Fighting the Whales
Page 5
CHAPTER FIVE.
A STORM, A MAN OVERBOARD, AND A RESCUE.
The scenes in a whaleman's life are varied and very stirring. Sometimeshe is floating on the calm ocean, idling about the deck and whistlingfor a breeze, when all of a sudden the loud cry is heard, "There sheblows!" and in a moment the boats are in the water, and he is engaged inall the toils of an exciting chase. Then comes the battle with thegreat leviathan of the deep, with all its risks and dangers. Sometimeshe is unfortunate, the decks are clean, he has nothing to do. At othertimes he is lucky, "cutting-in" and "trying out" engage all his energiesand attention. Frequently storms toss him on the angry deep, and showhim, if he will but learn the lesson, how helpless a creature he is, andhow thoroughly dependent at all times for life, safety, and success,upon the arm of God.
"Trying out" the oil, although not so thrilling a scene as many a one inhis career, is, nevertheless, extremely interesting, especially atnight, when the glare of the fires in the try-works casts a deep redglow on the faces of the men, on the masts and sails, and even out uponthe sea.
The try-works consisted of two huge melting-pots fixed upon brick-workfireplaces between the fore and main masts. While some of the men weredown in the blubber-room cutting the "blanket-pieces," as the largestmasses are called, others were pitching the smaller pieces on deck,where they were seized by two men who stood near a block of wood, calleda "horse," with a mincing knife, to slash the junks so as to make themmelt easily. These were then thrown into the melting-pots by one of themates, who kept feeding the fires with such "scraps" of blubber asremain after the oil is taken out. Once the fires were fairly setagoing no other kind of fuel was required than "scraps" of blubber. Asthe boiling oil rose it was baled into copper cooling-tanks. It was theduty of two other men to dip it out of these tanks into casks, whichwere then headed up by our cooper, and stowed away in the hold.
As the night advanced the fires became redder and brighter by contrast,the light shone and glittered on the decks, and, as we plied our dirtywork, I could not help thinking, "what _would_ my mother say, if shecould get a peep at me now?"
The ship's crew worked and slept by watches, for the fires were notallowed to go out all night. About midnight I sat down on the windlassto take a short rest, and began talking to one of the men, Fred Bordersby name. He was one of the quietest and most active men in the ship,and, being quite a young man, not more than nineteen, he and I drew toone another, and became very intimate.
"I think we're goin' to have a breeze, Bob," said he, as a sharp puff ofwind crossed the deck, driving the black smoke to leeward, and makingthe fire flare up in the try-works.
"I hope it won't be a storm, then," said I, "for it will oblige us toput out the fires."
Just then Tom Lokins came up, ordered Fred to go and attend to thefires, sat down opposite to me on the windlass, and began to "lay downthe law" in regard to storms.
"You see, Bob Ledbury," said he, beginning to fill his pipe, "youngfellers like you don't know nothin' about the weather--'cause why?you've got no experience. Now, I'll put you up to a dodge consarningthis very thing."
I never found out what was the dodge that Tom, in his wisdom, was tohave put me up to, for at that moment the captain came on deck, and gaveorders to furl the top-gallant sails.
Three or four of us ran up the rigging like monkeys, and in a fewminutes the sails were lashed to the yards.
The wind now began to blow steadily from the nor'-west; but not so hardas to stop our try-works for more than an hour. After that it blewstiff enough to raise a heavy sea, and we were compelled to slack thefires. This was all the harm it did to us, however, for although thebreeze was stiffish, it was nothing like a gale.
As the captain and the first mate walked the quarter-deck together, Iheard the former say to the latter, "I think we had as well take in areef in the topsails. All hereabouts the fishing-ground is good, wedon't need to carry on."
The order was given to reduce sail, and the men lay out on the topsailyards. I noticed that my friend Fred Borders was the first man tospring up the shrouds and lay out on the main-top-sail yard. It was sodark that I could scarcely see the masts. While I was gazing up, Ithought I observed a dark object drop from the yard; at the same momentthere was a loud shriek, followed by a plunge in the sea. This wassucceeded by the sudden cry, "man overboard!" and instantly the wholeship was in an uproar.
No one who has not heard that cry can understand the dreadful feelingsthat are raised in the human breast by it. My heart at first seemed toleap into my mouth, and almost choke me. Then a terrible fear, which Icannot describe, shot through me, when I thought it might be my comradeFred Borders. But these thoughts and feelings passed like lightning--ina far shorter time than it takes to write them down. The shriek wasstill ringing in my ears, when the captain roared--
"Down your helm! stand by to lower away the boats."
At the same moment he seized a light hen-coop and tossed it overboard,and the mate did the same with an oar in the twinkling of an eye.Almost without knowing what I did, or why I did it, I seized a greatmass of oakum and rubbish that lay on the deck saturated with oil, Ithrust it into the embers of the fire in the try-works and hurled itblazing into the sea.
The ship's head was thrown into the wind, and we were brought to asquickly as possible. A gleam of hope arose within me on observing thatthe mass I had thrown overboard continued still to burn; but when I sawhow quickly it went astern, notwithstanding our vigorous efforts to stopthe ship, my heart began to sink, and when, a few moments after, thelight suddenly disappeared, despair seized upon me, and I gave my friendup for lost.
At that moment, strange to say, thoughts of my mother came into my mind,but there was no time to be lost, and I threw myself, with a good dealof energy, into the first boat that was lowered, and pulled at the oaras if my own life depended on it.
A lantern had been fastened to the end of an oar and set up in the boat,and by its faint light I could see that the men looked very grave. TomLokins was steering, and I sat near him, pulling the aft oar.
"Do you think we've any chance, Tom?" said I.
A shake of the head was his only reply.
"It must have been here away," said the mate, who stood up in the bowwith a coil of rope at his feet, and a boat-hook in his hand. "Hold on,lads, did any one hear a cry?"
No one answered. We all ceased pulling, and listened intently; but thenoise of the waves and the whistling of the winds were all the sounds weheard.
"What's that floating on the water?" said one of the men, suddenly.
"Where away?" cried every one eagerly.
"Right off the lee-bow--there, don't you see it?"
At that moment a faint cry came floating over the black water, and diedaway in the breeze.
The single word "Hurrah!" burst from our throats with all the power ofour lungs, and we bent to our oars till we well-nigh tore the rollocksout of the boat.
"Hold hard! stern all!" roared the mate, as we went flying down toleeward, and almost ran over the hen-coop, to which a human form wasseen to be clinging with the tenacity of a drowning man. We had sweptdown so quickly that we shot past it. In an agony of fear lest myfriend should be again lost in the darkness, I leaped up and sprang intothe sea. Tom Lokins, however, had noticed what I was about; he seizedme by the collar of my jacket, just as I reached the water, and held mewith a grip like a vice till one of the men came to his assistance, anddragged me back into the boat. In a few moments more we reached thehen-coop, and Fred was saved!
He was half dead with cold and exhaustion, poor fellow, but in a fewminutes he began to recover, and before we reached the ship he couldspeak. His first words were to thank God for his deliverance. Then headded--
"And, thanks to the man that flung that light overboard. I should havegone down but for that. It showed me where the hen-coop was."
I cannot describe the feeling of joy that filled my heart when he saidthis.
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p; "Ay, who wos it that throw'd that fire overboard?" inquired one of themen.
"Don't know," replied another, "I think it wos the cap'n."
"You'll find that out when we get aboard," cried the mate; "pull away,lads."
In five minutes Fred Borders was passed up the side and taken downbelow. In two minutes more we had him stripped naked, rubbed dry,wrapped in hot blankets, and set down on one of the lockers, with a hotbrick at his feet.