The Crater; Or, Vulcan's Peak: A Tale of the Pacific

by James Fenimore Cooper

It was exceedingly fortunate that such an occupation offered to interest and keep alive the spirit of the colonists. Man must have something to do; some main object to live for; or he is apt to degenerate in his ambition, and to fall off in his progress. No sooner was it announced that whales were to be taken, however, than even the women became alive to the results of the enterprise. This feeling was kept up by the governor's letting it be officially known that each colonist should have one share, or "lay," as it was termed, in the expected cargo; which share, or "lay," was to be paid for in provisions. Those actually engaged in the business had as many "lays" as it was thought they could earn; the colony in its collected capacity had a certain number more, in return for articles received from the public stores; and the governor, as owner of the vessels employed, received one-fifth of the whole cargo, or cargoes. This last was a very small return for the amount of capital employed; and it was so understood by those who reaped the advantages of the owner's liberality.

The Rancocus was not fitted out as a whaler, but was reserved as a ware-house to receive the oil, to store it until a cargo was collected, and then was to be used as a means to convey it to America. For this purpose she was stripped, had her rigging thoroughly overhauled, was cleaned out and smoked for rats, and otherwise was prepared for service. While in this state, she lay alongside of the natural quay, near and opposite to some extensive sheds which had been erected, as a protection against the heats of the climate.

The Henlopen, a compact clump of a brig, that was roomy on deck, and had stout masts and good rigging, was fitted out for the whaler; though the Anne was sent to cruise in company. Five whale-boats, with the necessary crews, were employed; two remaining with the Anne, and three in the brig. The Kannakas were found to be indefatigable at the oar, and a good number of them were used on this occasion. About twenty of the largest boys belonging to the colony were also sent out, in order to accustom them to the sea. These boys were between the ages of eight and sixteen, and were made useful in a variety of ways.

Great was the interest awakened in the colony when the Henlopen and the Anne sailed on this adventure. Many of the women, the wives, daughters, sisters, or sweethearts of the whalers, would gladly have gone along; and so intense did the feeling become, that the governor determined to make a festival of the occasion, and to offer to take out himself, in the Mermaid, as many of both sexes as might choose to make a trip of a few days at sea, and be witnesses of the success of their friends in this new undertaking. Betts also took a party in the Martha. The Abraham, too, was in company; while the Neshamony was sent to leeward, to keep a look-out in that quarter, lest the natives should take it into their heads to visit the group, while so many of its fighting-men, fully a hundred altogether, were absent. It is true, those who stayed at home were fully able to beat off Waally and his followers; but the governor thought it prudent to have a look-out. Such was the difference produced by habit. When the whole force of the colony consisted of less than twenty men, it was thought sufficient to protect itself, could it be brought to act together; whereas, now, when ten times twenty were left at home, unusual caution was deemed necessary, because the colony was weakened by this expedition of so many of its members. But everything is comparative with man.

When all was ready, the whaling expedition sailed; the governor leading on board the Mermaid, which had no less than forty females in her—Bridget and Anne being among them. The vessels went out by the southern channel, passing through the strait at the bridge in order to do so. This course was taken, as it would be easier to turn to windward in the open water between the south cape and the Peak, than to do it in the narrow passages between the islands of the group. The Mermaid led off handsomely, sparing the Henlopen her courses and royals. Even the Abraham could spare the last vessel her foresail, the new purchase turning out to be anything but a traveller. The women wondered how so slow a vessel could ever catch a whale!

The direction steered by the fleet carried it close under the weather side of the Peak, the summit of which was crowded by the population, to see so unusual and pleasing a sight. The Martha led, carrying rather more sail, in proportion to her size, than the Mermaid. It happened, by one of those vagaries of fortune which so often thwart the best calculations, that a spout was seen to windward of the cliffs, at a moment when the sloop was about a league nearer to it than any other vessel. Now, every vessel in the fleet had its whale-boat and whale-boat's crew: though the men of all but those who belonged to the Henlopen were altogether inexperienced. It is true, they had learned the theory of the art of taking a whale; but they were utterly wanting in the practice. Betts was not the man to have the game in view, however, and not make an effort to overcome it. His boat was manned in an instant, and away he went, with Socrates in the bows, to fasten to a huge creature that was rolling on the water in a species of sluggish enjoyment of its instincts. It often happens that very young soldiers, more especially when an esprit de corps has been awakened in them, achieve things from which older troops would retire, under the consciousness of their hazards. So did it prove with the Martha's boat's crew on this occasion. Betts steered, and he put them directly on the whale; Socrates, who looked fairly green under the influence of alarm and eagerness to attack, both increased by the total novelty of his situation, making his dart of the harpoon when the bows of the fragile craft were literally over the huge body of the animal. All the energy of the negro was thrown into his blow, for he felt as if it were life or death with him; and the whale spouted blood immediately. It is deemed a great exploit with whalers, though it is not of very rare occurrence, to inflict a death-wound with the harpoon; that implement being intended to make fast with to the fish, which is subsequently slain with what is termed a lance. But Socrates actually killed the first whale he ever struck, with the harpoon; and from that moment he became an important personage in the fisheries of those seas. That blow was a sort of Palo Alto affair to him, and was the forerunner of many similar successes. Indeed, it soon got to be said, that "with Bob Betts to put the boat on, and old Soc to strike, a whale commonly has a hard time on't." It is true, that a good many boats were stove, and two Kannakas were drowned, that very summer, in consequence of these tactics; but the whales were killed, and Betts and the black escaped with whole skins.

On this, the first occasion, the whale made the water foam, half-filled the boat, and would have dragged it under, but for the vigour of the negro's arm, and the home character of the blow, which caused the fish to turn up and breathe his last, before he had time to run any great distance. The governor arrived on the spot, just as Bob had got a hawser to the whale and was ready to fill away for the South Cape channel again. The vessels passed each other cheering, and the governor admonished his friend not to carry the carcass too near the dwellings, lest it should render them uninhabitable. But Betts had his anchorage already in his eye, and away he went, with the wind on his quarter, towing his prize at the rate of four or five knots. It may be said, here, that the Martha went into the passage, and that the whale was floated into shallow water, where sinking was out of the question, and Bob and his Kannakas, about twenty in number, went to work to peel off the blubber in a very efficient, though not in a very scientific, or artistical manner. They got the creature stripped of its jacket of fat that very night, and next morning the Martha appeared with a set of kettles, in which the blubber was tried out. Casks were also brought in the sloop, and, when the work was done, it was found that that single whale yielded one hundred and eleven barrels of oil, of which thirty-three barrels were head-matter! This was a capital commencement for the new trade, and Betts conveyed the whole of his prize to the Reef, where the oil was started into the ground-tier of the Rancocus, the casks of which were newly repaired, and ready stowed to receive it.

A week later, as the governor in the Mermaid, cruising in company with the Henlopen and Abraham, was looking out for whales about a hundred miles to windward of the Peak, having met with no success, he was again joined by Betts in the Martha. Everything was reported right at the Reef. The Neshamony had come in for provisions and gone out again, and the Rancocus would stand up without watching, with her hundred and eleven barrels of oil in her lower hold. The governor expressed his sense of Betts' services, and reminding him of his old faculty of seeing farther and truer than most on board, he asked him to go up into the brig's cross-trees and take a look for whales. The keen-eyed fellow had not been aloft ten minutes, before the cry of "spouts—spouts!" was ringing through the vessel. The proper signal was made to the Henlopen and Abraham, when everybody made sail in the necessary direction. By sunset a great number of whales were fallen in with, and as Capt. Walker gave it as his opinion they were feeding in that place, no attempt was made on them until morning. The next day, however, with the return of light, six boats were in the water, and palling off towards the game.

On this occasion, Walker led on, as became his rank and experience. In less than an hour he was fast to a very large whale, a brother of that taken by Betts; and the females had the exciting spectacle, of a boat towed by an enormous fish, at a rate of no less than twenty knots in an hour. It is the practice among whalers for the vessel to keep working to windward, while the game is taking, in order to be in the most favourable position to close with the boats, after the whale is killed. So long, however, as the creature has life in it, it would be folly to aim at any other object than getting to windward, for the fish may be here at one moment, and a league off in a few minutes more. Sometimes, the alarmed animal goes fairly out of sight of the vessel, running in a straight line some fifteen or twenty miles, when the alternatives are to run the chances of missing the ship altogether, or to cut from the whale. By doing the last not only is a harpoon lost, but often several hundred fathoms of line; and it not unfrequently happens that whales are killed with harpoons in them, left by former assailants, and dragging after them a hundred, or two, fathoms of line.

It may be well, here, to explain to the uninitiated reader, that the harpoon is a barbed spear, with a small, but stout cord, or whale line fastened to it. The boat approaches the fish bow foremost, but is made sharp at both ends that it may "back off," if necessary; the whale being often dangerous to approach, and ordinarily starting, when struck, in a way to render his immediate neighbourhood somewhat ticklish. The fish usually goes down when harpooned, and the line must be permitted to "run-out," or he would drag the boat after him. But a whale must breathe as well as a man, and the faster he runs the sooner he must come up for a fresh stock of air. Now, the proper use of the harpoon and the line is merely to fasten to the fish; though it does sometimes happen that the creature is killed by the former. As soon as the whale re-appears on the surface, and becomes stationary, or even moderates his speed a little, the men begin to haul in line, gradually closing with their intended victim. It often happens that the whale starts afresh, when line must be permitted to run out anew; this process of "hauling in" and "letting run" being often renewed several times at the taking of a single fish. When the boat can be hauled near enough, the officer at its head darts his lance into the whale, aiming at a vital part. If the creature "spouts blood," it is well; but if not hit in the vitals, away it goes, and the whole business of "letting run," "towing," and "hauling in" has to be gone over again.