As Soon As They Arrive In Those Latitudes Where They Expect To Meet
With Whales, A Man Is Sent Up To The Mast Head; If He Sees One, He
Immediately Cries Out AWAITE PAWANA, Here Is A Whale:
They all
remain still and silent until he repeats PAWANA, a whale, when in
less than six minutes the two boats are launched, filled with every
implement necessary for the attack.
They row toward the whale with
astonishing velocity; and as the Indians early became their fellow-
labourers in this new warfare, you can easily conceive how the
Nattick expressions became familiar on board the whale-boats.
Formerly it often happened that whale vessels were manned with none
but Indians and the master; recollect also that the Nantucket people
understand the Nattick, and that there are always five of these
people on board. There are various ways of approaching the whale,
according to their peculiar species; and this previous knowledge is
of the utmost consequence. When these boats are arrived at a
reasonable distance, one of them rests on its oars and stands off,
as a witness of the approaching engagement; near the bows of the
other the harpooner stands up, and on him principally depends the
success of the enterprise. He wears a jacket closely buttoned, and
round his head a handkerchief tightly bound: in his hands he holds
the dreadful weapon, made of the best steel, marked sometimes with
the name of their town, and sometimes with that of their vessel; to
the shaft of which the end of a cord of due length, coiled up with
the utmost care in the middle of the boat, is firmly tied; the other
end is fastened to the bottom of the boat. Thus prepared they row in
profound silence, leaving the whole conduct of the enterprise to the
harpooner and to the steersman, attentively following their
directions. When the former judges himself to be near enough to the
whale, that is, at the distance of about fifteen feet, he bids them
stop; perhaps she has a calf, whose safety attracts all the
attention of the dam, which is a favourable circumstance; perhaps
she is of a dangerous species, and it is safest to retire, though
their ardour will seldom permit them; perhaps she is asleep, in that
case he balances high the harpoon, trying in this important moment
to collect all the energy of which he is capable. He launches it
forth - she is struck: from her first movements they judge of her
temper, as well as of their future success. Sometimes in the
immediate impulse of rage, she will attack the boat and demolish it
with one stroke of her tail; in an instant the frail vehicle
disappears and the assailants are immersed in the dreadful element.
Were the whale armed with the jaws of a shark, and as voracious,
they never would return home to amuse their listening wives with the
interesting tale of the adventure. At other times she will dive and
disappear from human sight; and everything must give way to her
velocity, or else all is lost.
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