"why, man alive, don't you know the
condition a whale ship is in when trying-out is going on? She was
simply afloat with whale oil. The deck was running with it; every plank
and bit of loose rigging was soaked with it. Put it out! Why, we did all
that mortal man could think of. The Captain ordered us to get up all the
tarpaulins and spare canvas, and try to smother it, but, bless you, as
soon as we threw them over the fire they soaked up the oil and began to
burn. We fought the fire with the energy of desperate men, for we knew
that if we had to take to the boats the chances of our ever seeing land
again in such a sea would be pretty slim. Finally the Captain said he
would try a desperate scheme. As yet the flames were around the decks
and lower masts. What he proposed to do was to let the ship fall off
into the trough of the sea in hopes that a big wave would sweep her deck
and drown out the fire. Everything was made ready, and then with a face
full of sorrow he gave the order to cut loose the carcass of the whale.
He was afraid to let it hang there with the ship broadside on. We cut it
loose, and then he ordered the helm to be put up, and all hands to take
to the rigging. We went up with a good deal of misgiving. The ship fell
off into the trough and wallowed there. The seas broke over her here and
there, but not in sufficient volume to drown the fire, which was gaining
headway all the time, and was now beginning to send tongues of flame up
the rigging, as if in a mad attempt to drive us poor fellows out of our
refuge.

"'It won't do,' says the Captain; 'we must lay down, lads, and take to
the boats.'

"We all started for the deck, when suddenly Bacon uttered a fearful cry:

"'Look! Look!'

"He was pointing to windward, and looking in that direction, we all saw
a tremendous wave rolling down upon the ship with the speed of an
express train. We stopped where we were, and clung with an intense grip
to the rigging. The wave came. It pitched the vessel up as if she were a
chip of wood, and flung her over on her beam ends. There was a crashing
and rending of wood, and several wild shrieks from the men as the
foremast went by the board. There were half a dozen fellows on it, and
they were plunged into that raging sea. I never saw them again. The rest
of us were hanging on as best we could, when the very next wave that
came put out the fire sure enough, for it turned the _Ellen Burgee_
bottom up."

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