. Possibly she was struck by some large
whale, and her bottom or sides stove in; such a thing has occurred
before now. I remember some years ago a big whale off the coast of New
Zealand which went by the name of New Zealand Tom. He was a monster,
and capable of sending any ship to the bottom. I was in one of the
boats of the _Adonis_ whaler when, in company with a dozen others, we
went one morning to chase that very whale. Most of us got near enough
to drive our harpoons into its body; but it made us pay dearly for our
sport, for before breakfast it had knocked nine of our boats to pieces,
and we were obliged to return to our respective ships. Some weeks
passed before we again got sight of the creature; when, in company with
several other boats, we again attacked it, and this time came off
victorious. You will scarcely believe it, but we found eight harpoons
in its body belonging to as many different ships, which had chased it at
various times. Big as it was, there are others as big, and even
fiercer. I remember meeting a man who had belonged to the American
whaler _Essex_. All the boats but one were on one occasion away with
the larger portion of the crew, leaving only the doctor and a few others
on board, when they caught sight of an enormous sperm whale coming
towards them, as if not seeing the ship; suddenly lifting its flukes up
in the air, it sounded, throwing the water over the deck, when they felt
a tremendous blow, as if the ship under full sail had struck a rock.
The blow broke off some of the keel, which was seen floating up to the
surface. The whale quickly rose again, and was observed at a short
distance from the ship; when, what was the horror of those on board to
see it come swimming directly at them with the greatest fury! It struck
the bows a tremendous blow, staving them in. A cry arose that the ship
was sinking; and so she was. The water was rushing into her like a
mill-sluice; and the people had scarcely time to get into the remaining
boat when she capsized, the casks in her hold for a time keeping her up.
The people in the other boats, seeing their ship going down, pulled
back and managed to get a small quantity of provisions; but before they
had obtained as much as they required down she went, leaving the boats
to find their way to land as best they could. They steered for the
coast of Peru--the event happened on the other side of the Pacific--but
only one boat, with three men in her a