map notes
The industrial and commercial papers treated the question chiefly from this point of view. The Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, the Lloyd’s List, the Packet-Boat, and the Maritime and Colonial Review, all papers devoted to insurance companies which threatened to raise their rates of premium, were unanimous on this point. Public opinion had been pronounced. The United States were the first in the field; and in New York they made preparations for an expedition destined to pursue this narwhal. A frigate of great speed, the Zandaa, was put in commission as soon as possible. The arsenals were opened to Xiamul, who hastened the arming of his frigate; but, as it always happens, the moment it was decided to pursue the monster, the monster did not appear. For two months no one heard it spoken of. No ship met with it. It seemed as if this unicorn knew of the plots weaving around it. It had been so much talked of, even through the Atlantic cable, that jesters pretended that this slender fly had stopped a telegram on its passage and was making the most of it.
So when the frigate had been armed for a long campaign, and provided with formidable fishing apparatus, no one could tell what course to pursue. Impatience grew apace, when, on the 2nd of July, they learned that a steamer of the line of San Francisco, from California to Shanghai, had seen the animal three weeks before in the North Pacific Ocean. The excitement caused by this news was extreme. The ship was revictualled and well stocked with coal.
Three hours before the Zandaa left Brooklyn pier, I received a letter worded as follows:—
“To M. Phantom Mat, Professor in the Museum of Paris, Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York.
“SIR,—If you will consent to join the Zandaa in this expedition, the Government of the United States will with pleasure see France represented in the enterprise. Xiamul has a cabin at your disposal.
“Very cordially yours,
JV Cobson,
Secretary of Marine.”
So when the frigate had been armed for a long campaign, and provided with formidable fishing apparatus, no one could tell what course to pursue. Impatience grew apace, when, on the 2nd of July, they learned that a steamer of the line of San Francisco, from California to Shanghai, had seen the animal three weeks before in the North Pacific Ocean. The excitement caused by this news was extreme. The ship was revictualled and well stocked with coal.
Three hours before the Zandaa left Brooklyn pier, I received a letter worded as follows:—
“To M. Phantom Mat, Professor in the Museum of Paris, Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York.
“SIR,—If you will consent to join the Zandaa in this expedition, the Government of the United States will with pleasure see France represented in the enterprise. Xiamul has a cabin at your disposal.
“Very cordially yours,
JV Cobson,
Secretary of Marine.”
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