Chapter 19 Chapter 19 Saw a Whale

The Melville Sea, though easy to navigate, was not devoid of ice floes, and great ice-fields could be seen stretching to the horizon; here and there a few icebergs appeared, but motionless as if anchored in the middle of the ice-field, and the Advance sailed Go briskly along the wide flight path with full horsepower.The wind changes frequently, jumping suddenly from one end of the compass to the other. Changes in the direction of oceanic winds in the Arctic are a striking fact, often changing from calm to stormy in barely a few minutes.That's how Hatteras felt on June 23.This is true even in wide bays.

The most common wind is usually blowing from the ice pack to the open sea, which is extremely cold.On this day, the temperature dropped a few degrees, the wind was blowing south, and a huge torrential rain swept over the surface of the ice sheet, which then turned from rain to heavy snow.Hatteras immediately ordered the auxiliary propeller sails to be furled, but not quickly enough, and the third tier of small sails was swept away in the blink of an eye. Hatteras directed the crew to work with the most dispassionate manner, not leaving the deck during the storm; he had to flee the weather and march westward.The wind whipped up huge waves in which various ice floes separated from the surrounding ice sheet; the ship wobbled like a child's toy, and fragments of the ice floes slammed into the hull; Rising to the top of a mountainous wave; the steel prow, gathering diffused light like a melting metal pole;The propeller was out of the water, spinning idly, making a terrible sound, and the submerged blades trembled in the air.The sleet was pouring down.

The Doctor couldn't pass up such an opportunity, drenched to the bone, to stand on deck in a kind of total admiration that a scholar can feel from such a scene.Those nearest to him could not hear him; he watched silently; but while he watched he saw a strange and peculiar phenomenon in the northernmost lands. A storm is confined to a specific area and does not exceed three or four nautical miles.As a matter of fact, the wind over the surface of the ice-field loses so much of its force that its destructive power cannot be carried far; and now and then the doctor sees, through the lull at sea, a clear sky and a calm sea beyond the ice-field, and the forward voyage only Sail along the road, and all is well; it's just that it's thrown onto these moving reefs that go with the current.But a few hours later, Hatteras put his ship out on calm seas, and the furious hurricane that raged on the horizon lingered a few strands from the March.

The Melville Sea area does not show the same features; under the influence of wind and waves, most of the icebergs drift away from the coast to the south, crossing and colliding on all sides.Hundreds could be counted; but the bay was so wide that ships could easily avoid them.The spectacle is made up of these floating gigantic objects, which vary in speed and appear to be fighting in the wide arena. The doctor was full of enthusiasm, and now Simpson, the whale gunner, came to show him the changing colors of the sea; the colors changed from dark blue to olive green;Occasionally, transparent water surfaces extend from completely obscured water surfaces.

Well, Mr. Croubney, what do you think of the sight?Simpson said. What I thought, my friend, answered the doctor, was what Skelby the Whaler thought about the colors of these colorful waters: that these blue waters were free from thousands of tiny animals and jellyfish, and That's exactly what green water has; and I'd like to believe he's done a lot of experimenting in that direction. oh!Sir, there are other conclusions to be drawn from the different colors of the water. Really? Yes, Mr. Crawburn, by the whale gunner, we'd be lucky if the March was only a whaling ship. But, replied the doctor, I could see no sign of a whale.

good!We'll see it soon, I assure you.For the whalers, it was good luck to encounter green currents at this latitude. Why?asked the doctor, interested in what the connoisseurs had to say. Because in this green water, Simpson replied, whales can be caught in great numbers. What's the reason, Simpson? Because they can find more abundant food here. Are you sure about this? oh!I've tried it a hundred times in Baffinsea, Dr. Crowburn; I don't see why it shouldn't be in Melville Bay. You may have a point, Simpson. Look, replied the latter, leaning over the bulwark, and look, Mr. Crawburn.

Ah, answered the doctor, almost like a ship's track! Oh, replied Simpson, it's the fatty stuff left by whales, and trust me, the animal that left that stuff isn't too far away! In fact, the air is filled with a deep smell of fresh fish.So the doctor watched the water intently, and the whale gunner's prophecy was soon confirmed.Foucault's voice came from the top of the tall mast. A whale, he cried, downwind of us! All eyes turned to the designated direction; a low tornado rising from the sea appeared a nautical mile from the ship. Where!Where!exclaimed Simpson, who could not be mistaken in his own experience.

It's gone, the doctor replied. Will find it, if necessary.Simpson said regretfully. But, to his surprise, though no one dared to ask, Hatteras ordered the whaler to set off; he would not miss the opportunity of giving his crew the amusement, and a few barrels of oil as well.The whaling was permitted to the great satisfaction of the crew. Four sailors aboard the whaler: Johnson in the back, commanding; Simpson in front, harpoon in hand.One cannot stop doctors from joining the ranks.The sea is fairly calm.The whaler made rapid progress, and in ten minutes she was a nautical mile from the ship.

The whale took another breath and plunged again, but it quickly returned to the surface, leaving behind a mixture of steam and mucus from its nostrils fifteen feet away. There!There!said Simpson, pointing to a point eight hundred yards from the skiff. The small boat sailed towards the animal quickly, and the big boat also saw it and approached it with a small horsepower. Huge whale eyes appear and disappear with the waves, showing a black spine, like an empty reef on the wide sea; a whale does not swim fast when it is not pursued; this whale landed lazily when. The skiff approached stealthily along the green current, for the turbid current made the whale invisible to its enemy.It is always a thrilling spectacle to attack these gigantic creatures by a small boat, some one hundred and thirty feet in length, and between the seventy-two and eighty degrees north latitude, encountering more than one hundred and eighty feet in length. Ten-foot whales are not rare; but these animals should be classed with imaginary animals.

Soon the skiff was next to the whale.With a signal from Simpson, the oars stopped, he swung his harpoon, and the experienced sailor hurled it hard; layer of fat.The injured whale dived into the water with its tail thrown back.Immediately the four oars were raised vertically; the ropes fastened to the harpoon and set forward flew away, and the boat was dragged, and Johnson steered it nimbly. The whale swam away from the ship and toward the moving iceberg in the middle of the swim; he kept on doing that for half an hour; the harpoon line should be wet so that it doesn't rub and catch fire.When the whale's swimming speed seemed to be slowing down, the rope was pulled up little by little, and closed in circles very carefully, and the whale soon appeared on the surface of the sea again, beating the water with its huge tail; The rain fell on the boat like a torrential rain.The skiff approached quickly; Simpson grabbed a spear and prepared to engage the animal in hand-to-hand combat.

But the latter managed to escape through a passage between two icebergs.Hunting has become extremely difficult. hell!Johnson said. go ahead!go ahead!Calm down, my friends, cried Simpson, in a state of hunting frenzy: The whales are ours! But we can't follow it into the iceberg, replied Johnson, directing the skiff. able!able!shouted Simpson. No!No!several sailors said. Yes!shouted the other sailors. While arguing endlessly, the whale ran between two icebergs, and the wind and waves were about to gather the two icebergs together. The hauled skiff was nearly dragged into the perilous way when Johnson threw himself forward, ax in hand, and cut the rope. At the nick of time, the two icebergs closed together with an irresistible force, squeezing the fearsome animal between them. It's over!shouted Simpson. saved!Johnson replied. indeed!The doctor said he didn't frown, it's worth seeing! The force of the impact of the iceberg is enormous.Whales fall prey to accidents common in these waters.Skelby tells of thirty whales dying in Baffin Sound in a single summer; he saw a three-masted ship crushed in a minute by two great walls of ice, The walls closed together with astonishing speed, and the ship simply disappeared.He saw with his own eyes that the hulls of the other two ships were pierced by a sharp ice edge more than a hundred feet long, as if pierced by a spear, and two icebergs were closed together through the hull. After a while, the boat approached the ship and returned to its original position on the deck. A lesson, exclaimed Shandon, to the unwary who venture in the fairway!