The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-06-19
WHALING.
A Stranded LIE viathan Captured in Rari-
tan Bay.

A Stranded Leyiathan Captured in Rari
tan Bay.
The fishing season has opened earlier
than usual this year at South Amboy
and the piscatory inhabitants are con
graduating themselves on so suspicious
| a commencement as the capture of al
enormous whale. Last week Job Spain
| saw, q short distance from the shore,
| what appeared to him to be a slOop bot
! tom upward. The water was not more
than five feet deep, and the supposed
boat had grounded on an oyster-bed.
| While Spain was specializing as to the
| probable fate of the crew, the object
| began to move perceptibly, and several
| jets of water were thrown into the air.
Job rushed to the house of Capt.
| Roberts and surprised that mariner be-
| yond measure by assuring him that
there was a whale in the oyster-bed. A
| single glance at the dark, glistening
mass, rising four feet out of the water,
assured the experienced captain that
the creature was indeed a leviathan of
large dimensions, hard aground. Arm
ing himself with gun, hatchet, and
considerable quantity of powder and
ball, he jumped into boat and started
upon one of the most remarkable fishing
excursions within the range of his ex-
perience. Arrived within few yards
of the monster, he took a steady aim
and planted q ball under its fin. The
bullet sank beneath the skin and a jet
of blood spurted out, but for all the
effect produced upon the whale the en-
terprising captain might as well have
fred into the trunk of a tree. How
ever, he tried a second shot and third,
and continued to practice upon the crea-
ture until its sides looked like target
after a German shooting festival. He
thinks he would have finally have slain
it had his ammunition and daylight
held out, but in the absence of any more
lead he seized his trusty hatchet and
prepared to renew the contest at close
quarters.
Again and again. that murderous blade
sank deep into the side of the monster,
and every stroke was followed by re-
sponsiye spasm. It was warm work,
and though the captain has few equals
with oyster-tongs, after he had cut a
hole in the creatures side about four
teen inches long by eight wide and
foot deep he was glad to rest. The
whale was apparently as fresh as ever,
and showed no signs of going into his
final furry, though he eviuced an over
whelming desire to get off the oyster
bed.
Meanwhile Bloodgood, having heard
of the event, had not been idle. He
had gone to Samuel Ney, the village
blacksmith, and made him blow up his
fire and manufacture a stout iron spear
ten feet In length. With this formida-
BILE weapon hot from the forge, he was
now seen approaching the shore accom-
panied by Ney. Capt. Roberts saw
them coming, and renewed his onset up
on the whale, enlarging the hole several
inches, but failing to kill the crea ure.
The blacksmith evinced an amount of
cool discernment IN the face of danger
not unworthy of his French nanesake |
of martial renown. He directed Blood |
good to spear the whale in the hole made |
by the captains hatchet. The hint was |
acted upon, and four feet of iron sank
into the whales blubber. The struggle
was not long in doubt after that. With
the skill of Arctic voyagers, the three
men kept out of reach of the monster
in his dying /" furry, and in ten min
utes he was dead whale. Not all the
rowboats in South Amboy could have
towed him off the oyster-bed, but
fastened hawser to him and |
dragged him ashore, where the united |
CAOIbS VI bl0 luldDltdltb udulOu I'LL
out of the water.
The whale was found to measure 49, |
feet in length, 9 feet through the body, /
and thirty feet in circumference. The |
hea was 10 feet long, and the tail IA |
feet. The gjlIs, from which the whale
bone is produced, were 81 feet long. /
Before night it was all cut up and the
blubber tried out. Much of the oil was
lost, but it Is estimated at least twenty
barrels remain, which will realize about |
1860. The whalebone is worth 500.
When the remains were being taken to
the fields to be buried, two yoke Of oxen
we're hardly able TO drag the upper
part of the head, and one yoke were
fully employed in removing the snout.