CHAPTER XIX.A WHALE IN SIGHT.
Melville Bay, although perfectly navigable, was not wholly free ofice; immense ice-fields could be seen stretching to the horizon; hereand there appeared a few icebergs, but they stood motionless as ifanchored in the ice. The _Forward_ went under full steam through broadpasses where she had plenty of sailing-room. The wind shiftedfrequently from one point of the compass to another.
The variability of the wind in the arctic seas is a remarkable fact,and very often only a few minutes intervene between a calm and afrightful tempest. This was Hatteras's experience on the 23d of June,in the middle of this huge bay.
The steadiest winds blow generally from the ice to the open sea, andare very cold. On that day the thermometer fell several degrees; thewind shifted to the southward, and the heavy gusts, having passed overthe ice, discharged themselves of their dampness under the form of athick snow. Hatteras immediately ordered the sails which were aidingthe engine to be reefed; but before this could be done hismain-topsail was carried away.
Hatteras gave his orders with the utmost coolness, and did not leavethe deck during the storm; he was obliged to run before the gale. Thewind raised very heavy waves which hurled about pieces of ice of everyshape, torn from the neighboring ice-fields; the brig was tossed aboutlike a child's toy, and ice was dashed against its hull; at one momentit rose perpendicularly to the top of a mountain of water; its steelprow shone like molten metal; then it sank into an abyss, sendingforth great whirls of smoke, while the screw revolved out the waterwith a fearful clatter. Rain and snow fell in torrents.
The doctor could not miss such a chance to get wet to the skin; heremained on deck, gazing at the storm with all the admiration such aspectacle cannot fail to draw forth. One standing next to him couldnot have heard his voice; so he said nothing, but looked, and soon hesaw a singular phenomenon, one peculiar to the northern seas.
The tempest was confined to a small space of about three or fourmiles; in fact, the wind loses much of its force in passing over theice, and cannot carry its violence very far; every now and then thedoctor would see, through some rift in the storm, a clear sky and aquiet sea beyond the ice-fields; hence the _Forward_ had only to makeher way through the passes to find smooth sailing; but she ran a riskof being dashed against the moving masses which obeyed the motion ofthe waves. Notwithstanding, Hatteras succeeded in a few hours incarrying his vessel into smooth water, while the violence of thestorm, now at its worst at the horizon, was dying away within a fewcable-lengths from the _Forward_.
Melville Bay then looked very different; by the influence of the windsand waves a large number of icebergs had been detached from the shoresand were now floating northward, continually crashing against oneanother. They could be counted by hundreds; but the bay is very broad,and the brig avoided them without difficulty. The sight of thesefloating masses, which seemed to be racing together, was indeedmagnificent.
The doctor was wild with enthusiasm about it, when Simpson, theharpooner, came up to him and asked him to notice the changing tintsof the sea, which varied from deep blue to olive green; long bands ranfrom north to south with edges so sharply cut that the line ofdivision could be seen as far as the horizon. Sometimes a transparentsheet would stretch out from an opaque one.
"Well, Dr. Clawbonny, what do you think of that?" said Simpson.
"I agree, my friend, with what Scoresby said about these differentlycolored waters," answered the doctor, "namely, that the blue waterdoes not contain the millions of animalcules and medusae which thegreen water contains; he made a great many experiments to test it, andI am ready to agree with him."
"O, but there's something else it shows!"
"What is that?"
"Well, if the _Forward_ were only a whaler, I believe we should havesome sport."
"But," answered the doctor, "I don't see any whales."
"We shall very soon, though, I promise you. It's great luck for awhaler to see those green patches in these latitudes."
"Why so?" asked the doctor, whose curiosity was aroused by theseremarks of a man who had had experience in what he was talking about.
"Because," answered Simpson, "it is in that green water that most ofthe whales are caught."
"What is the reason, Simpson?"
"Because they get more food there."
"You are sure of that?"
"O, I have seen it a hundred times in Baffin's Bay! I don't see whythe same shouldn't be the case in Melville Bay."
"You must be right, Simpson."
"And see," Simpson continued as he leaned over the rail,--"see there,Doctor."
"One would say it was the track of a ship."
"Well," said Simpson, "it's an oily substance that the whale leavesbehind it. Really, the whale itself can't be far off."
In fact, the atmosphere was filled with a strong fishy smell. Thedoctor began to examine the surface of the sea, and the harpooner'sprediction was soon verified. Foker was heard shouting from aloft,--
"A whale to leeward!"
All turned their eyes in that direction; a low spout was seen risingfrom the sea about a mile from the brig.
"There she spouts!" shouted Simpson, whose experienced eye soondetected it.
"It's gone," said the doctor.
"We could soon find it again, if it were necessary," said Simpson,regretfully.
But to his great surprise, although no one had dared to ask it,Hatteras gave the order to lower and man the whale-boat; he was gladto give the men some distraction, and also to get a few barrels ofoil. They heard the order with great satisfaction.
Four sailors took their places in the whale-boat; Johnson took thehelm; Simpson stood in the bow, harpoon in hand. The doctor insistedon joining the party. The sea was quite smooth. The whale-boat wentvery fast, and in about ten minutes she was a mile from the brig.
The whale, having taken another breath, had dived again; but soon itcame up and projected fifteen feet into the air that combination ofgases and mucous fluid which escapes from its vent-holes.
"There, there!" cried Simpson, pointing to a place about eight hundredyards from the boat.
They approached it rapidly; and the brig, having also seen it, drewnear slowly.
The huge monster kept appearing above the waves, showing its blackback, which resembled a great rock in the sea; a whale never swimsrapidly unless pursued, and this one was letting itself be rocked bythe waves.
The hunters approached in silence, choosing the green water, which wasso opaque as to prevent the whale from seeing them. It is alwaysexciting to watch a frail boat attacking one of these monsters; thisone was about one hundred and thirty feet long, and often betweenlatitude 72 degrees and 80 degrees whales are found more than onehundred and twenty-four feet long; ancient writers have often spokenof some longer than seven hundred feet, but they are imaginaryanimals.
Soon the boat was very near the whale. Simpson made a sign, the menstopped rowing, and, brandishing his harpoon, he hurled it skilfully;this, with sharp barbs, sank into the thick layers of fat. The woundedwhale dived rapidly. At once the four oars were unshipped; the ropewhich was attached to the harpoon ran out rapidly, and the boat wasdragged along while Johnson steered it skilfully.
The whale swam away from the brig and hastened towards the movingicebergs; for half an hour it went on in this way; the cord had to bekept wet to prevent its taking fire from friction. When the animalseemed to go more slowly, the rope was dragged back and carefullycoiled; the whale rose again to the surface, lashing violently withits tail; huge spouts of water were dashed up by it and fell intorrents on the boat, which now approached rapidly; Simpson had takena long lance and was prepared to meet the whale face to face.
"The whale swam away from the brig and hastened towardsthe moving icebergs."]
But it plunged rapidly into a pass between two icebergs. Furtherpursuit seemed dangerous.
"The devil!" said Johnson.
"Forward, forward, my friends," shouted Simpson, eager for the
chase;"the whale is ours."
"But we can't follow it among the icebergs," answered Johnson, turningthe boat away.
"Yes, yes!" cried Simpson.
"No, no!" said some of the sailors.
"Yes!" cried others.
During this discussion the whale had got between two icebergs whichthe wind and waves were driving together.
The whale-boat was in danger of being dragged into this dangerouspass, when Johnson sprang forward, axe in hand, and cut the line.
It was time; the two icebergs met with irresistible force, crushingthe whale between them.
"Lost!" cried Simpson.
"Saved!" said Johnson.
"Upon my word," said the doctor, who had not flinched, "that was wellworth seeing!"
The crushing power of these mountains is enormous. The whale was thevictim of an accident that is very frequent in these waters. Scoresbytells us that in the course of a single summer thirty whalers havebeen lost in this way in Baffin's Bay; he saw a three-master crushedin one minute between two walls of ice, which drew together withfearful rapidity and sank the ship with all on board. Two other shipshe himself saw cut through, as if by a long lance, by huge pieces ofice more than a hundred feet long.
A few moments later the whale-boat returned to the brig, and washauled up to its usual place on deck.
"That's a lesson," said Shandon, aloud, "for those who are foolhardyenough to venture into the passes!"