the ship he saw or heard something and tried to go under the ship
but he was so near and was coming so fast he did not have room enough
to get clear of her.

He struck the ship forward of the mizzen rigging and about five or six
feet under water. It shook the ship considerably when he struck her,
then he tried to come up and he raised the stern up some two or three
feet so when she came down her counters made a big splash. The whale
came up on the other side of the ship and laid there and rolled, did
not seem to know what to do. I asked the cooper if he thought the whale
had hurt the ship any and he said he did not think so for he had not
heard anything crack.

[Illustration: SPERM WHALING--THE CAPTURE]

Mr. Nichols was still trying to get to the whale when I thought we had
no business fooling with that whale any more that day as the other
three boats were out of sight and fast to whales and night coming on,
so I told him to come alongside. "What for?" asked Mr. Nichols, "the
whale is laying there." I said, "Never mind the whale but come
alongside and hoist the boat up as soon as you can." He did so and I
told him to get his glasses and come up to masthead and see if he could
see the boats. His eyes were younger than mine and he soon raised them.
Just at this time one of the men went to the forecastle to get some dry
clothes and he found the floor covered with water. He cried out and
then I knew the ship must have quite a hole in her. I immediately
ordered flags set at all three mastheads, a signal for all boats to
come on board under any and all circumstances.

Mr. Viera was then not more than a mile and a half from the ship and I
knew he could not but help seeing the flags, but it was no use, he
would not let go that whale he was fast to. If he had only come to the
ship they could have got some more water and bread. I set two gangs at
work right away, one getting water and the other getting bread. The
cask of bread was between decks and three men staid with that cask till
the water came in and floated the cask away from them.

I then went to the cabin and found Mrs. Jenkins reading. She did not
know that there was anything the matter with the ship. I told her the
ship was sinking and to get some warm clothing as soon as she could but
not to try to save anything else. Well, the first thing she did was to
go for the parrot and take him on deck. Then she got a jacket and an
old shawl.

By that time it was time to