Word: whaled
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...November 20, 1820, the Nantucket whaling ship Essex was attacked by a sperm whale, and sank in mid-Pacific. The incident provided Herman Melville the ending for Moby Dick. It also sent the 20-man crew of the Essex zigzagging across open ocean for three months in three 23-ft. whaleboats. Eventually they resorted to cannibalism to survive. For more than 100 years the only known account was that of the first mate, Owen Chase. But this spring 100 pages written by Thomas Nickerson, who shipped on the Essex as a boy of 16, were found in an attic...
...president has one notable power: indirect control over nominations to boards that run the six Southern Baptist seminaries. Smith, like his predecessor, is a scriptural hard-liner who believes the Bible is "in-errant," free of errors in all matters spiritual and historical. Inerrantists believe, for example, that a whale actually swallowed Jonah and that Adam and Eve were individuals, not symbols. That is the faith of most grass-roots Southern Baptists but not necessarily of the seminary professors, many of whom interpret the Bible somewhat less rigidly. For three years hard-liners have been plotting to dominate the denomination...
Before Caldicott spoke, the Phi Beta Kappa members heard Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Stanley Kunitz '26 read his unfinished work. "The Wellfleet Whale," and listened to choral music performed by the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum...
...scientists called the patient Physty, after the whale's Latin name, Physeter catodon. As word of Physty's plight spread, tens of thousands of people came to see him. Two women brought flowers; others sent get-well cards. But suddenly Physty's condition worsened -perhaps because of stress created by all the attention. In desperation the rescue teams switched to a more powerful antibiotic, lacing a dozen squid with about 50 tablets each of Chloromycetin and pushing them down Physty's throat. Next day, in a remarkable comeback, the whale began practicing quick, shallow dives...
...days, and with federal approval, the scientists decided to let Physty go. But when they removed the net blocking off the boat basin, he seemed reluctant, twice swerving away from the opening. Thousands of spectators urged him on, shouting, "Go, Physty, go. You can do it." At last the whale was herded into the bay. Then, escorted by eleven boats it slowly headed out to sea. Two Coast Guard vessels followed it 4% miles into the Atlantic, watching it make three dives of about 3 min. apiece, blowing off its steamy breath each time. Then Physty was seen no more...