File:Man upon the sea - or, a history of maritime adventure, exploration, and discovery, from the earliest ages to the present time (1858) (14597036657).jpg

Identifier: manuponseaorhist00good (find matches)
Title: Man upon the sea : or, a history of maritime adventure, exploration, and discovery, from the earliest ages to the present time ...
Year: 1858 (1850s)
Authors: Goodrich, Frank B. (Frank Boott), 1826-1894
Subjects: Discoveries in geography Voyages and travels
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.B. Lippincott & co.
Contributing Library: Boston Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Public Library

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was suddenly found to be animatedby a new and vehement passion,—that of revenge. MochaDick, who earned a terrible reputation for ferocity, only suc-cumbed after many years of successful resistance. His bodyproved to be covered with scars, his flesh bristled with harpoons,and his head was declared to be wonderfully expressive of oldage, cunning, and rapacity. Not long after this, a sperm-whale was wounded by a boats crew from the Essex. Abrother leviathan, eighty-five feet long, approached the shipwithin twenty rods, eyed it steadfastly for a moment, and thenwithdrew, as if satisfied with his observations. He soon returnedat full speed: he struck the ship with his head, throwing themen flat upon their faces. Gnashing his jaws together as ifwild with rage, he made another onset, and, with every appear-ance of an avenger of his race, stove in the vessels bows. Thiswas the first example on record of the whales displaying posi-tive design in seeking an encounter. He certainly acted from
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; j m MAN UPON THE SEA. 505 the promptings of revenge, and, moreover, directed his attacksupon the weakest part of the ship. The whale of Captain Deblois, of the ship Ann Alexander, wasa still more remarkable animal. When harpooned, instead ofseeking to escape, he turned upon the boat, and, in the languageof an eye-witness, chawed it to flinders. The second boatmet the same fate. The whale then dashed upon the ship, andbroke through her timbers, letting the water in in torrents. In anhour the vessel lay a wreck upon the ocean. Four months after-wards, the crew of the Rebecca Sims captured a whale of largesize but of enfeebled energies. He was found to have a damagedhead, with large fragments of a ships fore-timbers buried inhis flesh; while two harpoons, sunk almost to his vitals, andlabelled Ann Alexander, designated him as the fierce butnow exhausted antagonist of Captain Deblois, of New Bedford. In 1827—to return to the Arctic explorations—a new ideawas broached with reference

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