it was calm enough for a man to row 
about the ship alone in a boat with 
great ease. The two men took a large 
number of pictures of the voyage, Mr. 
Tripp taking some 260 pictures, which 
will servo to augment his collection, of 
which he uses many in his whaling 
lectures. He had no opportunity to 
* \ V'T ( i'i* 
develop these pictures on ship-board 
due to the. quality of the drinking 
Water shipped, which was about one- 
third sperm oil. sea water being unfit 
for either drinking or developing. 
Special precautions had to be taken 
v/ith the care of the films to protect 
them from the action of the sea at¬ 
mosphere and dampness. The films 
come in tin boxes and after being ex¬ 
posed were placed back in the boxes | 
And sealed with melted parrafin. Mr. 
Tripp said today that he hoped In this 
way that the films, many of which 
could not be duplicated, would be per¬ 
fectly preserved. He has had some 
trouble in the past in trying to keep 
the films for some time before they 
could be developed. 
Mr. Waters said that he took the 
cruise from an adventure standpoint 
and to further replenish his fund of 
whaling lore, which he uses in writing 
stories. He said that the equipment 
of the Manta was of the oldest vint¬ 
age, and while perfectly servicable, 
was what was used by the whaler of 
some 50 years ago. Straight lances, 
for instance, were used in the killing 
of the whale, in place of the more 
modern bomb-lance, which is not used 
on the Manta, since they cost $4 each. 
Has 115 Barrels 
The cruise was labeled as well worth 
while by both Waters and Tripp, who 
said that they would not have missed 
the experience for a lot of money. They 
both are the picture of health, tanned to 
a deep brown. They reported that all 
the rest of the crew were in fine shape, 
the only one who had been sick being 
the cabin boy, Charles A. Wilcox of 
this city, who was seasick for three 
weeks. 
The crew was made up of Capt. 
Mandly, master; first mate, John T. 
Ropes; second mate, Daniel Crowie; 
third mate. Frank Duarte; Benjamin 
W. Cleveland, son of Capt. Benjamin A. 
Cleveland, of this city, Frank Rose, 
and Mr. Waters, boat steerers; William 
Simmons, steward, and Joseph Mendez 
cook. The crew was made up of 11 
men. While Waters shipped as a boat- 
steerer, he acted as navigator due to 
his previous nautical experience, while 
M • H. Tripp, shipped as a boatheader, 
an office on board ship which is no 
longer used. 
The men reported that the Manta 
had 115 barrels of sperm oil on board 
from seven whales when they left the 
ci aft. Ca.pt. Mandly will return here 
in the fall or as soon as he gets a full 
hold. 
J. A. W. Burgess of Fairhaven 
Takes Exception to Don 
Waters’ Comments 
ADVISES LONG CRUISE 
FOR REAL IMPRESSION 
John A. W. Burgess, of 12 Middle 
street, Fairhaven, who went to sea 50 
years ago for the first time and served 
about 20 years in the wnaiing industry, 
takes decided exceptions to tnc story 
told by Don Waters and William Tripp, 
of New Bedford, upon their return a 
few weeks ago, from a comparatively 
brief, whaling voyage to gyt “iocal 
color.” 
Mr. Waters upon his return stated 
that whaling was not as dangerous an 
industry as had been pictured. In n 
statement to The Times today, Mr. 
Burge-ss said; 
“Reading The Times of June 12 I 
noticed a statement of a recent trip 
made by Don Waters and William 
Tripp, sailor, artist and aviator. While- 
the gentlemen may have had a royal 
good time on their little vacation and 
yachting party, I take exceptions to the 
i statement made by Mr. Wateis, that 
the whaling business was only a myth, 
devoid of all dangers I think ho 
would have a far different write up to 
make about his whaling adventures if 
he had taken a three or four year voy¬ 
age. One cannot form much of an 
opinion about whaling in a period of 
six weeks. 
“My experience as a whaleman as ij 
saw and weathered it with aii the clan¬ 
gers included, would be the making o? 
a good sized book, devoid of all fic¬ 
tion but a true, narrative of the sea. 
“For instance: One Sunday morn¬ 
ing in July in 1887, while cruising down 
near the 12:40 line a large sperm 
whale was raised at 5 a. m. The boats 
were lowered and we gave chase to the 
sea monster, (and this was before 
breakfast, and not a mug of coffee had 
been handed to the men.) Just think 
of pulling a whaleboat dead to wind¬ 
ward for three hours on an empty 
stomach and getting fast to a furious 
bull whale, storing down 150 barrels 
