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"Digital transformation is not one single thing to implement, it is a core alignment with continuous investment in innovation and excellence", writes Arthur Shectman, President and Founder of Elephant Ventures. In this article, we'll talk about some tips for setting up your Digital Transformation strategy. Ask for Help So you’ve finally come to a place where Digital Transformation is a ‘thing’. Somewhere in the executive food chain, someone up high enough has gotten the message that you need to leverage modern technology and practices to remain a competitive business. That executive is diving into learning about lean thinking and failing fast and..well..wait, hang on, ok, so that executive has decided to ask for help (please dear Zeus tell us that they asked for help from people that understand technology and process change and aren’t just putting buzzwords into PowerPoint slides!). Build a Team Are you that lucky person in charge of creating a Digital Transformation Strategy? Let’s assume somewhere along the way, you are involved in setting an organizational strategy. That’s the first great point. Build a team. Involve a cross-functional set of stakeholders, so that your planning can properly incorporate your business needs from as diverse a set of stakeholders as you can. Then also let’s remember that stakeholders come in many sizes and many levels of job function and experience, and quite frequently the folks on the front lines (not the executives responsible for them) have the largest trove of information about what needs to be transformed first. So super, you’ve now got a team, all you need to do is sit back and wait for the transformation to start happening right? Oh yah you betcha, no problem that’s what DOES NOT HAPPEN. The first step at setting up a Digital Transformation strategy is to make some decisions about what you want to accomplish, what you need to accomplish, and what is in your sphere of influence to actually make happen (more on that later). Grandpa Mike - Decide what you want to do Miles Kafka, who leads our Engineering team, grew up in rural Minnesota and had very prescient instruction as a child about success in all things. For you our reader, we are bestowing upon you, Grandpa Mike’s rules for success in all things: : Figure out what you want to do. STEP 1 : Do it. STEP 2 The hardest part of setting up a Digital Transformation Strategy is that it has the ‘transformation’ word in the middle. That means, loosely speaking, that the thing you had before is not the thing you have afterward. long You are going to change something. It’s going to take a bunch of time and cost a bunch of money. You are going to have to make a slide deck about it, ‘convene’ people around the idea, get ‘consensus’ that it’s a good idea, then you’ll need to do the actual changing, you’ll mess it up a bunch, course correct, and several months or years later, you’ll emerge the triumphant Digital Transformation hero, cape and all. Or, in this universe, this project you are about to embark on that is fraught with land mines, risks of failure, and possible dead ends, is going to be hard, and at some point will try your patience and commitment. It really pays to know what you are setting out to Transform and why. If you know all that going in, why bother? Remember all that mumbo jumbo about needing to stay competitive that the executives put in their slide deck when they told you to lead this project? Well, it’s actually true. You need to set a careful strategy for some portion of continual innovation and transformation or your business will succumb to competitors and you will be eating ramen while you break captchas 14 hours a day at $0.0001/each so that you can pay your rent. Jurassic Park is the best teacher If you haven’t seen Jurassic Park or read the book, beware spoilers ahead (maybe just stop here and go read it or watch the movie, and then come back and thank me and before you read the rest of the article?). At the point in the movie where they are confronting the designers of the dinosaur island where all hell breaks loose, there is a quote after the cuddly old man tells the protagonist about his beautiful vision for the dinosaur theme park, where the guy stops and says something like “What did you think would happen?”. This is immeasurably true. There is no doubt in my mind that there are folks in your organization that if you asked them (and some, who you don’t even ask, but they feel compelled to tell you) on their opinion of your budget allocations, decision making. and your choice to forestall technology investments and upgrades.  Or even rebuilds, or at least retrofits of your old systems in favor of chasing shiny new things that maybe don’t really impact the core operations of your business, these folks in as loving a way as possible would tell you ‘What did you think would happen?’. Let’s just call these folks Cassandras. If you don’t have a Greek Mythology reference at the top of your head, Cassandra is my spirit character from Mythology. In short, she was gifted the power of prophecy but also cursed with never being believed. If you can imagine always knowing what would happen and telling people about it and having them not believe you, then having to watch what you predicted actually unfold, you’d be a bit irritable right? So let’s just say that the Cassandras in your organization have a bone to pick, and a right to be a bit testy. (for the curious, don’t look up the full Cassandra myth, it’s horrible, and once read, cannot be unread, the ancient Greeks were some twisted hombres). Make sure your strategy has 2 key things: So as you are setting your strategy you need to keep in mind 2 critical things. First, know that you are part of a business that operates and exists and has done so somewhat successfully for some time. Otherwise, this initiative would be called ‘build our new product’ or ‘go be an entrepreneur’. The key here is that something exists that needs transformation. You need to have a really good understanding of what parts of that system or systems are critical to your business, and therefore cannot have them be in downtime or fail. You should also be aware of what is the prize for disrupting and improving them (a.k.a. “Digitally Transforming” them). Next, the second thing your strategy needs is an incremental strategy to progressively transform those old but mission-critical systems. Thar be Dragons! On old maps, when they didn’t know what was in a place, they just labeled it ‘thar be dragons’ as a warning not to go there. Similarly, with our Digital Transformation strategy, you also need to know what you don’t know and figure out what you’ll do about that. Explore it or avoid it. You need to plan steps, which when connected get to your end goal. Ideally, these steps also define the failure case that says ‘If this step fails our alternate plan is ???’. If the steps in our Incremental Digital Transformation Strategy (IDTS) don't have a plan B, that there is known, professionally, as a ‘doozy’, or alternatively a ‘single point of failure’, or a ‘polish up the old resume, you just got fired, Ted’. If you find anything that is a single point of failure, then you need to test it early, ASAP with some kind of proof of concept to validate that your broader strategy is viable. If you don’t do this, then you have what we call an Incremental Digital Inspiring Obfuscation Transformation Strategy, or IDIOTS for short. When you are part of an IDIOTS strategy team, you can expect lots of obfuscation of the truth, of progress, and generally do not have any idea where exactly you are transforming your way to. I would strongly advise that if you are on an IDIOTS transformation project that you politely request a transfer before you are in the land of ramen and captcha. Behold the White Whale!! Where are the digital harpoons? What? You don’t have any digital harpoons around? How could you possibly be thinking about creating a Digital Transformation Strategy without any digital harpoons at your disposal? When you go to tackle the Incremental Digital Transformation of a giant whale of a system, you need to have digital harpoons to attack that problem with. In my head, that old system is never going away in one fell swoop. You need to make an incremental plan for how to start functioning bits of your workflow, analytics, and business processing with pieces of your business in the new world of new software, while still peacefully coexisting with ole Moby the whale. It is likely that at this point the Cassandras in your organization will begin to fire up the nope cannon and gleefully remind you of the point they had expressed the ‘ship had sailed’ on all of the options for module by module upgrades or system replacements. It will be very difficult for the existing operating team to focus as a result. You see that team will have been coaxed by the business immune system that tries to maximize stability, and minimize volatility. It recruits people and begets processes that are aligned to stability and being super risk-averse. You’ve likely set up things like reviews and bonuses and promotions that reward stability, avoid risk-taking and stamp out failure. All of those things will also stamp out the chances of success of your Digital Transformation strategy. Now for digital harpoons. If you can figure out what parts of the business operation are within your ‘sphere of influence’ to change, the things where you feel you have the time, budget, and political air support to change, you can isolate your Transformation needs to certain bits of data or certain events or notifications between systems that are single points of failure for your Transformation strategy. If you can imagine from your tiny life raft of digitally transformed awesomeness, that you can point a digital harpoon, festooned with fiber optic brilliance and a laser guiding system, and fire that thing into ole Moby, at precisely the system and data junction that you need to interact with, then you can apply focus to your discussion with the Cassandras. With your newly acquired focus, you have the ability to transform your IDIOTS plan into a super successful IDTS plan and then you can keep eating organic kale carnitas bowls and doing Zumba. Teach your Culture to Celebrate your Failures The last bit of your Digital Transformation strategy is to make sure that it includes deliberate and defined ceremonies, cadences, and rewards for public failures as well as incremental success. The hardest and most crucial part of any successful Digital Transformation is helping your team to have the psychological and career safety to begin taking risks. You need to engineer the cultural shift that empowers people to do so and you need to care for the humans in those moments of defeat, to make sure that organizational learning takes place and that those people get up and iterate again to try to make your team’s plan a success. It’s a long journey and you'll need to acquire new habits that meter out and celebrate your successes as well as your failures to reinforce and sustain the focus and energy of your Transformation team along the way. Your job as the architect of the Digital Transformation strategy is to make sure this happens above all else.

Digital Transformation Strategy: Dinosaurs, Harpoons, Greek Myths and YOU!

229 Stories To Learn About Data Analytics

237 Stories To Learn About Innovation

On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures by Charles Babbage is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . Saving time in Natural Operations here Chapter 6. Saving time in Natural Operations 47. The process of tanning will furnish us with a striking illustration of the power of machinery in accelerating certain processes in which natural operations have a principal effect. The object of this art is to combine a certain principle called tanning with every particle of the skin to be tanned. This, in the ordinary process, is accomplished by allowing the skins to soak in pits containing a solution of tanning matter: they remain in the pits six, twelve, or eighteen months; and in some instances (if the hides are very thick), they are exposed to the operation for two years, or even during a longer period. This length of time is apparently required in order to allow the tanning matter to penetrate into the interior of a thick hide. The improved process consists in placing the hides with the solution of tan in close vessels, and then exhausting the air. The effect is to withdraw any air which may be contained in the pores of the hides, and to aid capillary attraction by the pressure of the atmosphere in forcing the tan into the interior of the skins. The effect of the additional force thus brought into action can be equal only to one atmosphere, but a further improvement has been made: the vessel containing the hides is, after exhaustion, filled up with a solution of tan; a small additional quantity is then injected with a forcing-pump. By these means any degree of pressure may be given which the containing vessel is capable of supporting; and it has been found that, by employing such a method, the thickest hides may be tanned in six weeks or two months. 48. The same process of injection might be applied to impregnate timber with tar, or any other substance capable of preserving it from decay, and if it were not too expensive, the deal floors of houses might thus be impregnated with alumine or other substances, which would render them much less liable to be accidentally set on fire. In some cases it might be useful to impregnate woods with resins, varnish, or oil; and wood saturated with oil might, in some instances, be usefully employed in machinery for giving a constant, but very minute supply of that fluid to iron or steel, against which it is worked. Some idea of the quantity of matter which can be injected into wood by great pressure, may be formed, from considering the fact stated by Mr Scoresby, respecting an accident which occurred to a boat of one of our whaling-ships. The harpoon having been struck into the fish, the whale in this instance, dived directly down, and carried the boat along with him. On returning to the surface the animal was killed, but the boat, instead of rising, was found suspended beneath the whale by the rope of the harpoon; and on drawing it up, every part of the wood was found to be so completely saturated with water as to sink immediately to the bottom. 49. The operation of bleaching linen in the open air is one for which considerable time is necessary; and although it does not require much labour, yet, from the risk of damage and of robbery from long exposure, a mode of shortening the process was highly desirable. The method now practised, although not mechanical, is such a remarkable instance of the application of science to the practical purposes of manufactures, that in mentioning the advantages derived from shortening natural operations, it would have been scarcely pardonable to have omitted all allusion to the beautiful application of chlorine, in combination with lime, to the art of bleaching. 50. Another instance more strictly mechanical occurs in some countries where fuel is expensive, and the heat of the sun is not sufficient to evaporate the water from brine springs. The water is first pumped up to a reservoir, and then allowed to fall in small streams through faggots. Thus it becomes divided; and, presenting a large surface, evaporation is facilitated, and the. brine which is collected in the vessels below the faggots is stronger than that which was pumped up. After thus getting rid of a large part of the water, the remaining portion is driven off by boiling. The success of this process depends on the condition of the atmosphere with respect to moisture. If the air, at the time the brine falls through the faggots, holds in solution as much moisture as it can contain in an invisible state, no more can be absorbed from the salt water, and the labour expended in pumping is entirely wasted. The state of the air, as to dryness, is therefore an important consideration in fixing the time when this operation is to be performed; and an attentive examination of its state, by means of the hygrometer, might be productive of some economy of labour. 51. In some countries, where wood is scarce, the evaporation of salt water is carried on by a large collection of ropes which are stretched perpendicularly. In passing down the ropes, the water deposits the sulphate of lime which it held in solution, and gradually incrusts them, so that in the course of twenty years, when they are nearly rotten, they are still sustained by the surrounding incrustation, thus presenting the appearance of a vast collection of small columns. 52. Amongst natural operations perpetually altering the surface of our globe, there are some which it would be advantageous to accelerate. The wearing down of the rocks which impede the rapids of navigable rivers, is one of this class. A very beautiful process for accomplishing this object has been employed in America. A boat is placed at the bottom of the rapid, and kept in its position by a long rope which is firmly fixed on the bank of the river near the top. An axis, having a wheel similar to the paddle-wheel of a steamboat fixed at each end of it, is placed across the boat; so that the two wheels and their connecting axis shall revolve rapidly, being driven by the force of the passing current. Let us now imagine several beams of wood shod with pointed iron fixed at the ends of strong levers, projecting beyond the bow of the boat, as in the annexed representation. If these levers are at liberty to move up and down, and if one or more projecting pieces, called cams, are fixed on the axis opposite to the end of each lever, the action of the stream upon the wheels will keep up a perpetual succession of blows. The sharp-pointed shoe striking upon the rock at the bottom, will continually detach small pieces, which the stream will immediately carry off. Thus, by the mere action of the river itself, a constant and most effectual system of pounding the rock at its bottom is established. A single workman may, by the aid of a rudder, direct the boat to any required part of the stream; and when it is necessary to move up the rapid, as the channel is cut, he can easily cause the boat to advance by means of a capstan. 53. When the object of the machinery just described has been accomplished, and the channel is sufficiently deep, a slight alteration converts the apparatus to another purpose almost equally advantageous. The stampers and the projecting pieces on the axis are removed, and a barrel of wood or metal, surrounding part of the axis, and capable, at pleasure, of being connected with, or disconnected from the axis itself, is substituted. The rope which hitherto fastened the boat, is now fixed to this barrel; and if the barrel is loose upon the axis, the paddle-wheel makes the axis only revolve, and the boat remains in its place: but the moment the axis is attached to its surrounding barrel, this begins to turn, and winding up the rope, the boat is gradually drawn up against the stream; and may be employed as a kind of tug-boat for vessels which have occasion to ascend the rapid. When the tug-boat reaches the summit the barrel is released from the axis, and friction being applied to moderate its velocity, the boat is allowed to descend. 54. Clocks occupy a very high place amongst instruments by means of which human time is economized: and their multiplication in conspicuous places in large towns is attended with many advantages. Their position, nevertheless, in London, is often very ill chosen; and the usual place, halfway up on a high steeple, in the midst of narrow streets, in a crowded city, is very unfavourable, unless the church happen to stand out from the houses which form the street. The most eligible situation for a clock is, that it should project considerably into the street at some elevation, with a dial-plate on each side, like that which belonged to the old church of St Dunstan, in Fleet Street, so that passengers in both directions would have their attention directed to the hour. 55. A similar remark applies, with much greater force, to the present defective mode of informing the public of the position of the receiving houses for the two penny and general post. In the lowest corner of the window of some attractive shop is found a small slit, with a brass plate indicating its important office so obscurely that it seems to be an object rather to prevent its being conspicuous. No striking sign assists the anxious enquirer, who, as the moments rapidly pass which precede the hour of closing, torments the passenger with his enquiries for the nearest post-office. He reaches it, perhaps, just as it is closed; and must then either hasten to a distant part of the town in order to procure the admission of his letters or give up the idea of forwarding them by that post; and thus, if they are foreign letters, he may lose, perhaps, a week or a fortnight by waiting for the next packet. The inconvenience in this and in some other cases, is of perpetual and everyday occurrence; and though, in the greater part of the individual cases, it may be of trifling moment, the sum of all these produces an amount, which it is always worthy of the government of a large and active population to attend to. The remedy is simple and obvious: it would only be necessary, at each letter-box, to have a light frame of iron projecting from the house over the pavement, and carrying the letters G. P., or T. P., or any other distinctive sign. All private signs are at present very properly prohibited from projecting into the street: the passenger, therefore, would at once know where to direct his attention, in order to discover a post-office; and those letter-boxes which occurred in the great thoroughfares could not fail to be generally known. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Charles Babbage (2003). On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/4238/pg4238.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

Saving time in Natural Operations

206 Stories To Learn About Digital Transformation

HOW TO MAKE HISTORY DATES STICK

Abandoned by Jules Verne, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . CHAPTER X here CHAPTER X Boat-building—Second Crop of Corn—Hunting Koalas—A new Plant, more Pleasant than Useful—Whale in Sight—A Harpoon from the Vineyard—Cutting up the Whale—Use for the Bones—End of the Month of May—Pencroft has nothing left to wish for. When Pencroft had once got a plan into his head, he had no peace till it was executed. Now he wished to visit Tabor Island, and as a boat of a certain size was necessary for this voyage, he determined to build one. What wood should be employed? Elm or fir, both of which abounded in the island? They decided for the fir, as being easy to work, but which stands water as well as the elm. These details settled, it was agreed that since the fine season would not return before six months, Cyrus Harding and Pencroft should work alone at the boat. Gideon Spilett and Herbert were to continue to hunt, and neither Neb nor Master Jup his assistant were to leave the domestic duties which had devolved upon them. Directly the trees were chosen, they were felled, stripped of their branches, and sawn into planks as well as sawyers would have been able to do it. A week after, in the recess between the Chimneys and the cliff, a dockyard was prepared, and a keel five-and-thirty feet long, furnished with a stern-post at the stern and a stem at the bows, lay along the sand. Cyrus Harding was not working in the dark at this new trade. He knew as much about ship-building as about nearly everything else, and he had at first drawn the model of his ship on paper. Besides, he was ably seconded by Pencroft, who, having worked for several years in a dockyard at Brooklyn, knew the practical part of the trade. It was not until after careful calculation and deep thought that the timbers were laid on the keel. Pencroft, as may be believed, was all eagerness to carry out his new enterprise, and would not leave his work for an instant. A single thing had the honour of drawing him, but for one day only, from his dockyard. This was the second wheat-harvest, which was gathered in on the 15th of April. It was as much a success as the first, and yielded the number of grains which had been predicted. "Five bushels, captain," said Pencroft, after having scrupulously measured his treasure. "Five bushels," replied the engineer; "and a hundred and thirty thousand grains a bushel will make six hundred and fifty thousand grains." "Well, we will sow them all this time," said the sailor, "except a little in reserve." "Yes, Pencroft, and if the next crop gives a proportionate yield, we shall have four thousand bushels." "And shall we eat bread?" "We shall eat bread." "But we must have a mill." "We will make one." The third cornfield was very much larger than the two first, and the soil, prepared with extreme care, received the precious seed. That done, Pencroft returned to his work. During this time Spilett and Herbert hunted in the neighbourhood, and they ventured deep into the still unknown parts of the Far West, their guns loaded with ball, ready for any dangerous emergency. It was a vast thicket of magnificent trees, crowded together as if pressed for room. The exploration of these dense masses of wood was difficult in the extreme, and the reporter never ventured there without the pocket-compass, for the sun scarcely pierced through the thick foliage, and it would have been very difficult for them to retrace their way. It naturally happened that game was more rare in those situations where there was hardly sufficient room to move; two or three large herbivorous animals were however killed during the last fortnight of April. These were koalas, specimens of which the settlers had already seen to the north of the lake, and which stupidly allowed themselves to be killed among the thick branches of the trees in which they took refuge. Their skins were brought back to Granite House, and there, by the help of sulphuric acid, they were subjected to a sort of tanning process which rendered them capable of being used. On the 30th of April, the two sportsmen were in the depth of the Far West, when the reporter, preceding Herbert a few paces, arrived in a sort of clearing, into which the trees more sparsely scattered had permitted a few rays to penetrate. Gideon Spilett was at first surprised at the odour which exhaled from certain plants with straight stalks, round and branchy, bearing grape-like clusters of flowers and very small berries. The reporter broke off one or two of these stalks and returned to the lad, to whom he said,— "What can this be, Herbert?" "Well, Mr. Spilett," said Herbert, "this is a treasure which will secure you Pencroft's gratitude for ever." "Is it tobacco?" "Yes, and though it may not be of the first quality, it is none the less tobacco!" "Oh, good old Pencroft! Won't he be pleased? But we must not let him smoke it all, he must give us our share." "Ah! an idea occurs to me, Mr. Spilett," replied Herbert. "Don't let us say anything to Pencroft yet; we will prepare these leaves, and one fine day we will present him with a pipe already filled!" "All right, Herbert, and on that day our worthy companion will have nothing left to wish for in this world." The reporter and the lad secured a good store of the precious plant, and then returned to Granite House, where they smuggled it in with as much precaution as if Pencroft had been the most vigilant and severe of custom-house officers. Cyrus Harding and Neb were taken into confidence, and the sailor suspected nothing during the whole time, necessarily somewhat long, which was required in order to dry the small leaves, chop them up, and subject them to a certain torrefaction on hot stones. This took two months; but all these manipulations were successfully carried on unknown to Pencroft, for, occupied with the construction of his boat, he only returned to Granite House at the hour of rest. For some days they had observed an enormous animal two or three miles out in the open sea swimming around Lincoln Island. This was a whale of the largest size, which apparently belonged to the southern species, called the "Cape Whale." "What a lucky chance it would be if we could capture it!" cried the sailor. "Ah, if we only had a proper boat and a good harpoon, I would say, 'After the beast,' for he would be well worth the trouble of catching!" "Well, Pencroft," observed Harding, "I should much like to watch you handling a harpoon. It would be very interesting." "I am astonished," said the reporter, "to see a whale in this comparatively high latitude." "Why so, Mr. Spilett?" replied Herbert. "We are exactly in that part of the Pacific which English and American whalemen call the whale field, and it is here, between New Zealand and South America, that the whales of the southern hemisphere are met with in the greatest numbers." And Pencroft returned to his work, not without uttering a sigh of regret, for every sailor is a born fisherman, and if the pleasure of fishing is in exact proportion to the size of the animal, one can judge how a whaler feels in sight of a whale. And if this had only been for pleasure! But they could not help feeling how valuable such a prize would have been to the colony, for the oil, the fat, and the bones would have been put to many uses. Now it happened that this whale appeared to have no wish to leave the waters of the island. Therefore, whether from the windows of Granite House, or from Prospect Heights, Herbert and Gideon Spilett, when they were not hunting, or Neb unless presiding over his fires, never left the telescope, but watched all the animal's movements. The cetacean, having entered far into Union Bay, made rapid furrows across it from Mandible Cape to Claw Cape, propelled by its enormously powerful flukes, on which it supported itself, and making its way through the water at the rate little short of twelve knots an hour. Sometimes also it approached so near to the island that it could be clearly distinguished. It was the southern whale, which is completely black, the head being more depressed than that of the northern whale. They could also see it throwing up from its air-holes to a great height, a cloud of vapour, or of water, for, strange as it may appear, naturalists and whalers are not agreed on this subject. Is it air or is it water which is thus driven out? It is generally admitted to be vapour, which, condensing suddenly by contact with the cold air, falls again as rain. However, the presence of this mammifer preoccupied the colonists. It irritated Pencroft especially as he could think of nothing else while at work. He ended by longing for it, like a child for a thing which it has been denied. At night he talked about it in his sleep, and certainly if he had had the means of attacking it, if the sloop had been in a fit state to put to sea, he would not have hesitated to set out in pursuit. But what the colonists could not do for themselves, chance did for them, and on the 3rd of May, shouts from Neb, who had stationed himself at the kitchen window, announced that the whale was stranded on the beach of the island. Herbert and Gideon Spilett, who were just about to set out hunting, left their guns, Pencroft threw down his axe, and Harding and Neb joining their companions, all rushed towards the scene of action. The stranding had taken place on the beach of Flotsam Point, three miles from Granite House, and at high tide. It was therefore probable that the cetacean would not be able to extricate itself easily, at any rate it was best to hasten, so as to cut off its retreat if necessary. They ran with pick-axes and iron-tipped poles in their hands, passed over the Mercy bridge, descended the right bank of the river, along the beach, and in less than twenty minutes the settlers were close to the enormous animal, above which flocks of birds already hovered. "What a monster!" cried Neb. And the exclamation was natural, for it was a southern whale, eighty feet long, a giant of the species, probably not weighing less than a hundred and fifty thousand pounds! In the meanwhile, the monster thus stranded did not move, nor attempt by struggling to regain the water whilst the tide was still high. It was dead, and a harpoon was sticking out of its left side. "There are whalers in these quarters, then?" said Gideon Spilett directly. "Oh, Mr Spilett, that doesn't prove anything!" replied Pencroft. "Whales have been known to go thousands of miles with a harpoon in the side, and this one might even have been struck in the north of the Atlantic and come to die in the south of the Pacific, and it would be nothing astonishing." Pencroft, having torn the harpoon from the animal's side, read this inscription on it:— "'MARIA STELLA,' "VINEYARD." "A vessel from the Vineyard! A ship from my country!" he cried. "The ! A fine whaler, 'pon my word; I know her well! Oh, my friends, a vessel from the Vineyard!—a whaler from the Vineyard!" Maria Stella A port in the State of New York. And the sailor brandishing the harpoon, repeated, not without emotion, the name which he loved so well—the name of his birthplace. But as it could not be expected that the would come to reclaim the animal harpooned by her, they resolved to begin cutting it up before decomposition should commence. The birds, who had watched this rich prey for several days, had determined to take possession of it without further delay, and it was necessary to drive them off by firing at them repeatedly. Maria Stella The whale was a female, and a large quantity of milk was taken from it, which, according to the opinion of the naturalist Duffenbach, might pass for cow's milk, and, indeed, it differs from it neither in taste, colour, nor density. Pencroft had formerly served on board a whaling-ship, and he could methodically direct the operation of cutting up—a sufficiently disagreeable operation lasting three days, but from which the settlers did not flinch, not even Gideon Spilett, who, as the sailor said, would end by making a "real good castaway." The blubber, cut in parallel slices of two feet and a half in thickness, then divided into pieces which might weigh about a thousand pounds each, was melted down in large earthen pots brought to the spot, for they did not wish to taint the environs of Granite House, and in this fusion it lost nearly a third of its weight. But there was an immense quantity of it; the tongue alone yielded six thousand pounds of oil, and the lower lip four thousand. Then, besides the fat, which would insure for a long time a store of stearine and glycerine, there were still the bones, for which a use could doubtless be found, although there were neither umbrellas nor stays used at Granite House. The upper part of the mouth of the cetacean was, indeed, provided on both sides with eight hundred horny blades, very elastic, of a fibrous texture, and fringed at the edge like great combs, of which the teeth, six feet long, served to retain the thousands of animalculæ, little fish, and molluscs, on which the whale fed. The operation finished, to the great satisfaction of the operators, the remains of the animal were left to the birds, who would soon make every vestige of it disappear, and their usual daily occupations were resumed by the inmates of Granite House. However, before returning to the dockyard, Cyrus Harding conceived the idea of fabricating certain machines, which greatly excited the curiosity of his companions. He took a dozen of the whale's bones, cut them into six equal parts, and sharpened their ends. "This machine is not my own invention, and it is frequently employed by the Aleutian hunters in Russian America. You see these bones, my friends; well, when it freezes, I will bend them, and then wet them with water till they are entirely covered with ice, which will keep them bent, and I will strew them on the snow, having previously covered them with fat. Now, what will happen if a hungry animal swallows one of these baits? Why, the heat of his stomach will melt the ice, and the bone, springing straight, will pierce him with its sharp points." "Well! I do call that ingenious!" said Pencroft. "And it will spare the powder and shot," rejoined Cyrus Harding. "That will be better than traps!" added Neb. In the meanwhile the boat-building progressed, and towards the end of the month half the planking was completed. It could already be seen that her shape was excellent, and that she would sail well. Pencroft worked with unparalleled ardour, and only a sturdy frame could have borne such fatigue; but his companions were preparing in secret a reward for his labours, and on the 31st of May he was to meet with one of the greatest joy's of his life. On that day, after dinner, just as he was about to leave the table, Pencroft felt a hand on his shoulder. It was the hand of Gideon Spilett, who said,— "One moment, Master Pencroft, you mustn't sneak off like that! You've forgotten your dessert." "Thank you, Mr. Spilett," replied the sailor, "I am going back to my work." "Well a cup of coffee, my friend?" "Nothing more." "A pipe, then?" Pencroft jumped up, and his great good-natured face grew pale when he saw the reporter presenting him with a ready-filled pipe, and Herbert with a glowing coal. The sailor endeavoured to speak, but could not get out a word, so, seizing the pipe, he carried it to his lips, then applying the coal, he drew five or six great whiffs. A fragrant blue cloud soon arose, and from its depths a voice was heard repeating excitedly,— "Tobacco! real tobacco!" "Yes, Pencroft," returned Cyrus Harding, "and very good tobacco too!" "O divine Providence! sacred Author of all things!" cried the sailor. "Nothing more is now wanting to our island." And Pencroft smoked, and smoked, and smoked. "And who made this discovery?" he asked at length. "You, Herbert, no doubt?" "No, Pencroft, it was Mr. Spilett." "Mr Spilett!" exclaimed the sailor seizing the reporter, and clasping him to his breast with such a squeeze that he had never felt anything like it before. "Oh, Pencroft," said Spilett, recovering his breath at last, "a truce for one moment. You must share your gratitude with Herbert, who recognised the plant, with Cyrus, who prepared it, and with Neb who took a great deal of trouble to keep our secret." "Well, my friends, I will repay you some day," replied the sailor. "Now we are friends for life." About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Jules Verne (2010). Abandoned. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/33516/pg33516-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

When Pencroft had once got a plan into his head, he had no peace till it was executed

Dick Sands the Boy Captain by Jules Verne, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . A CATASTROPHE here A CATASTROPHE Experienced whaleman as he was, Captain Hull knew the difficulty of the task he had undertaken, he was alive to the importance of making his approach to the whale from the leeward, so that there should be no sound to apprize the creature of the proximity of the boat. He had perfect confidence in his boatswain, and felt sure that he would take the proper course to insure a favourable result to the enterprise. "We mustn't show ourselves too soon, Howick," he said. "Certainly not," replied Howick, "I am going to skirt the edge of the discoloured water, and I shall take good care to get well to leeward." "All right," the captain answered, and turning to the crew said, "now, my lads, as quietly as you can." Muffling the sound of their oars by placing straw in the rowlocks, and avoiding the least unnecessary noise, the men skilfully propelled the boat along the outline of the water tinged by the crustacea, so that while the starboard oars still dipped in the green and limpid sea, the larboard were in the deep-dyed waves, and seemed as though they were dripping with blood. "Wine on this side, water on that," said one of the sailors jocosely. "But neither of them fit to drink," rejoined the captain sharply, "so just hold your tongue!" Under Howick's guidance the boat now glided stealthily [Illustration: The whale seemed utterly unconscious of the attack that was threatening it] on to the greasy surface of the reddened waters, where she appeared to float as on a pool of oil. The whale seemed utterly unconscious of the attack that was threatening it, and allowed the boat to come nearer without exhibiting any sign of alarm. The wide circuit which the captain had thought it advisable to take had the effect of considerably increasing the distance between his boat and the "Pilgrim," whilst the strange rapidity with which objects at sea become diminished in apparent magnitude, as if viewed through the wrong end of a telescope, made the ship look farther away than she actually was. Another half-hour elapsed, and at the end of it the captain found himself so exactly to leeward that the huge body of the whale was precisely intermediate between his boat and the "Pilgrim." A closer approach must now be made; every precaution must be used; but the time had come to get sufficiently near for the harpoon to be discharged. "Slowly, my men," said the captain, in a low voice; "slowly and softly!" Howick muttered something that implied that the whale had ceased blowing so hard, and that it was aware of their approach; the captain, upon this, enjoined the most perfect silence, but urged his crew onwards, until, in five or six minutes, they were within a cable's length of the finback. Erect at the stern the boatswain stood, and manoeuvred to get the boat as close as possible to the whale's left flank, while he made it an object of special care to keep beyond the reach of its formidable tail, one stroke of which could involve them all in instantaneous disaster. The manipulation of the boat thus left to the boatswain, the captain made ready for the arduous effort that was before him. At the extreme bow, harpoon in hand, with his legs somewhat astride so as to insure his equilibrium, he stood prepared to plunge his weapon into the mass that rose above the surface of the sea. By his side, coiled in a pail, and with one end firmly attached to the harpoon, was the first of the five lines which if the whale should dive to a considerable depth, would have to be joined end to end, one after another . "Are you ready, my lads?" said he, hardly above a whisper. "Ay, ay, sir," replied Howick, speaking as gently as his master, and giving a firmer grip to the rudder-oar that he held in his hands. "Then, alongside at once," was the captain's order, which was promptly obeyed, so that in a few minutes the boat was only about ten feet from the body of the whale. The animal did not move. Was it asleep? In that case there was hope that the very first stroke might be fatal. But it was hardly likely. Captain Hull felt only too sure that there was some different cause to be assigned for its remaining so still and stationary; and the rapid glances of the boatswain showed that he entertained the same suspicion. But it was no time for speculation; the moment for action had arrived, and no attempt was made on either hand to exchange ideas upon the subject. Captain Hull seized his weapon tightly by the shaft, and having poised it several times in the air, in order to make more sure of his aim, he gathered all his strength and hurled it against the side of the finback. "Backwater!" he shouted. The sailors pushed back with all their might, and the boat in an instant was beyond the range of the creature's tail. And now the immoveableness of the animal was at once accounted for. "See; there's a youngster!" exclaimed Howick. And he was not mistaken. Startled by the blow of the harpoon the monster had heeled over on to its side, and the movement revealed a young whale which the mother had been disturbed in the act of suckling. It was a discovery which made Captain Hull aware that the capture of the whale would be attended with double difficulty; he knew; that she would defend "her little one" (if such a term can be applied to a creature that was at least twenty feet long) with the most determined fury; yet having made what he considered a successful commencement of the attack, he would not be daunted, nor deterred from his endeavour to secure so fine a prize. The whale did not, as sometimes happens, make a precipitate dash upon the boat, a proceeding which necessitates the instant cutting of the harpoon-line, and an immediate retreat, but it took the far more usual course of diving downwards almost perpendicularly. It was followed by its calf; very soon, however, after rising once again to the surface with a sudden bound, it began swimming along under water with great rapidity. Before its first plunge Captain Hull and Howick had sufficient opportunity to observe that it was an unusually large balaenoptera, measuring at least eighty feet from head to tail, its colour being of a yellowish-brown, dappled with numerous spots of a darker shade. The pursuit, or what may be more aptly termed "the towing," of the whale had now fairly commenced. The sailors had shipped their oars, and the whale-boat darted like an arrow along the surface of the waves. In spite of the oscillation, which was very violent, Howick succeeded in maintaining equilibrium, and did not need the repeated injunctions with which the agitated captain urged his boatswain to be upon his guard. But fast as the boat flew along, she could not keep pace with the whale, and so rapidly did the line run out that except proper care had been taken to keep the bucket in which it was coiled filled with water, the friction against the edge of the boat would inevitably have caused it to take fire. The whale gave no indication of moderating its speed, so that the first line was soon exhausted, and the second had to be attached to its end, only to be run out with like rapidity. In a few minutes more it was necessary to join on the third line; it was evident that the whale had not been hit in a vital part, and so far from rising to the surface, the oblique direction of the rope indicated that the creature was seeking yet greater depths. "Confound it!" exclaimed the captain; "it seems as if the brute is going to run out all our line." "Yes; and see what a distance the animal is dragging us away from the 'Pilgrim,' " answered Howick. "Sooner or later, however," said Captain Hull, "the thing must come to the surface; she is not a fish, you know." "She is saving her breath for the sake of her speed," said one of the sailors with a grin. But grin as he might, both he and his companions began to look serious when the fourth line had to be added to the third, and more serious still when the fifth was added to the fourth. The captain even began to mutter imprecations upon the refractory brute that was putting their patience to so severe a test. The last line was nearly all uncoiled, and the general consternation was growing very great, when there was observed to be a slight slackening in the tension. "Thank Heaven!" cried the captain; "the beast has tired herself out at last." Casting his eye towards the "Pilgrim," he saw at a glance that she could not be less than five miles to leeward. It was a long distance, but when, according to his arrangement, he had hoisted the flag on the boat-hook which was to be the signal for the ship to approach, he had the satisfaction of seeing that Dick Sands and the negroes at once began bracing the yards to get as near as possible to the wind. The breeze, however, blew only in short, unsteady puffs, and it was only too evident that the "Pilgrim" would have considerable difficulty in working her way to the whale-boat, even if she succeeded at last. Meantime, just as had been expected, the whale had risen to the surface of the water, the harpoon still fixed firmly in her side. She remained motionless, apparently waiting for her calf, which she had far out-distanced in her mad career. Captain Hull ordered his men to pull towards her as rapidly as they could, and on getting close up, two of the sailors, following the captain's example, shipped their oars and took up the long lances with which the whale was now to be attacked. Howick held himself in readiness to sheer off quickly in the event of the finback making a turn towards the boat. "Now, my lads!" shouted the captain. "Look out! take a good aim! no false shots! Are you ready, Howick?" "Quite ready, captain," answered the boatswain, adding, "but it perplexes me altogether to see the brute so quiet all of a sudden." "It looks suspicious," said the captain; "but never mind; go on! straight ahead!" Captain Hull was becoming more excited every moment. During the time the boat was approaching, the whale had only turned round a little in the water without changing its position. It was evidently still looking for its calf, which was not to be seen by its side. All of a sudden it gave a jerk with its tail which carried it some few yards away. The men were all excited. Was the beast going to escape again? Was the fatiguing pursuit all to come over a second time? Must not the chase be abandoned? Would not the prize have to be given up? But no: the whale was not starting on another flight; it had merely turned so as to face the boat, and now rapidly beating the water with its enormous fins, it commenced a frantic dash forwards. "Look out, Howick, she's coming!" shouted Captain Hull. The skilful boatswain was all on the alert; the boat swerved, as if by instinct, so as to avoid the blow, and as the whale passed furiously by, she received three tremendous thrusts from the lances of the captain and the two men, who all endeavoured to strike at some vital part. There was a sudden pause. The whale spouted up two gigantic columns of blood and water, lashed its tail, and, with bounds and plunges that were terrible to behold, renewed its angry attack upon the boat. None but the most determined of whalemen could fail to lose their head under such an assault. Calm and collected, however, the crew remained. Once again did Howick adroitly sheer aside, and once again did the three lances do their deadly work upon the huge carcase as it rolled impetuously past; but this time, so great was the wave that was caused by the infuriated animal, that the boat was well-nigh full of water, and in imminent danger of being capsized. "Bale away, men!" cried the captain. Putting down their oars, the other sailors set to work baling with all their might. Captain Hull cut the harpoon-line, now no longer required, because the whale, maddened with pain and grief for the loss of its offspring, would certainly make no further attempt to escape, but would fight desperately to the very end. The finback was obviously bent on a third onslaught upon the boat, which, being in spite of all the men's exertions still more than half full of water, no longer answered readily to the rudder-oar. No one thought of flight. The swiftest boat could be overtaken in a very few bounds. There was no alternative but to face the encounter. It was not long in coming. Their previous good fortune failed them. The whale in passing caught the boat with such a violent blow from its dorsal fin, that the men lost their footing and the lances missed their mark. "Where's Howick?" screamed the captain in alarm. "Here I am, captain; all right!" replied the boatswain, who had scrambled to his feet only to find that the oar with which he had been steering was snapped in half. "The rudder's smashed," he said. "Take another, Howick; quick!" cried the captain. But scarcely had he time to replace the broken oar, when a bubbling was heard a few yards away from the boat, and the young whale made its appearance on the surface of the sea. Catching sight of it instantly, the mother made a fresh dash in its direction, the maternal instincts were aroused, and the contest must become more deadly than ever. Captain Hull looked towards the "Pilgrim," and waved his signal frantically above his head. It was, however, with [Illustration: The boat was well nigh full of water, and in imminent danger of being capsized] no hope of succour; he was only too well aware that no human efforts could effectually hasten the arrival of the ship. Dick Sands indeed had at once obeyed the first summons: already the wind was filling the sails, but in default of steam power her progress at best could not be otherwise than slow. Not only did Dick feel convinced that it would be a useless waste of time to lower a boat and come off with the negroes to the rescue, but he remembered the strict orders he had received on no account to quit the ship. Captain Hull, however, could perceive that the apprentice had had the aft-boat lowered, and was towing it along, so that it should be in readiness for a refuge as soon as they should get within reach. But the whale, close at hand, demanded attention that could ill be spared for the yet distant ship. Covering her young one with her body, she was manifestly designing another charge full upon the boat. "On your guard, Howick! sheer off!" bellowed the captain. But the order was useless. The fresh oar that the boatswain had taken to replace the broken one was considerably shorter, and consequently it failed in lever-power. There was, in fact, no helm for the boat to answer. The sailors saw the failure, and convinced that all was lost uttered one long, despairing cry that might have been heard on board the "Pilgrim." Another moment, and from beneath there came a tremendous blow from the monster's tail that sent the boat flying in the air. In fragments it fell back again into a sea that was lashed into fury by the angry flapping of the finback's fins. Was it not possible for the unfortunate men, bleeding and wounded as they were, still to save themselves by clinging to some floating spar? Captain Hull is indeed seen endeavouring to hoist the boatswain on to a drifting plank. But all in vain. There is no hope. The whale, writhing in the convulsions of death, returns yet once again to the attack; the waters around the struggling sailors seethe and foam. A brief turmoil follows as if there were the bursting of some vast waterspout. In a quarter of an hour afterwards, Dick Sands, with the negroes, reaches the scene of the catastrophe. All is still and desolate. Every living object has vanished. Nothing is visible except a few fragments of the whale-boat floating on the blood-stained water. [Illustration: There is no hope.] About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Jules Verne (2005). Dick sands, the boy Captain. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3250.html.images This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

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