For a long time, the voyage of the Abraham Lincoln passed without any remarkable event.
But one incident showed just how skilled Ned Land was and proved how much we could rely on him.
On June 30, the frigate met several American whaling ships. They told us they had found no trace of the narwhal.
However, the captain of one ship, the Monroe, had heard that Ned Land was aboard the Abraham Lincoln. He asked Commander Farragut if Ned could help them hunt a whale they had spotted nearby.
The commander was curious to see the famous Canadian harpooner in action.
“Very well,” Captain Farragut said. “Go with them, Ned.”
Ned gladly accepted.
Fate seemed to be on his side that day.
Instead of catching just one whale, he struck two with a single powerful attack.
His first harpoon hit one whale directly in the heart.
The second whale escaped for a short time, but after a short chase, Ned caught it too.
After seeing such skill, I thought to myself:
“If that mysterious monster ever comes within reach of Ned Land’s harpoon, I would not place my money on the creature.”
The Abraham Lincoln continued south along the eastern coast of America at full speed.
On July 3, we reached the entrance of the Strait of Magellan near Cape Virgins.
But Captain Farragut refused to take that dangerous and winding route.
Instead, he decided to sail around Cape Horn.
The crew agreed with him.
There was a good reason for this choice.
The narwhal might have passed through the narrow strait, but many sailors believed it was impossible.
“That monster is simply too large to fit through there!” they said.
On July 6, at about three o’clock in the afternoon, the Abraham Lincoln passed fifteen miles south of the lonely island at the end of the American continent.
Dutch sailors had named this distant rock Cape Horn after their hometown.
The ship turned northwest.
The following day, the frigate’s propeller finally churned the waters of the Pacific Ocean.
“Keep your eyes open!” the sailors shouted.
And everyone did exactly that.
Every sailor watched carefully.
Their eyes and telescopes were constantly searching the sea.
The thought of the two-thousand-dollar reward kept their attention sharp.
They searched day and night.
Even someone with the ability to see perfectly in darkness would have struggled to watch the ocean more carefully.
As for me, money did not interest me at all.
Yet I was just as focused as everyone else.
I spent only a few minutes eating and only a few hours sleeping.
Rain or sunshine made no difference.
I never left the deck.
Sometimes I leaned against the railing at the front of the ship.
Sometimes I stood at the back.
I stared endlessly at the white foam stretching across the endless sea.
How many times did I share the excitement of the crew when some ordinary whale suddenly lifted its dark back above the waves!
Immediately, the whole deck became crowded.
Sailors and officers rushed out from their cabins.
Everyone watched with racing hearts and nervous eyes as the creature moved through the water.
I stared until my eyes nearly failed me.
Meanwhile, Conseil remained as calm as ever.
“Sir,” he would say quietly, “if you stopped staring so hard, perhaps you would actually see better.”
But every time, our excitement ended in disappointment.
The Abraham Lincoln would slow down and chase the creature we had spotted.
Yet it was always only a common whale or a sperm whale.
Soon it disappeared beneath the waves while the disappointed sailors cursed their bad luck.
Still, the weather remained excellent.
The voyage continued under very favorable conditions.
It was winter in Australia at that time, since July there was like January in Europe.
But the sea was calm, and we could observe the vast ocean clearly in every direction.
On July 20, we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn at 105 degrees longitude.
On July 27, we crossed the equator at the 110th meridian.
After that, the frigate turned more directly west and searched the central Pacific.
Captain Farragut believed, and rightly so, that we should stay in deep waters.
The monster seemed to avoid continents and islands.
Perhaps, as many sailors joked, it avoided them because there was not enough water for such a huge creature.
The frigate passed far from the Marquesas Islands and the Sandwich Islands.
Then we crossed the Tropic of Cancer and headed toward the China Seas.
We had entered the very region where the monster had last been seen.
To be honest, life aboard the ship had changed completely.
We were no longer living normally.
Everyone’s heart was beating faster, as if preparing for some terrible and permanent excitement.
The entire crew was overwhelmed by nervous tension.
No one could eat properly.
No one could sleep peacefully.
Twenty times a day, some sailor sitting on the railing would mistake a shadow or a wave for the monster.
Each false alarm caused everyone to sweat with excitement.
After so many disappointments, our nerves were stretched to the limit.
And naturally, a reaction soon followed.
For three months, each day felt longer than a year.
The Abraham Lincoln crossed every part of the northern Pacific Ocean.
It chased every possible whale.
It suddenly changed direction.
It stopped.
It increased speed.
It reversed its engines.
The crew pushed the ship’s machinery to its limits.
Not a single part of the Japanese or American coastline was left unexplored.
The men who had once supported the mission most strongly now became its biggest critics.
The disappointment spread from the sailors to the officers and finally even reached Captain Farragut.
Without his determination, the frigate would have turned south long before.
The endless search could not continue forever.
The Abraham Lincoln had done everything possible.
No American crew had ever shown greater patience or effort.
If the mission failed, it was not because they had lacked courage.
There was only one choice left:
Return home.
The sailors openly showed their frustration.
The situation on board became worse every day.
I would not call it a mutiny.
But after everyone had endured enough, Captain Farragut finally made a promise.
Like Columbus before him, he asked for three more days of patience.
“If the monster does not appear within three days,” he said, “the man at the wheel will turn the ship around, and we will return to Europe.”
The promise was made on November 2.
It immediately restored hope among the crew.
Everyone began watching the sea again with renewed energy.
Each man wanted one final chance to see the creature they had hunted for so long.
The telescopes were used constantly.
It was almost as if we had challenged the giant narwhal itself.
Surely, everyone thought, it could not refuse to appear.
Two days passed.
The engines were running at half power.
The crew tried every possible method to attract the monster.
Large pieces of bacon were dragged behind the ship.
The sharks were delighted with this unexpected feast.
Small boats spread out around the Abraham Lincoln while the frigate waited.
Every section of the ocean was searched.
But the night of November 4 arrived.
The mysterious creature still remained hidden.
The next day, November 5, at noon, the final deadline would arrive.
After that moment, Captain Farragut would keep his promise.
The ship would turn southeast and abandon the northern Pacific forever.
At that time, the frigate was located at 31°15′ north latitude and 136°42′ east longitude.
The coast of Japan was less than two hundred miles away.
Night was falling.
The sailors had just finished eight bells.
Thick clouds covered the moon, which was only a young crescent.
The sea moved gently behind the ship.
I stood leaning over the starboard railing.
Conseil was beside me, staring straight ahead.
The crew climbed the ropes and watched the darkening horizon.
The officers searched the darkness through their night glasses.
Sometimes moonlight broke through the clouds and made the ocean sparkle.
Then the light disappeared again, leaving everything in darkness.
When I looked at Conseil, I thought even he was affected by the tension around us.
Perhaps, for the first time in his life, his calm heart felt real curiosity.
“Come, Conseil,” I said.
“This is our last chance to earn the two thousand dollars.”
“Sir,” he replied calmly, “I never expected to receive that reward.”
“Even if the government offered one hundred thousand dollars, I would not count on it.”
“You are right, Conseil,” I said.
“Perhaps this whole adventure was foolish.”
“We wasted so much time and suffered so much unnecessary excitement.”
“We should have returned to France six months ago.”
“Back in your little room, sir,” Conseil answered.
“And back in your museum.”
“I would already have organized all your fossils.”
“The babirussa would be safely placed in its cage at the Jardin des Plantes.”
“And crowds of curious visitors would already be coming to see it.”
“You may be right,” I said.
“I suspect people will laugh at us when we return.”
“That is very likely,” Conseil replied peacefully.
“I believe they will make fun of you, sir.”
“And may I say something more?”
“Go ahead, my friend.”
“Well, sir, when someone has the honor of being a great scientist like yourself, one should not expose himself to—”
Conseil never finished his sentence.
At that very moment, in the complete silence of the night, a voice suddenly rang out.
It was Ned Land shouting:
“Look there! The very thing we have been searching for—on our weather side!”