Thrilling Stories of the Ocean | Page 4

near her dying little one, till she was struck again and again, and thus
both perished. Sometimes, however, on an occasion like this, the old
whale becomes furious, and then the danger to the men is very great, as
they attack the whale in boats, several of which belong to each ship.
A number of these boats once made towards a whale, which, with her
calf was playing round a group of rocks. The old whale perceiving the
approaching danger, did all she could to warn her little one of it, till the
sight became quite affecting. She led it away from the boats, swam
round it, embraced it with her fins, and sometimes rolled over with it in
the waves.
The men in the boats now rowed a-head of the whales, and drove them
back among the rocks, at which the mother evinced great uneasiness
and anxiety; she swam round and round the young one in lessening
circles; but all her care was unheeded, and the inexperienced calf soon
met its fate. It was struck and killed, and a harpoon fixed in the mother,

when, roused to reckless fury, she flew on one of the boats, and made
her tail descend with such tremendous force on the very centre of it, as
to cut it in two, and kill two of the men, the rest swimming in all
directions for their lives.
[Illustration: A SHIP TOWED TO LAND BY BULLOCKS.]

SHIP TOWED TO LAND BY BULLOCKS
Swimming is a manly exercise, and one in which, under proper care,
every little boy ought to be instructed. In the first place it is a very
healthy and invigorating practice frequently to immerse the body in
water: and when we recollect how often the knowledge of this art has
been blessed by the Supreme Disposer of events as a means of saving
his rational creatures from sudden death, it seems that to neglect this
object is almost to refuse to avail ourselves of one of the means of
safety, which a kind Providence has placed within our reach.
Only imagine yourself to be, as many before you have been, in a
situation of pressing danger on the sea, and yet at no great distance
from the land, so that you might hope to reach it by swimming, but to
remain on board the vessel appeared certain death, how thankful you
would then feel to your friends if they had put this means of escape into
your power! Or if you were to see some unfortunate fellow-creature
struggling in the water, and about to disappear from your sight, how
willingly, if conscious of your own power to support yourself, would
you plunge into the water to his rescue! and how would your heart
glow with delight if your efforts to save him should prove successful!
Here is a picture representing the very remarkable preservation of the
crew of a vessel on the coast of Newfoundland. In this instance man
availed himself of the instinct which ever prompts the brute creation to
self-preservation. The ship was freighted with live cattle; in a dreadful
storm she was dismasted, and became a mere wreck. The crew being
unable to manage her, it occurred to the captain, whose name was
Drummond, as a last resort, to attach some ropes to the horns of some
of the bullocks, and turn them into the sea. This was done, the bullocks
swam towards land and towed the ship to the shore. Thus the lives of
the crew were saved.

THE SINKING OF THE ROYAL GEORGE.
The Royal George was an old ship; she had seen much service. Her
build was rather short and high, but she sailed well, and carried the
tallest masts and squarest canvas of any of England's gun-ships. She
had just returned from Spithead, where there were twenty or thirty
ships of war, called a fleet, lying under command of Lord Howe. It was
on the 29th of August, 1782. She was lying off Portsmouth; her decks
had been washed the day before, and the carpenter discovered that the
pipes which admitted water to cleanse the ship was worn out, and must
be replaced. This pipe being three feet under the water, it was needful
to heel, or lay the ship a little on one side. To do this, the heavy guns on
the larboard side were run out of the port-holes (those window-like
openings which you see in the side of the vessel) as far as they would
go, and the guns on the starboard side were drawn up and secured in the
middle of the deck; this brought the sills of the port-holes on the lowest
side nearly even with the water.
[Illustration: SINKING OF THE ROYAL GEORGE.]
Just as the crew had finished breakfast, a