Now that Christmas is past, it is time to focus on a Christmas past where a boat of whale hunters on December 25th harpooned a rather large sperm whale bull, who dragged them far away from their ship, showed considerable murderous fight, and when dispatched by a bomb gun..........
The bomb gun blew the mate out of the boat, the bomb exploded in the whale who in murderous intent was already rolling to the boat, and then in death throws rolled over the boat.
The end result was the whole crew were near drown, and the English mate was saved by a Hawaiian harpoonsman who somehow found the head over heals, knocked out mate somewhere in the vast ocean.
Their boat obliterated, they crawled upon the carcase of their new boat, whereby the Hawaiians hacked through the blubber and present black whale meat raw for Christmas dinner.
Blood in the salt makes for thirst, so the skies opened up with a severe drenching, which filled the hallow the men had their feet in, in the whale's stomach as they clung to the harpoon sticking in, and a welcome drink of water with whale oil and blood .......along with whatever ran off Ahab was their Christmas cheer.
.....as predatory birds and sharks deluged them with trying to devour their carcase boat.
I wonder of Christmas past in all the horrid places people seem to find themselves at home as home is always where the feet are placed no matter the condition.
One would think that being nearly drown and dead in the Pacific, eating raw whale beef, drinking a concoction of foul blood, oil and rainwater which was welcome, and wondering if the ship would ever find you, might be one of the more horrid Christmas dinners that people ever faced, and yet there are numerous others in time of war, famine, flight and whatever.
It is good to remember though tales like this, when someone says Christmas sucks that day, as it probably sucked a hell of allot worse somewhere else in this world at that moment.
"In addition to the oil, we were fortunate enough to secure a lump of ambergris, dislodged perhaps by the explosion of my bomb in the animal's bowels. It was nearly black, wax-like to the touch, and weighed seven pounds and a half. At the current price, it would be worth about L200 , so that, taken altogether, the whale very nearly approached in value the largest one we had yet caught. I had almost omitted to state that incorporated with the substance of the ambergris were several of the horny cuttle-fish beaks, which, incapable of being digested, had become in some manner part of this peculiar product."
After being rescued, I guess that was God's Christmas present to the crew.
agtG
