Wild Life in Southern Seat, 
238 
attacked by infuriated whales themselves and 
sent to the bottom—like the Essex of London. 
[Only a few years ago the writer saw in Sydney 
Harbour the barquentine Handa Isle, which on 
the passage from New Zealand had been so 
attacked. She was a fine vessel of three 
hundred tons, and was sailing over a smooth 
sea with a light breeze when two large sperm 
whales were sighted. They were both travelling 
fast, and suddenly altering their course, made 
direct for the ship. Then one sounded, but 
the other continued his furious way and 
deliberately charged the barquentine. He 
struck her with terrific force just abaft the 
mainmast and below the water line. For¬ 
tunately the barquentine was laden with a 
cargo of timber, otherwise she would have 
foundered instantly. The blow was fatal to 
the cetacean, for in a few minutes the water 
around the ship was seen to be crimsoned 
with blood, and presently the mighty creature 
rose to the surface again, beat the ensanguined 
water feebly with his monstrous tail and then 
slowly sank.] Some of these onslaughts upon 
ships were doubtless involuntary ; as where a 
whale, attracted by the sight of a ship, had 
