[Thomas Waters to his sister Mary]
[from a transcript]
V
12th Nov. 1841. Barque Fawn
South Seas
Dear Sister
These few lines I write to you in haste, anxious to hear from you; I having received no intelligence from you, or anyone else since I left England; The French ship John Cockerill of Havre, (by which I intend to send this letter) is now getting ready to weigh. I should have sent one by the Minerva, which we spoke in the China seas, but unfortunately I was at the wheel at the time, and so lost the opportunity, I like my trade very well, but should like it better if we had better fortune with sperm whales, I will describe to you the chase and capture of the sperm whale. The quietness of the crew is disturbed by the cry from the mastheadman, of “There she spouts” which rouses all hands from their employment, immediately the shrouds are crowded with the seamen, anxiously looking in the direction, pointed out to them by the mastheadman, presently the spouting of the whale is plainly seen by all hands, who join in the cry of “There she spouts” keeping time with the duration of the spout; as soon as the captain has ascertained that it is a sperm whale (which he discovers by the regularity of the spoutings) he orders “lines in the boats”–“Sway the boats up” and when within one, two or three miles of the whale, according to the weather “back the mainyard” and “lower away the boats” first giving the crew a lot of grog; if the whale is to leeward, they sail upon it, but when otherwise, or it’s a calm day, they row towards it, and when within half a mile of it they peak their oars, and paddle on to it, so as to make as little noise as possible, when alongside, the headsman or officer takes his place in the bows of the boat, ready to lance the whale, the first opportunity, the whale in its agony writhes and knocks about its flakes in a very dangerous manner, while the boat’s crew are steering with all their strength for their lives, though sometimes in vain, as men and officers are launched into the sea, and perhaps into eternity; supposing no accident happens, and the whale shows fair play, and does not take to sounding or running after being lanced, it first spouts thin blood and as his wounds multiply, the blood thickens untill the consistency of tar, some whales die without spouting blood, but then they sink, when killed all the boats tow her by the head to the ship, where she is made fast by the flukes, after the boats are all hoisted up, the crew prepare to cut her in, which is done by the officers, with instruments called spades, after all the blubber is on deck, they if a small whale hoist in the head, they then light the fires put the blubber in the try-pots etc. The boat I belong to is steered by a Malay, an excellent whaler, and a smart man in a boat having no fear of a whale himself, he appears to others rash and since the unfortunate accident in which a man was killed and two others hurt, through him breaking one of the whaling rules he is much disliked. Owhihee [Hawaii] the island which we have lately left is considered the most fertile of the Sandwich Islands, the natives make stuff called poy of tarra, which they eat with their fingers, they have one finger poy, two finger poy and three finger poy. The one finger poy is thick, the two ditto not quite so thick and the three finger ditto very thin; they also make a very intoxicating liquor, by chewing a root called carra and spitting it out in a bowl, it is then strained and considered fit for drinking; several of our seamen got drunk with it. I saw the old men and girls making it, luckily I have no weak stomach or it might have made me sick. You must excuse all mistakes when I tell you I am surrounded by drunken men singing and swearing. I am sitting on a level with the place on which I am writing which is my chest; now I speak of my chest it is not so full by a long way as when I left England, in fact if a mouse was to fall into it very probably he would break his neck, as there is not much in it to break a fall. If you have heard any news of Joseph dont forget to inform me the first opportunity. Remember me to all enquiring friends. I am in good health and spirits at present but very sleepy and tired it being midnight.
I must now conclude and remain
Your affectionate brother
Thomas Waters
P.S. I am obliged to seal the letter with black sealing wax because I have no other.