The South Sea Whaler

by William Henry Giles Kingston

“I only hope it good to eat; and de sooner me cut some blubber and cook it, de better. Mr Shobbrok, you got tinder-box and flint and steel?”

“Yes,” answered the mate, “I always carry them; though, as we cannot light a fire on the raft, I have hitherto made no use of them. But how do you propose lighting one on the top of the whale, Nub?”

“We get up some pieces of wood from de raft, and den, with de blubber, we soon have one blazing fire,” answered the black. Descending to the raft, he took one of the pieces of plank and began to chop it up. “We soon have some dinner for you, Missie Alice,” he said while so employed. “You stay quiet on de raft, and not fancy you going to starve any more.” Having performed his task, he secured the wood in a bundle, and hoisting it on his back, he climbed up again.

During Nub’s absence the mate and Walter looked anxiously around them, in the possibility of any boats being in sight. None were to be seen; but they observed several objects floating about, apparently pieces of wreck, spars and casks,—and among them a sea-chest, which seemed of large size, as it rose considerably above the surface.

“We must try and get hold of that,” said the mate. “It may contain articles of value to us, though I am afraid we are not likely to find any food within it.”

“I would rather have a cask of biscuits or flour, or beef or pork,” observed Walter.

“I doubt whether we shall find such,” said the mate, “for I observe that the casks float high out of the water. But has it struck you, Walter, what must have happened?”

“I was thinking that these things must have come out of our ship and floated away here,” answered Walter.

“They cannot have come so far by this time,” said the mate. “I think that I can unravel the mystery. This whale was attacked by the boats of a ship, some of which were probably destroyed by the monster. It was then towed alongside, when she was either capsized in a storm, or, receiving damage from some other cause, she went down, and the articles we now see floated up out of her. Possibly she was struck by some large whale, and her bottom or sides stove in; such a thing has occurred before now. I remember some years ago a big whale off the coast of New Zealand which went by the name of New Zealand Tom. He was a monster, and capable of sending any ship to the bottom. I was in one of the boats of the Adonis whaler when, in company with a dozen others, we went one morning to chase that very whale. Most of us got near enough to drive our harpoons into its body; but it made us pay dearly for our sport, for before breakfast it had knocked nine of our boats to pieces, and we were obliged to return to our respective ships. Some weeks passed before we again got sight of the creature; when, in company with several other boats, we again attacked it, and this time came off victorious. You will scarcely believe it, but we found eight harpoons in its body belonging to as many different ships, which had chased it at various times. Big as it was, there are others as big, and even fiercer. I remember meeting a man who had belonged to the American whaler Essex. All the boats but one were on one occasion away with the larger portion of the crew, leaving only the doctor and a few others on board, when they caught sight of an enormous sperm whale coming towards them, as if not seeing the ship; suddenly lifting its flukes up in the air, it sounded, throwing the water over the deck, when they felt a tremendous blow, as if the ship under full sail had struck a rock. The blow broke off some of the keel, which was seen floating up to the surface. The whale quickly rose again, and was observed at a short distance from the ship; when, what was the horror of those on board to see it come swimming directly at them with the greatest fury! It struck the bows a tremendous blow, staving them in. A cry arose that the ship was sinking; and so she was. The water was rushing into her like a mill-sluice; and the people had scarcely time to get into the remaining boat when she capsized, the casks in her hold for a time keeping her up. The people in the other boats, seeing their ship going down, pulled back and managed to get a small quantity of provisions; but before they had obtained as much as they required down she went, leaving the boats to find their way to land as best they could. They steered for the coast of Peru—the event happened on the other side of the Pacific—but only one boat, with three men in her at their last gasp, was picked up; they happily recovered, and were able to narrate what had happened. The rest of the poor fellows must have perished, as none of the other boats were ever afterwards heard of. Now, it’s my opinion that something of the sort I have described has happened to the ship which had got hold of this whale; though what has become of her crew is more than I can tell.”

“I trust that our fate may not be that of the unfortunate crew of the Essex,” said Walter.