by OWEN CHASE
Owen Chase was involved in an unusualseaexperience, an attack on a whaling vessel by an infuriated whale. The account was published in 1821; it was Owen Chase's true story, which served as one of the sources for Melville' most famous book, Moby Dick.
On the 20th of November (cruising in latitude 0040/ S, longitude 1190W) a shoal of whales was discovered. The weather at this time was fine and clear, and it was about 8 o'clock in the morning, that the man at the mast-head gave the usual cry of, "there she blows." The ship was immediately put away, and we ran down in the direction for them. When we had got within half a mile of the place where they were observed, all our boats were lowered down, manned, and we started in pursuit of them. The ship, in the meantime, was brought to the wind to wait for us. I had the harpoon in the second boat; the captain preceded me in the first. When I arrived at the spot where we calculated they were, nothing was at first to be seen. Presently one rose and spouted, a short distance ahead of my boat; I hurried towards it, came up with, and struck it; feeling the harpoon in him, he threw himself, in an agony, over towards the boat (which at that time was up alongside of him), and giving a strong blow with his tail, struck the boat near the edge of the water and made a hole in her. I immediately took up the boat hatchet, and cut the line, to disengage the boat from the whale, which by this time was running off with great velocity. Finding the water to pour fast in the boat, I hastily put three or four of our jackets in the hole, ordered one man to keep bailing, and the rest to pull immediately for the ship; we succeeded in keeping the boat free, and soon gained the ship. The captain and the second mate, in the other two boats, continued the pursuit, and soon struck another whale. They being at this time a considerable distance to leeward, I went forward and put the ship off in a direction for them; the boat which had been damaged was immediately hoisted in, and after examining the hole, I found that I could, by nailing a piece of canvas over it, get her ready to join in a fresh pursuit sooner than by lowering down the other remaining boat which belonged to the ship. I turned her over upon the deck, and was in the act of nailing on the canvas, when I observed a very large whale, about eighty-five feet in length: he was lying quietly, with his head in a direction for the ship. He spouted two or three times, and then disappeared. In less than two or three seconds he came up again, and made directly for us, at the rate of about three knots. The ship was then going with about the same velocity. His appearance and attitude gave us at first no alarm; but while I stood watching his movements, I involuntarily ordered the boy at the helm to get ready, intending to avoid him. He came down upon us with full speed, and struck the ship with his head, giving us a tremendous jar. The ship stopped as suddenly and violently as if she had struck a rock, and trembled for a few seconds like a leaf. We looked at each other with amazement. Many minutes passed before we were able to realize the dreadful accident; during that time he passed under the ship, came up alongside of her to leeward, and lay on the top of the water for a minute; he then suddenly started off, in a direction to leeward. After a few moments' reflection, I of course concluded that he had made a hole in the ship, and that it would be necessary to set the pumps going. The pumps were rigged, but had not been in operation more than one minute, before I noticed the head of the ship to be gradually settling down in the water; I then ordered the signal to be set for the other boats, when I again discovered the whale, apparently in convulsions, on the top of the water, about one hundred rods to leeward. He remained a short time in this situation, and then started off with great velocity, across the bows of the ship, to windward. By this time the ship had sunk down a considerable distance in the water. I ordered the pumps to be kept constantly going. I turned to the boats, two of which we then had with the ship, with an intention of getting all things ready to embark in them, when I saw him about one hundred rods directly ahead of us, coming down apparently with twice his ordinary speed. His head was about half out of water, and in that way he came upon, and again struck the ship. He struck her to windward, and completely broke her bows. He passed under the ship again, went off to leeward, and we saw no more of him. Not a moment, however, was to be lost. We were more than a thousand miles from the nearest land, and with nothing but a light open boat. I ordered the men to stop pumping, and every one to provide for himself; seizing a hatchet at the same time, I cut away the lashings of the spare boat, and cried out to those near me to take her as she came down. The steward had in the meantime gone down into the cabin twice, and saved two quadrants, two practical navigators, and the captain's trunk and mine; all of which were hastily thrown into the boat, as she lay on the deck, with the two compasses which I snatched from the binnacle. He attempted to descend again; but the water by this time had rushed in, and he returned without being able to effect his purpose. By the time we had got the boat to the waist, the ship had filled with water, and was going down on her beam-ends; we shoved our boat as quickly as possible, and launched off clear of the ship. We were scarcely two boat's lengths distance from her, when she fell over to windward, and settled down in the water.
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Not a word was spoken for several minutes by any of us; from the time we were first attacked by the whale, to the period of the fall of the ship, and of our leaving her in the boat, more than ten minutes could not have passed! My companions had not saved a single article but what they had on their backs; but we had been fortunate enough to have preserved our compasses, navigators, and quadrants. The crew of the ship were saved, consisting of twenty human souls. How many long and watchful nights, thought I, are to be passed? We lay at this time in our boat, about two ship's lengths off from the wreck, in perfect silence, when the other boats were seen rowing up to us. They had discovered that some accident had happened. The sudden and mysterious disappearance of the ship was first discovered by the boat-steerer in the captain's boat. They immediately hurried towards us. The captain's boat was the first that reached us. He stopped about a boat's length off, but had no power to utter a single syllable: he sat down in his boat, pale and speechless. I then briefly told him the story. After a few moments' reflection he observed that we had to cut away her masts, and endeavour to get something out of her to eat, and for that purpose we rowed up and got on to her. With our hatchets we started to cut away the masts, that she might right up again. While we were employed about the masts the captain took his quadrant, and made an observation. We found ourselves in latitude 00 WS., longitude 119W. We now began to cut a hole through the planks, directly above two large casks of bread, and from these casks we obtained six hundred pounds of hard bread; then we got without difficulty as much fresh water as we dared to take in the boats, so that each was supplied with about sixty-five gallons. In the afternoon a strong breeze began to blow; and we began to make arrangements for our safety during the night. Night came on just as we had finished our operations. The wreck was constantly before my eyes. I now had enough time to examine the dreadful circumstances of our disaster. After several hours of idle sorrow I began to think of the accident, and endeavoured to realize why this sudden and most deadly attack had been made upon us by an animal never before suspected of violence; he made two severe attacks upon the ship, at a short interval between them, both of which, according to their direction, were calculated to do us the most injury. He came directly from the shoal, which we had just before entered, and in which we had struck three of his companions, as if fired with revenge for their sufferings. But a case, exactly similar to this one, has never been heard of among the oldest and most experienced whalers. It was certainly an unheard of circumstance, and constitutes, perhaps, the most extraordinary one in the annals of the fishery.
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Ex. I. Answer the following questions:
1. Where were the whales discovered?
2. Was the weather fine then?
3. How many boats took part in the pursuit of the whales?
4. What happened to the author's boat?
5. Were all the men saved?
6. Could they get aboard?
7. Did they kill the whale that had struck the ship?
8. Did the crew leave their ship?
9. Why were they obliged to abandon their ship?
10. Could the sailors save anything from the ship?
Ex. II. Translate the following sentences into English:
1. .
2.
.
3. .
4. , .
5. 1000
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Test paper
I. Give the equivalents of the following expressions:
; , , ; ; .
II. Translate the following sentences into English:
1. .
2. .
3. .
4. , .
5. .
6. . .
7. , .
8. , .
III. Read the text and translate it in writing:
The first explorers came to the coast of Alaska at the beginning of the 18th century. Since then the number of Russian settlements in Alaska grew from year to year; they extended as far south as the place where San Francisco stands today. Alaska was Russian territory for a long period of time.
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In the second half of the 18th century Grigori Shelikhov, a Russian from the town of Rylsk played an important role in exploring Alaska.
In the summer of 1783, he built two ships on which he went to the coast of America, heading for Kodiak. After the most difficult journey he finally reached the island, where he founded a Russian settlement. He established friendly relations with the Eskimoes living there. Sheliknov set up a school for the natives, where they were taught Russian and Arithmetic.
IV. Answer the following questions in details:
1. When did the first explorers come to the coast of Alaska?
2. Who played a great role in exploring Alaska?
3. What relations did he establish with the Eskimoes?
