





















































































970 
FOREST AND STREAM. 

hours out 
paratively rested. 
On the 28th of July, while the deck was yet 
piled up with large pieces, and the try-works 
were going at full tilt, we lowered again 
of the twenty-four, and we felt com- 

at 
4:30 A. M., and just daybreak. We got the 
gentleman without much trouble, and at Io 
o’clock his skin was coming in over the side. 
Our next chase was after a whale that had 
been harpooned before, and he seemed to know 
just what to do, too, for he took to his heels 
and went to windward with us.like a bird, and 
never stopped for us to get alongside to use the 
lance. One harpoon parted, and the boat gave 
a perceptible jerk as the strain came upon the 
second iron, and while yet going at a high 
speed, it was haul*up on the line to get close 
enough to replace the drawn iron with another, 
for we were bound to Stick, After running 
about ten miles we got a chance to kill him, 
and then, as luck would have it, the wind fell 
flat, and everything was calm, so that the ship 
could not come up to us, so we must perforce 
take the lump of lard in tow. And wasn’t the 
sun hot as it beat down on us, while the oars 
dipped, and dipped, causing us to move at a 
veritable snail’s pace. The seats, too, from be- 
ing of decently soft white pine, began to assume 
an adamantine quality, so that by the time the 
ship was reached, after a row of six hours, the 
most of us were glad enough to stand up for 
a while—for an obvious reason. On Aug. 2 
we made another strike, and the 3d our hours 
began to be more or less regular, and to-day 
so 
and in shape for an- 
Three-quarters of the catch is now 
down in the hold, and the next school that we 
raise will probably put us into port. There will 
be a happy crowd aboard when the last blanket 
piece comes over the gangway. 
Aug. 6.—I have se 
shark’s 
the ship got a thorough scrubbing with lye, 
that we feel clean again, 
other mess. 
en strange examples of a 
voracity, but I saw one to-day that beat 
the record, for he swallowed a pair of trousers 
that one of the men threw Overboard. There 
are generally three or four swimming in 
wake, picking up “white horse” and other 
tefuse that goes overboard—and nasty, slug- 
our 
gish looking things they are, too. There 
wouldn’t be much of a chance for a man Over- 
board. 
Aug. 8—We landed a _ small whale _to- 
day with our boat, and the starboard boat 
went on to a fine one, but the harpooneer made 
a mess of it. We had not much knowledge of 
this until we swung alongside with our whale, 
for we noticed an ominous silence from the 
quarter deck. Under ordinary circumstances 
the captain’s enthusiasm would lead him to 
sing out orders to us as soon as we were with- 
in earshot, which was a long way for him; but 
this time there wasn’t much said. We came 
aboard, passed the fluke chain, and hoisted up 
our boat just as we pleased this time; but the 
impending storm was worse than the thunder. 
The steward, who was aloft with the captain, 
saw the starboard boat go on to the hump, 
saw the irons flash and the loose line that 
told the story—through his glass—and gave 
us vague hints of what he thought was the 
matter, 
It was already sundown. We got up the 
cutting blocks and reeved off the falls and 
guys after taking in the foresail, the big mate 
giving us quiet orders about the decks. 
Just at dark, the starboard boat was made 
out under our lee bow, and in a few moments 
they gathered in their sail and swung around 
under the stern up to the davits, and up she 
came two blocks—in silence. 
“Did you miss a whale?” the captain asked 
the second mate. 
“Yes,” came the rather sulky answer. 
“That’s not the way I make big voyages,” 
the captain returned. “I make big voyages by 

A SNAPSHOT FROM THE SECOND MATE’S BOAT, 
having men go down that can strike whales.” 
He has the reputation of being the finest 
whaleman out of New Bedford, and he knows 
that it isn’t mere chance that makes him so. 
He had been watching the Cape Horn boat 
steerer for some time, and had suspected him 
of incapacity, and the latter knew what was in 
store for him the instant he came over the 
rail. The captain demanded of him the reason 
why he missed, for he had a fine chance and 
hove the irons both over the hump. He made 

W HALEBOAT 
AND CREW. 
some sort of an excuse, but it was apparent 
to every one that it was a case of getting 
rattled. 
“You'll never get a chance to miss another 
on this ship,” was all the captain said to him, 
and then he roared out for me. I was in the 
waist, and the gloom of evening had deepened 
into the darkness of night. 
“Slocum, can you strike a whale?” 
“T don’t know, sir.” 
“Then you'll soon have a chance to try,” 
came in a tone that couldn’t have been drowned 
in a gale of wind; and thus I got a 
stormy promotion. I did not fancy coming 
to my greatness under such circumstances, but 
I had little to say about it either way; the 
boat steerer was disrated and the preventer 
boat steerer came into his place. The boat’s 


[Dec. 21, 1907. 
crew were down on him, for they said he had 
too much mouth and too little of the real 
capability that suited them best. After supper 
my new crew came abaft the try-works, where 
I was leaning over the rail and musing over 
the rapid change and the confusion and lots 
of other things that ran through my mind, to 
congratulate me, and each took me by the 
hand and told me that I could depend on him 
to do his utmost to put me on the next whale, 
They no doubt did their full duty by each 
other before, but this unique reassurance was 
very nice of them, and it was certainly gratify- 
ing to me. 
“We have a whole white crew now,” Pete 
said. “All but the second mate, and he’s al- 
most as good as a white man.” 
“He’s whiter than the rest of the niggers,” 
Jack affirmed. And I believe he is. 
Aug. 10.—My promotion was day before yes- 
terday, and I look over the craft of my new 
charge to my own satisfaction, for I am re- 
sponsible for the boat. I see to the head irons 
and tauten them up on the windlass bitt, and see 
to the sailing gear and put in a new sheave in 
the masthead, for I noticed they got stuck with 
their sail the last time, and a few minutes of 
well spent time will avert a lot of misery and 
discomfiture in this case, for a capsized boat 
is apt to bea result. 
In the midst of my preparations for lower- 
ing there came the cry of “Blows!” again, and 
though we were crippled by not having the 
foresail set, a start is made in chase, and soon 
the spouts are to be seen from the deck. 
“Get the boats ready,” comes down from the 
masthead, and the harpooneers call for their 
boat’s crews to lend a hand to ship the rud- 
ders, put in the line tubs, splice the lines, 
bend on the head irons, see to the water 
breakers, and put in the sand bag. I bend on 
my head irons myself, being sure that the best 
iron is to be the first; bend the second iron 
to the short warp, and with the other end 
make a bowline around the main line and make 
a little coil of it on the box just forward of 
the clumsy cleat, and then I coil up my heav- 
ing line on the box, too—about ‘six fathoms. 
How my heart throbs as I make all of these 
careful preparations, for it is just as though 
the boat was bounding along on her own bot- 
tom and I was already on my prey, so fraught 
with grim reality is every little bit of atten- 
tion. Oh, I must not forget the bomb gun, so 
I scoot down below and get it, bend the lan- 
yard, and ship it in its canvas sheath on the 
starboard side of the standing room. 
The port boat has always beaten 
board boat in getting up the sail, 
getting the start. The reason for this was 
obvious, and I had just given my crew in- 
structions on this point, when, “Lower away 
the boats!” sent us down. “Let the mate’s 
boat get fast first if you can,” roared out the 
captain from his lofty perch, “for they have 
the only darting gun.” 
I give the boat a shove astern to clear the 
vessel, and then sing out, “Up with the mast!” 
and in a jiffy we beat the record and get the 
start of the port boat; but we have to let 
them go ahead, for that is the order. In the 
hurry and confusion of the start, no one seems 
to give much thought to the whale, for we start 
off to windward+or to leeward. according to 
direction, and take developments later, 
the star- 
and thus 




