Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1878-07-31
CAPTURING a GRAMPUs.
One Of the Most FerOciOus and FOrmid-
able Inhabitants of the Ocean.
Toronto Globe

+ ! # Toronto Globe.
On Thursday last an unprecedented
arrival in our harbor (St. Johns n. Fly
took place. Two, grampuses of large
size were observed spouting with great
vigor and dashing about in a frantic.
bewildered manner in the waters of the
narrow entranceE of the harbor.1 They
had probably been tempted to pass the
narrow entrance of the harbor while in
pursuit of caplin, which are now around
the coast in enormous shoals After a
time onesof them escaped, and made its
way to the sea, but the other being pur-
sued by a boats crew from her maj
esty's steamship Sirius with a view to
capture it, headed for the western side
of the harbor, and at length got en-
| tangled IN some piles. and became COM
pletely powerless, its tail having be-
come fast between two stakes. Ropes
were passed around it, and it was drag
ged ashore, where it soon died. It
proved to be a full-sized grampus,
twenty-five feet four inches in length,
and fifteen feet in girth at it's thickest
part. Its mouth, when opened, dis
closed an array Of powerful teeth, forty
four IN number, large, conical, and some
What hooked, those furthest back being
t1attened at the summit. The tail is
seven feet IN width and forms a very
powerful propeller. The head is short
and round, the lower jaw somewhat
bent upward. 1t has three fins--two
pectorals, large and oval, and a dorsal
nearly on the middle Of the body. The
color of the skin on the back is a deep
black, the sides and abdomen being
white. Over the eye is a large white
patch.
Thus it will be seen that the grampus
is formidable animal, nearly half the
size of Greenland whale. It is seldom
seen around these shores, its favorite re-
sort being Greenland and Davis Straits.
1t is sometimes seen, in small held DIS, in
the British seas, but rarely captured. 1t
Is on record that one was captured in
the Thames in 1859, which was twenty
four feet in length; two more in 1772,
and another in 1898, which measured
thirty-one feet in length. One was
taken in Linn harbor in 1929, and was
dispatched with much difficulty by
crowd of boatmen. One of those taken
In the Thames in 1772 was pierced with
three harpoons, and pulled the at
tached boat twice from Black
wall to Greenwich at the rate of eight
miles an hour against the tide. $50
long as it was alive no boat could ven
ture to approach it, and the dying eff
forts of this formidable creature were
very terrible. 1t was finally killed op-
posite Greenwich Hospital" Had it
not been that it's tail was caught in the
way [ have described, between two
posts near wharf, this specimen
would have escaped, as there were no
appliances ready for its capture.
The grampus is voracious and war
like creature, devourirg immense guam
titles of cod, herring, halibut and
skate. 1t attacks the porpoises and
dolphins, and makes fierce war on seals.
1t said that small herd Of them fire.
quently attack true whale, tearing
huge mouthfuls of it's flesh with their
powerful teeth, like so many mastifs
around Il wild bull, and covering it with
blood and wounds, till the great giant of
the deep succombs to its more agile
foes.