While we were trying-out that whale we raised another pod or small school. It was early in the afternoon. The wind had gone down somewhat, but was still strong, and the whales were basking lazily on the surface, laying flukes and fins. That sounds as if they were a flock of hens, curiously occupied. They were pretty near, although not close aboard, and it was too much for the captain, for these were large whales. Captain Nelson was getting more excited as the ship got more nearly filled up, and as he saw the abundance of large whales. It seemed to give him a physical pain to realize that here was a fortune at his hand, and he could not take it away. He could be depended upon to come to the same place the next voyage, but somebody else might get there first. In this case he called away every man that could be spared, and lowered two boats.
We got none of those whales. We took every precaution to avoid scaring them, even to the prohibition of talking as we ran down under sail. There was plenty of sea to drown any noise that we might have made, but we were a silent company. In spite of all our care, however, we could not get nearer than a quarter of a mile. At about that distance the nearest rounded out flukes, and went under; and the others followed slowly and solemnly, without fuss, merely going under the surface and swimming. We rounded to, not knowing whether they had gone deep, or where they might come up again; but there they were, almost immediately, spouting lazily, half a mile away, basking on the surface, and keeping exact run of the boats. We kept up that game of hide-and-seek all the afternoon. We could not get near them, whatever we did, although they did not run away. Toward sunset we pulled back to the ship, rather crestfallen, and left that pod of seventy-barrel whales to go to bed in peace or to indulge in dissipation, as they pleased. There were enough whales there to fill us up entirely and one or two over. Five or six such whales would have filled us up, and more.
We finished our trying-out without seeing any more whales, but before the cleaning-up was more than begun, we raised a lone spout. We lowered three boats for him, but mine was not among them, and I watched the proceedings through my glass. They caught up with him about a mile from the ship. Perhaps it is more exact to say that he caught them there, for he attacked the first boat as soon as he got a sight of it, driving at it at once with his mouth open. It was Mr. Baker’s boat, and Starbuck had no chance to do anything, for the whale went a little under, a short distance from the boat, came up under it, belly up, and like lightning, and caught it fairly forward of amidships. He came up so hard that he carried it into the air, bow first, and the men all fell out. Then he gave it a little shake, as a terrier shakes a rat, but he did not close hard, although he sprung all the planks. The boat then slipped out of his jaws and into the water, where it lay for a few moments, leaking like a sieve.
The whale nosed about among the debris, butting the boat from side to side, cutting with his flukes at every floating thing that touched them, mast, sail, oars, tubs, and water-kegs. Mr. Tilton came up while he was so engaged, and Azevedo put two irons into him; whereupon he turned upon Mr. Tilton’s boat, and before they could do anything toward making their escape, he served it as he had served Mr. Baker’s, but stove it completely.
There were now two boats’ crews swimming about in the sea, and making away, as fast as they could, from the neighborhood of the stove boats. I tried to count heads, and although I could not be certain, because of their continual bobbing out of sight behind seas, I thought that they were all there. The truculent whale was having a good time, cutting about amid the floating wreckage, knocking the parts of the boats out of the way with his head, and instantly slamming anything that he felt with his flukes. In this process he succeeded in getting himself thoroughly entangled in the line, so that he appeared almost as if he were enclosed in a net. Mr. Brown’s boat was then called away to help, and I could not follow the fight closely, but was to get into it instead.
Meanwhile Mr. Macy had been trying to get into it. It was inviting disaster to go in and put an iron into the whale, but Mr. Macy would have done it if he could. He simply could not do it, the whale thrashed about so. At last, in his ragings, the whale saw Mr. Macy’s boat just beyond the circle of wreckage, and made for it. By skilful use of the steering oar Mr. Macy avoided his rush, and Hall, the boatsteerer, seizing the whaling gun, fired a bomb into him as he passed just beyond darting distance. That was twice repeated before we came up, without noticeable effect upon the whale, and Mr. Macy had all he could do to keep the boat out of those jaws, for the whale had taken the offensive, and was doing well. I had this part of the story from George Hall, himself, after we got back to the ship.
We had been taking down an empty cask, with one of our canvas flags, such as we used on our drugs, stuck in the bung-hole. When we got as near as we could, we left this cask floating, and retired a little, putting the cask between us and the whale. The light cask, as large as a hogshead, floating high, soon drew the attention of the whale, which left Mr. Macy, and went for it. The antics of the cask under the repeated buttings of the whale were comical. It was nearly as light, in comparison with the strength of the whale, as a football. When he struck it with his nose it gave out a resounding Ping-g! and leaped into the air. This exasperated him further. He could see nothing, think of nothing, but that resounding cask. He chased it, and butted it again. Again the loud, deep Ping-g! He butted it again and again; chased it and knocked it from side to side, made frantic by its elastic resistance. Our whole crew went into spasms of laughter, regardless of the fact that we had something else to do than to laugh at the antics of a crazy whale, and that, at any instant, he might transfer his attention to us. The loaded boat would not act as the cask did.
We edged cautiously toward the whale, Mr. Brown keeping out of his range of vision, and Mr. Macy creeping up on his other side. Mr. Macy fired another bomb into him before the Prince could dart or lance. He was prepared to do either, but at the report of Mr. Macy’s gun, Mr. Brown told him to use our gun. The whale had given a little convulsive shiver on receiving the bomb, but there was no other result, although the bomb must have exploded in his in’ards somewhere, as must the other three that Hall had sent into him. The Prince fired twice, and Mr. Macy once more, which exhausted his stock of bombs; but the whale did not relax his attentions to the cask, which seemed to exert a peculiar fascination. All this time he was butting it, and it was responding with a Ping-g! and a leap into the air.
Suddenly he caught sight of the ship, which had borne down upon us, and was pretty near. He left the cask, headed for her, and went under. We could do nothing but watch. After butting the ship, the whale must have come up on the other side of her, for the men on deck ran over to that side. A few seconds later I heard the reports of whaling guns—they are not to be mistaken—and then more, and Mr. Brown and Mr. Macy proceeded quietly to gathering in the swimming crews, who had been in the water about an hour. We did not take the stove boats and their gear on that trip, but pulled at once to the ship.
On getting to her we found the whale dead alongside, right in position, and the men getting the fluke chain ready. He had had eleven bombs exploded in him; but what finished him was the thorough lancing by Captain Coffin, who had got out on the wales, held on by the main chains, leaned out and pumped his lance up and down in his life. The bombs must have done their work after a fashion, for before he was lanced the whale had vomited up a great number of pieces of cuttle fish. Among the pieces of squid were the remnants of a shark of good size. All the fragments had not disappeared when we got there.