Captain Davis, who lay with his head on a gun, was thrown
out of his cabin!" Lionel then goes on to impute the shock
to an earthquake, and seems to substantiate the imputation
by stating that a great earthquake, somewhere about that time,
did actually do great mischief along the Spanish land.
But I should not much wonder if, in the darkness of that early
hour of the morning, the shock was after all caused by an unseen
whale vertically bumping the hull from beneath.
I might proceed with several more examples, one way or another known
to me, of the great power and malice at times of the sperm whale.
In more than one instance, he has been known, not only to chase
the assailing boats back to their ships, but to pursue the ship itself,
and long withstand all the lances hurled at him from its decks.
The English ship Pusie Hall can tell a story on that head;
and, as for his strength, let me say, that there have been examples
where the lines attached to a running sperm whale have, in a calm,
been transferred to the ship, and secured there! the whale towing
her great hull through the water, as a horse walks off with a cart.
Again, it is very often observed that, if the sperm whale, once struck,
is allowed time to rally, he then acts, not so often with blind rage,
as with wilful, deliberate designs of destruction to his pursuers;
nor is it without conveying some eloquent indication of his character,
that upon being attacked he will frequently open his mouth,
and retain it in that dread expansion for several consecutive minutes.
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