Thirdly: Some eighteen or twenty years ago Commodore J-- thencommanding an American sloop-of-war of the first class, happened to bedining with a party of whaling captains, on board a Nantucket shipin the harbor of Oahu, Sandwich Islands. Conversation turning uponwhales, the Commodore was pleased to be sceptical touching the amazingstrength ascribed to them by the professional gentlemen present. Heperemptorily denied for example, that any whale could so smite hisstout sloop-of-war as to cause her to leak so much as a thimbleful.
Very good; but there is more coming. Some weeks later, the Commodoreset sail in this impregnable craft for Valparaiso. But he wasstopped on the way by a portly sperm whale, that begged a few moments'
confidential business with him. That business consisted in fetchingthe Commodore's craft such a thwack, that with all his pumps goinghe made straight for the nearest port to heave down and repair. I amnot superstitious, but I consider the Commodore's interview withthat whale as providential. Was not Saul of Tarsus converted fromunbelief by a similar fright? I tell you, the sperm whale will standno nonsense.
I will now refer you to Langsdorff's Voyages for a littlecircumstance in point, peculiarly interesting to the writer hereof.
Langsdorff, you must know by the way, was attached to the RussianAdmiral Krusenstern's famous Discovery Expedition in the beginningof the present century. Captain Langsdorff thus begins his seventeenthchapter:
"By the thirteenth of May our ship was ready to sail, and the nextday we were out in the open sea, on our way to Ochotsh. The weatherwas very clear and fine, but so intolerably cold that we wereobliged to keep on our fur clothing. For some days we had verylittle wind; it was not till the nineteenth that a brisk gale from thenorthwest sprang up. An uncommonly large whale, the body of whichwas larger than the ship itself, lay almost at the surface of thewater, but was not perceived by any one on board till the momentwhen the ship, which was in full sail, was almost upon him, so that itwas impossible to prevent its striking against him. We were thusplaced in the most imminent danger, as this gigantic creature, settingup its back, raised the ship three feet at least out of the water. Themasts reeled, and the sails fell altogether, while we who were belowall sprang instantly upon the deck, concluding that we had struck uponsome rock; instead of this we saw the monster sailing off with theutmost gravity and solemnity. Captain D'Wolf applied immediately tothe pumps to examine whether or not the vessel had received any damagefrom the shock, but we found that very happily it had escaped entirelyuninjured."
Now, the Captain D'Wolf here alluded to as commanding the ship inquestion, is a New Englander, who, after a long life of unusualadventures as a sea-captain, this day resides in the village ofDorchester near Boston. I have the honor of being a nephew of his. Ihave particularly questioned him concerning this passage inLangsdorff. He substantiates every word. The ship, however, was byno means a large one: a Russian craft built on the Siberian coast, andpurchased by my uncle after bartering away the vessel in which hesailed from home.
In that up and down manly book of old-fashioned adventure, sofull, too, of honest wonders- the voyage of Lionel Wafer, one ofancient Dampier's old chums- I found a little matter set down solike that just quoted from Langsdorff, that I cannot forbear insertingit here for a corroborative example, if such be needed.
