The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-09-19 00:00:00

A WHALE HUNT.

A recent number of the Oatace-Zeitung contains
the account of an attempted capture of a whale,
which had been noticed cruising for several days in
the Putziger Wick, near Henbude, outside Dantzic.
The fish was first sighted by the crew o this Imperial
Majesty's ship Ariadne, which was lying at anchor
outside Dantzic. The correspondent says :—" The
last few days a whale (of the species called fin-fish—
Batavia physalua), about 40 feet long, has been roving
about here, and several vessels have fired on him.
This morning, as he again approached our ship, the
captain and myself got into our steam pinnace, each
armed with a needle gun and a few cartridges, They
were soon used, our firing seemingly causing the old
gentleman seine anxiety. The gig soon brought us fresh
ammunition, but unfortunately not my harpoon and
whale line. We easily manieuvred the fish into
shallow water, lodging several balls in his head, so
that he was unable, probably partly also on account
of the shallow water, to dive. We did not lose sight
of him after, even while he was under water, and
were able to follow him in • the pinnace, never being
more than twenty paces from him. Shot after shot
was sent into his body; we could hear the balls strike
against the skull bones. As the fish did not offer
to charge us, we grew bolder, and got so near him as
to be able almost to reach him with our rifles, keeping
up steam continually, and following him, and firing as
rapidly as we could load. The last 30 shots he got in
the head, not one missing. He began to show blood,
and reeled sensibly. Our ammunitioa being exhausted,
75 cartridges having: been fired, of which at least 50
were safe in his body, we were at a loss what to do
next. Harpoons we had not. Fortunately the mid-
shipman carried his side-arm; I lashed it to a boat-
hook, and the lance was ready. We neared him as close
as we possibly could. Three times I thrust the blade into
him body to the bone, twice in the head and once in
the neck, it requiring the combined exertion of three
of us to withdraw the weapon. He began to bleed
considerably f the holes, but succeeded after all in
reaching deep water, so that we lost iirlat of him from
time to time. He became also very a ary, .6nd steered
his course straight into the open sea. As the captain
had to attend to duty at the squadron, we had to turn
back reluctantly, and let the fish go his way, battered,
slashed, and bruised as he was. He looked very strange
indeed, and cannot survive long, considering that we
, had been belabouring him for nearly a whole hour."—
Laud and Water.

"THE Busy B."—Policeman Ham-k :"Ha !
I must stop this row !"—Policeman Bull: Take care
what you're about. Is it in your beat? Tain't us
mine. I know a party by the name of 'Spain'
Rather! !"—Pun-h.

"WASH Iltst," SAID MR. Dicic.—A little girl,
walking through Peel.place, Bradford, the other day,
innocently asked her guardian who was that "black
man" standing on a pedestal in the centre of the area,
and the answer was, "It is the statue of Sir Robert
Peel, and he, my dear girl, was not a black man."
" Mt why did they represent him as a black man?' 'He
has turned black from the effects of the weather."
"Then," said the logical girl, "why don't they wash
him?"