A Whale Of A Tale: (In The Midst Of A Gale)

By Bill Kirk

"A Whale Of A Tale" tells the story of a young lad who lives with his mom in a seaport village. His Sea Captain father passed away years before, lost at sea. The boy longs to join the crew of a whaling ship to go to sea just as his father had before him. One day while he is down by the shoreline, the boy sees a baby whale stranded

• Language: English
• Publisher: Woven Words Publishing
• Release date: Nov 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781951545246

Bill Kirk

Bill Kirk's writing has been influenced by his travels on five continents and the inspiration of his grandchildren. He studied a year in Paris, France and completed his BA in Modern Languages at the University of North Dakota. He later completed his MA in International Relations at Florida State University and a Master of Public Administration at Angelo State University (San Angelo, Texas). Bill also writes poetry, fiction and satire as well as current news and journal commentary on a host of topics. His goal is to challenge the imaginations of his readers, young and old, by exploring everyday life simply and profoundly--and having a bit of fun along the way. Bill and his wife (a Clinical Psychologist) have been married since 1969 and live in Northern California.

Book preview

A WHALE OF A TALE (IN THE MIDST OF A GALE)

Introduction

This book is a rhyming story written in twelve chapters. A young boy, Will, longs to be a sailor like his dad before him. The boy lives with his mother, Maggie, who is a single mom. Will’s father, a ship Captain, died in a storm while on a whaling voyage when Will was just three years old.

Will patiently waits until he turns 12 years old so he can sign aboard a whaler as a Cabin Boy. He knows the work will be hard, but nothing can dissuade him from his dream of a life at sea. Nothing his mother tells him will change his mind.

Will knows little of the whaling life except through stories told and retold. But he loves the beach, and through a chance interaction with a baby whale and its mother, he forms a larger view of the connection between humans and other living things. At last, he comes of age and his destiny awaits.

Then through a twist of fate on his first whaling voyage, he sees the damage a storm can do to a ship at sea. Yet through the special relationship he developed with a mother whale and her baby, he learns that even as only a young boy he can help save two ships and their crews. Read on to learn more about Will’s experience at sea and how he saved the day.

Prologue

The following story and all the characters in it are fictional. There is some basis in historical accounts of whaling in the U.S. in the 18th and 19th centuries, especially in New England. Whaling as an economic activity in America is reported to have started on Long Island, New York around 1650. By around 1690, whalers had established a fledgling trade in Nantucket, long before the American Revolution. Yet early successes were meager for several decades.

Whaling picked up steam just prior to