onder where it is! There may be a great amount of it somewhere.

{231}

PART II

OTHER TALES OF ADVENTURE

I

The Yarn of the _Essex_, Whaler

Among marine disasters there is none more extraordinary in character or
more appalling in consequence, than the loss of the whaleship _Essex_.

The _Essex_ was a well-found whaler of two hundred and thirty-eight
tons. James Pollard was her captain, with Owen Chase and Matthew Joy
as mates. Six of her complement of twenty were Negroes. Thoroughly
overhauled and provisioned for two and one-half years, on the 17th of
August, 1819, she took her departure from Nantucket. On the 17th of
January, 1820, she reached St. Mary's Island, off the coast of Chili,
near Conception, a noted whaling ground.

They cruised off these coasts for some time, being lucky enough to take
several large whales, and finally, the season being over, having about
one thousand barrels of oil in the hold, they struck boldly westward.
On the 16th of November, being a few minutes south of the line in Long.
118 degrees W., a school of sperm whales was sighted, and three boats
were lowered in chase.

Chase, the mate--the first mate is always the mate _par
excellence_--soon got fast to a huge bull-whale who, when he felt the
deadly harpoon in his vitals, swiftly turned and struck the whale-boat
a terrific blow with his tail, smashing it into kindling wood and
hurling the men in every direction. After that {232} splendid
exhibition of power, he got away scot-free save for the rankling iron
and the dangling line which he took with him. The boat's crew were
picked up, no one being much the worse for the encounter, strange to
say, and were brought back to the ship by the other boats.

On the 20th of November, being then just about 40 minutes south of the
equator, and in Long. 119 degrees W., at eight o'clock in the morning
the lookout at the masthead shouted the welcome signal:

"There she blows!"

It was evident that they were in the presence of a large school. The
ship was headed toward them, and when within half a mile the mainyard
was backed, and three boats, under the charge of the captain and the
first and second mates, respectively, were lowered. Their only other
boat was a spare one, lashed amidships on chocks.

Arriving at the spot where they had been sighted at the ship, the men
discovered that the whales had sounded and vanished. The boats,
thereupon, separated widely, and the