National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1869-09-17
Extraordinary capture Of Whales
One Hundred and seventy.live
Whales killed at the llebrides.

chase to the London Times, under
date of July 81:
This morning at about three o'clock,
while sleeping on board my yacht in
StOrnOway harbor,l was awOke by q
loud noise of men shouting and
hammering near the yacht. ! went
on deck immediately,when l Observ.
ed number of men in three or four
boats attempting to drive a shOal of
large fish Numbering perhaps 20O)
SSMs' We're evidently j Of the Whale species,
were blowing, and constantly rising
to the surface of the water; they
turned toward the sea, and were
closely followed by the boats, which
shortly turned them again toward
the mouth of the harbor. The move
ment was repeated several times,
and after a while some other beats
well manned appeared. The scene
now became still more interesting,
for the whales being more hardly
pressed made brilliant dash toward
the sea, going away at a terrific
pace in a straight course for the
open sea the speed appeared to be
nothing less than forty miles an
hour,the water rising III misty foam
as they cut through it. The course
the whales were taking left little
hope for the success of their pursu.
rs,but coming upon point of land
when shoaled the water, a sudden
: turn to the right brought them again
,, in the direction of the harbor; an
J hour or two soon passed, and the
. fishermen of StOrOway, becoming
aware of what was going on, began
! to join the chase, and dozen boats
Il were soon in pursuit. the whales now
;, making away for the distant part of
!, !, the ~, and, again baffied by the
i projecting points of land bending
!, the course of the deep watcr,return-
l ed upon their prusuers again and
II again. 1t was now nearly 9O'clock,
and it appeared as if every human
Il being in town were bent on making
u the capture of so valuable a prize
Boats containing men, women and
+ children ilocked to the scene of
action, and soon 50 rowing and sail
ing boats were engaged in the chase ,
c and as the rowcrs became exhausted
,r by the tremendous exertion of long
II continued and fast rowing of heavy
u, boats, they were relieved by relays
from the people on shore the nu
III merous fishermen who first joined
u in the sport were replaced now by
bakers, butchers, masons, Carpen-
ters, women and children. The
n shops were closed and the town
l. deserted; and so the hunt cOntin-
l. ucd; 10, II, II, and o'clock came,
&c and, certainly, if the inhabitants OF
y the islands are as persevering and
Il as indcfatigable always as they
H. have proved themselves to day they
te deserve to be the most prosperous
ne people in the world. Not an instant
III were the whales permitted to rest ;
I'll continually harasscd, from having
ne been timid in the extreme when
a, first attacked, they now became
u careless of their enemy and allowed
III, themselves to be struck by the oars
M as they rushed past the boats tc
NJ escape from the various creeks int
an which they had been pressed. "A
3 o'clock p. IN. they were dislodget
~; from a position which they hat
hd maintained for some hours in dis
no tant part of the bay or outer harbor
me an, were driven about Il mile tOwar'
,o' the inner harbor. Again they mad
Nv several attempts 10 escape, but b.
p'' an unucky turn they rushed owe
hu shoal ground, and now the mos
'o' exciting time of the day cam'
'f'' Maddened by the difficulty of mo'
~ ing in shallow water, the whale
ie' dashed lrantically from side to sid'
ave raising the sea into violent breaker
as though q gale had disturbed I'll
oW, water, rocking the small fradln
use vessels to and fro as they approach
en-" ed. The boats now began to con
'np up in numbers, the whales wei
blinded by the commo,ion they ha
=. created. thickcning the shallow W
WIN ter. Having kept closely unitt
IAN IAN during the whole day,the shoal no
IKE became divided they seemed, as
ring were IN become at once bewildcre
'er." and allowed themselves TO be goa
cd by the boats TO the shore, to
= dispatched one by one by the hsh'
" w men.
I will not attempt TO describe VIII
is still going on; suffice 10 to 81
ana that. as far as I can judgc,and fro
te Is The opinion of the fishermen, the
will be at least 200 whales take
half that number are already kiile
rom and as many more are safe with
'ota' the harbor. The whales are,
believe, all of one kind, known
'out thc bottlcnose species; they mca
'ul urc in length from 10 feet to II fe
The fishermen will make q grt
gain by the prize, and they well
,e In serve il. The chase from the fiji
IS to until the whales were driven will
the inner harbor, lasted upwards
IL hours, commencing mt 2 oclt
= rc. n. M. and the first being killed so
or to after 3 y. IN. II is said t0 be u yc
si,cc a shoal Of whales has enic
this bay NO far; the event OF tot
Kim. has been the most exciting thlii!
id II have ever secn--a scene seq
witnessed, and one never 10 w
gotten. ,,..
story Since writing the above ! ie'
~ In that ] 10 whales are n,'t""s ,;,no' m
! the The value understand Is es''m"