nine
a.m.
But it must also be remembered , that in modern steam navigation certain well-defined courses are laid down , which vessels follow from point to point with hardly any deviation therefrom , and that consequently little disturbance of the sea by their panting propellers takes place , except upon these marine pathways ; as , for instance , in the Red Sea , where the examination of thousands of log-books proved conclusively that , except upon straight lines drawn from point to point between Suez to Perim , the sea is practically unused to-day . The few Arab dhows and loitering surveying ships hardly count in this connection , of course . At any rate , we had not entered the straits , but were cruising between Car Nicobar and Junkseylon , when we `` met up '' with a full-grown cachalot , as ugly a customer as one could wish . From nine a.m. till dusk the battle raged -- for I have often noticed that unless you kill your whale pretty soon , he gets so wary , as well as fierce , that you stand a gaudy chance of being worn down yourselves before you settle accounts with your adversary . This affair certainly looked at one time as if such would be the case with us ; but along about five p.m. , to our great joy , we got him killed . The ejected food was in masses of enormous size , larger than any we had yet seen on the voyage , some of them being estimated to be of the size of our hatch-house , viz. 8 feet x 6 feet x 6 feet . The whale having been secured alongside , all hands were sent below , as they were worn out with the day 's work .