The keenness of sight of the Gay Head Indians is
proverbial, and to a foremast hand of that colony was
awarded the prize for the largest bowhead captured. It
is with great pleasure that we announce that one of our
New Bedford boys was a successful competitor. Homer
Bleechly, who shipped on the Seabird as a foremast hand,
when hardly more than a boy, displayed the most
remarkable powers of vision, actually raising more
whales than any other man on the ship. One day when in
the crow’s nest with the Gay Header beside him, he
surpassed that vigilant individual in discovering the
low bushy spout of a sperm whale at a point on the
horizon where his companion could detect nothing but the
mere movement of the waves. The whale thus sighted
proved to be a monster, and as fierce as he was
physically great. He smashed two boats and severely
injured two seamen. The oil he yielded stowed down just
one hundred and forty-one barrels.
This statement, so far from the truth, astounded me. I learned that
the information was furnished the newspaper by one of my
over-zealous friends. It had the effect of advertising my success,
which it will be remembered was due to a mere accident, and hence
deepened the interest in the watches.
My father told me that, in settling the voyage, he did not advise
the employment of a lawyer. He remarked, “You will have to pay a
lawyer at least twenty-five dollars, and it’s money thrown away.
Sailors now are too smart for the lawyers. This is the way they do.
Where two men have the same lay and the same outfit and have had the
same amount out of the slop chest, during the voyage, they agree
that one of them shall have a lawyer. So this man goes in with his
lawyer and his voyage is settled and he is paid off; and he pays his
lawyer twenty-five dollars. Then the second man goes in all alone,
and his voyage is settled and he is paid off. Then these two men get
together and compare notes, and, if they find that the settlement is
fair, one of them being twenty-five dollars out of pocket, in go the
rest of the crew in a bunch, to settle, and the twenty-five dollars
is borne by the whole crew. You don’t want a lawyer. However, the
only thing you want to look out for is the ambergris. It’s rarely
they find it, but some druggist may know what the last lot brought.”
I followed the suggestion, and the druggist I visited said, “The
last lot came in about fifteen years ago. There were thirty pounds,
all in good condition, and it was sold in Boston for seven thousand
dollars. I believe the substance is worth just as much now as it was
then.”
It was about eleven o’clock when I went with my father to the
owner’s office. Most of the crew were gathered outside on the wharf.
When we entered, the only people present were the Quaker, the
bookkeeper, one of the foremast hands and a lawyer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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