The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1872-05-10

FIGHTING WHALES.
Correspondence Lexington (Ky.) Commercial
RuIlrfiu

$ FIGHTING WHALES.
q Correspondence Lexington (Ky.) Commercia
Bulletin.
> We are now within q cables lepgtl
OF the nearest whales, score o
boats close in our wakes, and ano,he
! ships boat tapping upon US. Grin
!. John Daggett, the mate, seemed go
ing mad mis- eyes started from thei
, sockets, teeth clenched, and bare
headed. / could see the veins in hi
, forehead and great brawny arm
swell almost to bursting, as the feve
heat of the chase came on. l pulled
the after oar, and so he guided tn
boat with one hand; his other, a
every stroke, caught my oar, throw
5 ing 1t against my breast, while it
: long blade quivered like piece o
! spring steel. Still the other boa
gained-creeping slowly abreast o
US.
"Pull, men-oh, if you love money
pull Don't let that boat pass US
Oh! spring, every mothers son o
you-boys, if you love me, pull. 4
keg of tobacco among ye, ii we ge
up to this whale! Alb, he blows
Oh, God, was back, broader'n th'
old womsn's parlor. Steady now
men, not a whisper, if you want tt
live nnn otrAEn cto
harpooner. Don't ye miss him, boy
look out when he rounds up-cool
my boy, cool-give it to him."
Down under my oar blade / saw o
huge black body, and the boat struck
something harder than a wave.
"Starn all {! starn all /! l tell ye,''
thundered grim old Vickings and ]
knew that we were fast. Heavens
how the line flew out, as If maddened
with pain the monster plunged down
ward. One, two, three hundred
fathoms of line out, and not sound
in the boat, save the cracking of the
line as it runs smoking around the
loggerhead, the mate Tightening it
every pound it would bear--every
man braced firm in his seat, grasping
his oar and waiting. But now the
slender cord slackened, for, tired and
breatbless, our prey is coming up.
AS 1 leaned over the gunwale, the
waters were clear as crystal, and /
fancied l could see to immense
depths in the tranquil element. Is
it possible more than fabled giant
is coming thence to battle with US ?
And in q few moments will it be his
blood or ours that shall turn this
pellucid blue to turpid crimson? A
shout startled me, and looking
around, there, lashing the sea TO
snow-driits, rolled our prey. And
what an antagonist! At least eighty
feet long, of huge eirth, he lay on his
back 1.-THE favorIle way of fighting OF
the catchelo0, his head depressed,
and his Jaw full fifteen feet long, ele-
waited in the air, and bristling with
sharp cleaning white teeth. His
roaring was fearful. Down to our
cars, and in q moment our mate had
his lance at work.
Keen as a razor blade, that long
thin lance found its way through hide
aud sinew, past piled up flesh and
rib, burying its head in the very
vitals of the monster. His throes of
agony were terrible and pitiful. AT
every lance thrust his body would
quiver along its entire length, and
the bright, red blood, hot from his
heart, rush in a torrent from his
spiracle. In vain he turnsupon us
the well trained crew slip the boat
out from under his very jaw, and as
he shuts il down to crush US, and as
he rushes by, again the lance cuts its
cruel way.
No play, this kind Of hunting.
No long-ranged rifles fires from safe
distance. A grand hand to-Eand
combat, graphing the greatest living
animal in q life and death struggle.
No place 10 that boat for weak nerves.
These be earnest men, snatching sub
sis,ence for families from Gu. Of the
sea, and conquering its king. lie
strives to escape, but the iron is gall-
ing, and spouting ten gallons of
blood at every breath, he is growing
weak. The blood has covered us;
and old mate looks like the butcher
he is. Oh! old fe!low-your enemies
have closed upon you, and no fear.
1t is your life or theirs, and man
triumphs over the brute.
But now the coup de grace is gwen,
and he is dying. On his side, swim
ring blindly, he sweeps grandly
around in q narrowing circle, until
at last, heading toward The sun as his
vision grows more and more dark,
mighty throe shakes the huge form,
convulsive shudder IS in last vain
struggle for life--snd huge un-
wieldly mass, heaving upon the long
swells, attests mans supremacy upon
water as well as upon land.
While we had been at work, the
other boats had not been idle. When
our whale reappesred from its first
msd plunge, the whole school sur
rounded him, or, in whaler's parlance,
"brought to-" for there is deal of
honest sympathy in q school of sperm
whales. A fleet of boats dashed in
and quickly selecting his prey, CON-
menced the work Of death. The
scene was a perfect pandemonium--
the whales, entangled in many lines,
striving to escape; here enc on his
back, his great bristliug jaw elevated,
and lines attached to other whales
wound round and round it; there
another, trying to fight his way clear
of the mass, dealing tremendous
blows with "fukes," and fins. The
surrounding boats press upon them,
the lances flashing in the sunlight.
the shouting crews covered with
blood, wild with excitement and joy.
The waves caught bright, red tint
we were floating in sea OF human
blood.
But one alter another, breaking
away from the entangled mass, went
into his "furry," and dragging after
BIN the boat, its officers still plying
the lance--the monster, iorsaken by
tie school, yielded and turned "tin
up.' Our ship secured three OF the
prizes, among which our boat cap
tured the king, being what is termed
a s:hundred bar'l teller" AT noon
we had them alongside the ship
secured them with massive chains,
and made sale to gain an ofiing
before beginning the work Of cut
ting in.
BEREA COLLEGE IN Kentucky, IS
the Oberlin of the South. Its doors
stand open to whites and blacks alike.
1t is 8 center from which the influ.
ence Of education, freedom and
Christianity strike out in all the
surrounding country. Many years
400 Its foundation wss laid by col,
o1y from the North, led by John 6.
Fee. 1t throve amidst persecution
+ and though just before the war, Its
i II Il hxr q "a