“I suppose that the whale we lost was worth several thousand dollars and that’s a good deal of money for any ship that has to depend solely on whaling; but we are not worrying on the _Seabird_. We’ve packed something away that’s worth at least seven bowheads like the one we’ve lost.” “And what’s that?” “Why nothing but a seventy-thousand-dollar lump of perfectly made ambergris.” The tables were turned. The man who had rejoiced in his triumph was now plainly annoyed. He manifested little interest in the ambergris and soon took his departure. To me the _Awashonks_ was a vessel of great interest. A number of ships which cruised in early days in the Pacific Ocean were never heard from, and one opinion was that they were captured by savages. This was nearly the fate of this very _Awashonks_. In October, 1835, she touched at Namovik Island, of the Marshall group, in the Pacific Ocean. The natives who boarded the vessel appeared to be friendly. Suddenly, however, they seized the spades used for cutting in blubber, and attacked the crew. The captain was beheaded and the man at the wheel and the second mate were killed. Before Jones, the third mate, could use a spade he had snatched from a native, he was compelled to flee down the forehatch, and the rest of the crew either took to the rigging or found refuge in the hold. The men aloft cut away the running rigging to prevent the progress of the ship; those below worked aft and, with muskets found in the cabin, opened fire, but with little effect, as the natives sought places that were not within range. Some of them gathered above the companionway, which they had closed; Jones placed an open cannister of powder underneath and fired it. The explosion tore off the roof of the cabin and scattered the natives. Jones and his men then drove them overboard. Twenty-five years had elapsed since this startling adventure; the _Awashonks_ was still afloat and as a fact was to sail the seas for nearly a dozen years more, only to be crushed by ice in the Arctic. What was the age of whalers? Many a one was from time to time repaired and practically made over. It is authentic that one vessel was in commission for eighty-eight years and another for ninety-one.