In 1838, a whaler sailed along the coast of Chile and came to Mocha Island. There, they spotted a whale. Quickly deploying whaleboats, the men rowed toward the whale only to discover that it was the infamous Mocha Dick, a white sperm whale of immense proportions that had a multitude of harpoons rusting on its back. Eager to take the whale where so many others had failed, they tried their luck. And failed. The harpooner had made a bad cast and the whale vanished as night fell.
The following day, the whaler spotted a herd of whales and quickly paddled into the midst where the hunt began. They took a calf and its mother. Then, Mocha Dick appeared. The first mate took the harpoon himself and his cast was true. Mocha Dick dove so deep that the rope attached to the harpoon was almost exhausted. The back and forth with the whale was exhausting but the first mate lanced Mocha Dick at the fin and shortly the whale was done. Finally, someone had defeated the infamous whale.
The account of the whale was printed in The Knickerbocker by J N Reynolds in 1839. Though probably exaggerated by the man who told Reynolds the story, there was indeed an albino whale that had haunted the ocean for 20 or more years. The short story starts slowly with the author and several men gathered around for dinner. At length, and despite interruptions from seal hunter, the first mate tells the tale of Mocha Dick. This was the inspiration for Herman Melville's classic work, Moby-Dick.
One of the funniest things about the story is all the units of measurement, many of which are arcane or obsolete. They spot whales a league off the port. The whale dove 50 fathoms. They closed to 5 rods. The whaleboat was now only a cable away. They were reduced to 3 flakes of rope. Mocha Dick was so big that he would fill 100 barrels.
Highly recommended.
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