Arctic Adventures
Page 3
little chance, for her dark hull quicklyagain disappeared, and I could no longer see even the least glimmer oflight. Sandy, however, declared that he could, and on we pulled asbefore. I should have said that we passed another long hour before weonce more saw the hull of the ship, and her tall masts swaying to andfro against the sky. It was no easy matter to get alongside, half fullof water as was our boat. Thanks to the skill of Sandy, we at lengthsucceeded in hooking on, and the boat was hoisted on board, by whichtime I was more dead than alive.
My brother and Ewen carried me below, and I was speedily restored by abasin of hot broth. Ewen had begun to tell me what had happened to theother boats and the whale, when, eager as I was to know, I dropped offfast asleep.
In the morning, when I awoke, I found a furious gale raging, and theship hove to. It was a mercy we had got on board when we did, for ifnot we should in all probability have been lost. Andrew told me thatthe whale had been towed up alongside, but that, before half the blubberhad been cut off, they had been compelled to cast it adrift. Thecaptain intended to wait where we were in the hopes of again gettinghold of it, and of picking up the other whale we had killed, and perhapsalso the one we had wounded.
I had now to learn what a down-right gale at sea really is. I hadthought it would be good fun, but I found it very much the contrary.The stout ship was tossed about like a shuttle-cock; the masts, yards,bulkheads, and every timber in her, creaked and groaned; the leaden seascapped with foam, now rose high above the bulwarks, now sank downforming a yawning gulf, while the stout ship was tossed from one wave tothe other like a shuttle-cock. As my duty did not require me to be ondeck, I lay down, fearfully tired, intending to go to sleep; but, beforeI dropped off, the captain came into his cabin to look at his chart. Iasked him to tell me our position. We had been drifting some hours tothe northward, and Bear Island, which lies between Spitzbergen andNorway, was not far off.
While he was sitting at the table with his compasses in his hand, I felta sudden shock, and, though for an instant the ship appeared to bemotionless, she trembled throughout every timber. Then came a soundlike the roar of thunder, followed by a fearful crashing and rending ofplanks, while a sudden heave sent me and everything loose in the cabinto leeward.
The captain rushed on deck, and I sprang up after him. My firstimpression was that the ship was going down, and that the waves werealready rolling over her.
A tremendous sea had struck her on the beam and came pouring down on ourdeck like a cataract sweeping all before it. Wreck and destruction metmy view. The quarter-deck was cleared of rails and bulwarks,stanchions, binnacle, and the greater portion of the wheel, while one ofthe quarter boats, having been torn away from the davits, the wreck hungin two fragments battering against the side.
A piercing shriek reached my ear. It rose from a poor fellow whom Icould see floating away to leeward on the binnacle, well knowing that nohuman power could assist him. Another also who had been on deck wasmissing, struck probably by fragments of bulwarks, and carried away.
The captain took in at a glance the state of things, and then issuinghis orders in a firm tone, raised confidence in the men. A long tillerwas shipped to replace the shattered wheel. The wreck was cleared.Spars were lashed to the stanchions to serve as bulwarks, and in awonderfully short time comparative order was restored.
CHAPTER TWO.
The gales of those northern regions during the summer though sharp aregenerally short. As soon as the weather moderated we made sail, to tryand pick up the whales we had killed, or if unable to find them toattack others.
The carpenter and his crew meantime were busily employed in repairingdamages and building another boat in lieu of the one which had beenlost. A sharp look-out was kept from the crow's nest for the deadwhales, or for any fresh whales which might be seen spouting.
"I am afraid it is like looking for a needle in a haystack," observedSandy to me. "Still there is nothing like trying; one or two may beseen, to be sure, but as to falling in with many, it's more than Iexpect we shall do, for they are mostly, do ye see, gone northward amongthe ice."
Just as Sandy had delivered himself of this opinion, the second matefrom the crow's nest shouted:--
"There she spouts! There she spouts!" and pointed to the north-east.
The loud stamping of the men on deck soon summoned those who were below.The first mate took charge of one boat, and the boatswain, with whom Iwent, of the other. Away we pulled as fast as we could lay our backs tothe oars, hoping to get up to the whale before she sounded, but we weredisappointed; down she went, and we had to wait for her reappearance.It was uncertain where she would next come up. We saw the mate's boatpaddling to the northward.
"She'll not come up there," observed Sandy, steering to the west.
We kept our oars slowly moving, ready to give way at an instant'snotice. The result proved that neither was right, for the whaleappeared between the two points.
"There she spouts!" shouted Sandy, and away we pulled as if our livesdepended upon our exertions. Our boat was somewhat nearer the whalethan was the other, and Sandy was eager to have the honour of winningthe prize. The whale was evidently one of the largest size. It haddiscovered our approach and seemed prepared for the encounter.Notwithstanding this we pulled on, Sandy standing in the bows with hisgun ready to send his harpoon into the monster's side. He fired and, asthe line ran out, seizing his spear, he was in the act of thrusting itnot far from where he had planted his harpoon, when he shouted:--
"Back of all! Back of all!"
It was indeed time, for Sandy had observed by the movements of the whalethat it was about to throw itself out of the water. Before we hadpulled a couple of strokes it rose completely above the surface, and,rapidly turning, down came its enormous flukes on the very centre of ourboat, cutting it in two, as if a giant's hatchet had descended upon it.Those who were able sprang overboard and swam in all directions for ourlives. Two poor fellows in the centre of the boat had been struck bythose ponderous flukes, and, without uttering a cry, sank immediately.While Sandy, with a spear in his hand, still clung to the bows untiljerked off by a second blow, which sent that part of the boat flyinginto the air.
As I swam away I looked round with a horrible dread of seeing the whaleopen-mouthed following me; but, instead, I caught sight of its flukesraised high in the air, and down it dived, carrying out the line stillfast.
Sandy shouted out to us to swim back to the wreck to try and secure theend, that the mate's boat might get hold of it when she came up; butjust then the tub itself floated away and, as may be supposed, we wereall eager to get hold of whatever would assist to float us. Some clungto the fragments of the wreck, others to the oars, until rescued by themate's boat, which quickly reached the scene of the disaster. Had notour two shipmates lost their lives, this accident was too common anoccurrence to make us think much about the matter. No sooner were we onboard than we pulled away in the direction we thought the whale wouldreappear, knowing that it must soon come to the surface again tobreathe.
As I lay exhausted in the bottom of the boat I heard the cry of "Thereshe spouts!" and I saw the crew rowing lustily away. I soon recoveredsufficiently to look about me. The mate approached cautiously, to beprepared for any vicious trick the whale might play. He fired, and Iheard the men shout:--
"A fall, a fall!"
Several lances were also stuck into it. The creature dived. A secondline was bent on, but before it ran to the end it slackened, and wehauled up ready to attack the whale with our lances.
By this time a third boat had come up, and when the whale appeared itwas attacked on both sides. After some violent struggles it turned overon its side. It was dead.
Recollecting the loss of our two shipmates the shout of triumph wassubdued, and the crews refrained from singing as usual as we towed theprize towards the ship, which was beating up to meet us.
I now saw the whole operation of "flensing," or cutting off the blubber.A band was first formed ro
und the animal, between the head and fins,called the "kent." To this a series of tackles, called the"kent-purchase," was fixed, by which means, with the aid of thewindlass, the body of the whale could be turned round and round. Theblubber was then cut off by spades and large knives, parallel cuts beingmade from end to end, and then divided by cross cuts into pieces abouthalf a ton each. These being hoisted up on deck were cut into smallerportions and stowed below in casks. The whole part of the blubber abovewater being cut off, the body was further turned round, so as to exposea new portion; and, this being stripped off, another turn to the bodywas given. The kent was then unrolled, and, the whalebone from the headbeing extracted, the remainder of the mass, called the "kreng," wasallowed to go adrift, affording a fine feast to the mollies, which incountless numbers had been flying round us, ready to take possession oftheir prize. From its power of wing and its general habits,