Jack in the Forecastle | Page 9

Paladin intent on some daring and
desperate enterprise. As I eyed him with admiration and envy I
wondered if the time would ever arrive when, clad with authority, I
should exercise the privilege of wielding the harpoon and striking a
porpoise! Several of these interesting fish, not aware of the inhospitable
reception awaiting them, and seemingly prompted by curiosity, rapidly
approached the brig. "Stand by, my lads!" exclaimed the mate, his face
lighted by a gleam of anticipated triumph. One huge fellow passed
directly beneath the bowsprit, and Mr. Thompson let drive the harpoon
with all the strength and energy he possessed. We hauled upon the line
with vigor alas! It required but little exertion to haul it in; the mate had
missed his mark.
In a few minutes another of these portly inhabitants of the deep came
rolling along with a rowdy, swaggering gait, close to the surface of the
water. The mate, cool and collected, took a careful aim, and again
threw the iron, which entered his victim, and then shouted with the
voice of a Stentor, "Haul in! Haul in!" And we did haul in; but the fish
was strong and muscular, and struggled hard for liberty and life. In
spite of our prompt and vigorous exertions, he was dragged under the
brig's bottom; and if he had not been struck in a workmanlike manner,
the harpoon would have drawn out, and the porpoise would have
escaped, to be torn to pieces by his unsympathizing companions. As it
was, after a severe struggle on both sides, we roused him out of the
water, when the mate called for the jib down-haul, with which he made
a running bowline, which was clapped over his tail and drawn tight;
and in this inglorious manner he was hauled in on the deck.
The porpoise is a fish five or six feet in length, weighing from one
hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds. The name is derived from
the Italian word PORCO-PERCE, or hog-fish; and indeed this animal
resembles a hog in many respects. It has a long head, terminated by a
projection of its jaws, which are well filled with sharp teeth, white as
polished ivory. The body is covered with a coat of fat, or blubber, from
one to three inches in thickness, which yields abundance of excellent
oil; and the flesh beneath is not very unlike that of a hog, but more oily,
coarser, and of a darker color. The flesh, excepting the harslet, is not
much prized, though some sailors are fond of it, and rejoice at the

capture of a porpoise, which gives them an agreeable change of diet.
A few days after this event, being to the southward of Bermuda, I
climbed to the fore-top-gallant yard, and casting my eyes around, saw
on the verge of the horizon a white speck, which made a singular
appearance, contrasting, as it did, with the dark hue of the ocean and
the clear azure of a cloudless sky, I called to a sailor who was at work
in the cross-trees, and pointed it out to him. As soon as he saw it he
exclaimed, "Sail, ho!"
The captain was on the quarter-deck, and responded to the
announcement by the inquiry of "Where away?"
"About three points on the larboard bow," was the rejoinder.
We had not spoken a vessel since we left Portsmouth. Indeed, we had
seen none, excepting a few fishing smacks on St. George's Bank. The
sight of a vessel on the broad ocean ordinarily produces considerable
excitement; and this excitement is of a pleasing character when there is
no reason to believe the stranger an enemy. It varies the incidents of a
tedious passage, and shows that you are not alone on the face of the
waters; that others are traversing the ocean and tempting its dangers,
urged by a love of adventure or thirst of gain.
The captain looked at the strange vessel through his spy-glass, and said
it was standing towards us. We approached each other rapidly, for the
stranger carried a cloud of sail, and was evidently a fast sailer. By the
peculiar color and cut of the canvas, the captain was led to believe we
were about to be overhauled by a British man-of-war. This
announcement gave me pleasure. I longed for an opportunity to behold
one of that class of vessels, of which I had heard so much. But all the
crew did not participate in my feelings. Two of the sailors, whom I had
good reason to believe were not "native Americans," although provided
with American protections, looked unusually grave when the captain
expressed his opinion, manifested no little anxiety, and muttered bitter
curses against the English men-of-war!
I then learned that the British navy "the wooden walls of