Wisconsin tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1847-1854, 1852-03-11
VOLUME Y. NUHBER 20.

Slowly TO leCWard, having made COM
/ plete circuit
/ | frankly admit my hopes were feeble
! of ever really capturing him, and the gale
made me hesitate about lowering. but the
time arrived the Serpent was still and
/ we nearly q Lalf mile to windvard [
come to with the head wards abaek to
have better control of all the ship. and
told the ship-keeper to keep close to US
and by no means to lose sight of Us for
an instant. We lowered, myself taking
the lead, and in few strokes-the wind
and sea carrying Us to leeward-I told
tue boat-steerer. James Whittcmorc. Of
Vermont, to stand up;' with calm and
cool intrepidity he laid hold Of his iron.
(harpooE), and, when [ beckoned with
movement Of my hand, quick as thought
both of his weapons were buried to the
socket in the repuls,ve body before US.
| shouted, StcrR,' but there was no visi-
bic motion of his snaheship. I shifted
ends with the boat-steerer and cleared
away a lance as quick as possible, beck
onlng them to pull up, that [ might get
lance. when a movement of the body was
visible, aud the head and tail of the mon
ster rushed as 1t were to touch the wound
The frightfuluess Of tie head. as ii an
preached the boat, filed the crew with
terror, and three of them Jumped over
board, | iustinctiyely held out my lance
and It's sharp point entered the eve-I
was knocked over. and felt a deep churn
ing OF the water around mel rose to
the surface, and caught a glimpse of the
writhIng body, was again struck and car
1Hi down | r,2rfl,- lost ,,,,- noDz,-1r,,-
ness under water, bat recovered it when
| rose again, in the bloody foam. the
Snake had disappeared, and I shouted,
" Pick up the line" The third mate Mr.
Benson, caught blight of my line near
the end, and beat Oh his, which in an in
slant began to be taken out rapidly The
mate picked me up as soon as l rose TO
the surface, and IN few minutes all were
picked up-one was severely bruised, and
another inseus bic, but he recovered. and
both are now we'll The Snake had taken
my line, the third mates, and was taking
the second mates, when | ordered the
mate to bend on and give his line to the
smp. 1Ao Snake was sounding. and I
cautioned the officers not to hold on too
hard for fear of drawing the irons. At
hrst the line went out rapidly, but de-
creased gradually, nevertheless | was
obliged to get up a spare line out Of the
tore-h0ld and bend on. For fear that the
ship would by its weight on the line draw
the irons, L put on several drugs and gave
the line to the mate, when it became sta
tIOnary. There was now out four boats
lines, % fathoms IN a boat. and two
thirds Of another line, 100 fathoms more
in all one thousand fathoms six feet in
fathom-siZ thousand fect-better than
05le Hllh anil an ciehth. an enormous
depth, aud the pressure at that distance IS
inconceiyabje
1t was nov blowing furiously. and [
scarcely dared to carry sail enough to
keep the ship up, the boat was in peril.
and / was obliged to take the line to the
ship again, aad run the risk of the irons
drawing / made the end Of the line fast
and took in all sail but enough to keep
her steady. and waited Ia alarm the
Snakes rising, the parting of the liue. or
the irons drawing At 4 p NJ, wind be-
gan to snift, which favored US a little at
IS 2. M, It, to our great joy, began to
abate
p Ma sudden lull: line taut.-
The night was beautiful. the sky clear.
wind scarcely breath, and sea rapidly
falling
No eye was closed in the ship. we were
spCculating on our prey. It was evident
he was on the bottom. He sta;d down a
long time but on reflection | considered
that was his tortc-that he was al home
there At \ NJ, Of the l4th. sixteen
hours after he went down, the line began
to slack. [ had 1t taken 10 the windlass
when we got nearly two lines hand over
hand, then there come a strain again -
This strain continuing, l told every body
TO bear hand and get breakfast. and Just
before we were through, the cook cried
out, Here he is" Il no time, all were
on deck. aud sure enough he had risen
but all that was visible was bunch, ap-
parently the blight Of the Snake, where
he had been fastened to [ lowered three
boats, and we lanced the body repeatedly
without elic.ting any sign Of life.
While We were at work, he gradually
rose to the surface, and around him float
ed, what took to be pieces Of his lungs
which we had cut with our lances To
make our work sure we continued to lance
eagerly seeking for his life. when be drew
HlulSeL up. anu We Pu4Lcu AVA dhu tACH
witnessed the terrific dying struggles Of
the monster. None Of the crew who wit
messed that terrible scene viii ever forget
1.-THE evolutions of the body we're rapid
as lightning, seeming like the revolving
of thousand enormous black wheels
The tai and head would occasionally ap-
pear in the bloody foam. and sound
was heard so dead, unearthly, and ex
pressive Of acute agony, that thrill of
horror ran through our veins. The con
vulsive efforts lasted ten or fifteen min
utes, when they suddenly stopped, the
head was partly raised--it fell-the body
partly turned, and lay still. l took of
my hat, and nine terrific cheers broke
simultaneously from our thrOats.-Our
prey 1cas dead :!
Luckily be Hoated 6uoyantly, and we
took him alongside, and while doing so,
be turned over, lying belly up Every
eye beamed with JOY as we looked at him
over the rail, and the crew again eheered
w