onary Society of London, together with the
Rev. Daniel Tyerman, to visit their several stations in the South Sea
Islands, by Captain George Pollard, the unfortunate sufferer, whom these
gentlemen met with at Raiatea, then a passenger in an American vessel,
having a second time lost his ship near the Sandwich Islands. The
narrative is extracted from _The Journal of Voyages and Travels_, just
published, of the two gentlemen above-mentioned, and is as follows:--

'My first shipwreck was in open sea, on the 20th of November, 1820, near
the equator, about 118 degrees W. long. The vessel, a South Sea whaler,
was called the _Essex_. On that day, as we were on the look-out for
sperm whales, and had actually struck two, which the boats' crews were
following to secure, I perceived a very large one--it might be eighty
or ninety feet long--rushing with great swiftness through the water,
right towards the ship. We hoped that she would turn aside, and dive
under, when she perceived such a baulk in her way. But no! the animal
came full force against our stern-post: had any quarter less firm been
struck, the vessel must have been burst; as it was, every plank and
timber trembled, throughout her whole bulk.

'The whale, as though hurt by a severe and unexpected concussion, shook
its enormous head, and sheered off to so considerable a distance that
for some time we had lost sight of her from the starboard quarter; of
which we were very glad, hoping that the worst was over. Nearly an hour
afterwards, we saw the same fish--we had no doubt of this, from her
size, and the direction in which she came--making again towards us. We
were at once aware of our danger, but escape was impossible. She dashed
her head this time against the ship's side, and so broke it in that the
vessel filled rapidly, and soon became water-logged. At the second
shock, expecting her to go down, we lowered our three boats with the
utmost expedition, and all hands, twenty in the whole, got into
them--seven, and seven, and six. In a little while, as she did not sink,
we ventured on board again, and, by scuttling the deck, were enabled to
get out some biscuit, beef, water, rum, two sextants, a quadrant, and
three compasses. These, together with some rigging, a few muskets,
powder, etc., we brought away; and, dividing the stores among our three
small crews, rigged the boats as well as we could; there being a
compass for each, and a sextant for two, and a quadrant for one, b