Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-10-23
WHALING OFF LONG ISLAND.
Battle fifth a Forty Feet Monster on ii
4fraganseft Bar.


Battle fifth q Forty Feet Monster on the
An'aganseft Bar.
New York SUM-
In the fishing hamlet of Amagansett, near
Montauk point, Long Island, and on the
southern coast, sharp lookout is kept for
whales and menhaden. Menhaden are used
by the farmers for manure on their land.
while whales, which appear only about once
year, make money for the longshoremen.
Patrols ride up and down the beach. and
whenever either whale or menhaden are dis
covered orally" is sounded on long tin
horn carried by the patrolman on horseback.
Then white flag is quickly raised from the
top of Capt. Nat Edwards house if the an
nouncement means fish, but if it means whale,
then an immense national flag is pulled to
the stafs head as signal to the population
of fisherman
1t was fine weather on the LIST inst. when
at A. NJ. the "rally' was sounded and the
national colors faunted over Capt. Edwards
residence. A resident of this city was in
Amagansett, and he describes what followed.
Ihe hamlet has about five hundred inhab-
ltants, nearly half of whom are fishermen or
,longshoremen. Two boats were quickly
launched. Three are always kept on the
shore, fully equipped for whaling. In each
OF the two boats were six oarsmen besides
the helmsman. Capt. Nat Edwards, nearly
60 years of age, and who is an old whaler,
had the helm, and his brother Charley was
his bow oar and harpooner. Capt. futile
steered the second boat. Edwards was
ahead, and he steered for the whale, which
was seen half mile away on the edge of the
bar. 1t was gamboling. Tapping its tail,
turning over and over, and apparently hav-
ing jolly time. Edwards and his men
crept nearer little by little, yet tho whale
took no notice of them, and continued to
tumble about. But as Charley Edwards was
fumbling around for his harpoon and the
boat came nearer, the monster stopped play
ing and dropped out of sight like shot, its
tlukes Tapping the water with noise like a
pistol-shot as they followed the mass of the
body down.
The Tuttle boat had waited astern quar-
ter of a mile to come up in case of accident
to the leading boat, and to that end to keep
out of danger ITSELF This boat then APP
preached, and together the two boats floated
about for nearly an hour looking in vain in
every direction to see the whale rise. On
Sand Bluff the farmers had collected in
throngs, some riding their horses, and others
arriving on foot and out of breath. Finally
the patience Of the two captains wore out
and they set the men to work taking in fish
ing nets along shore, supposing that the
whale had escaped them.
'.Ihere she ISL suddenly cried one q few
minutes after the nets had been reached.
The whale had reappeared only a quarter
of mile distant. More carefully than be-
fore the Edwards boat was rowed within two
fathoms' reach of the whale. Charley Ed
wards stood in the bow and hurled the har-
pooh into the whales side, but the blow was
not strong enough, and the weapon was torn
out as the whale started off. Quick as
thought Charley snatched his seco4d har-
puon and hurled it. 1t sank deep, and had
1t strut little further rward it wonld
have made a fatal wound. The whale started
as though tt had been stung, and dragged
the boat for mile and ha at speed that
seemed, as the whaemen described it after
W. I'd, mile a minute. The water seemed
to rise and boil six inches above the boats
! gunhale. Suddenly with below the whale
doGe down. but in ten minutes the black,
shiny back again appeared, the fukes lash
| ing foam. Then Capt. Josh gave up the
helm and took his carefully ground lance
from its case. Going to the bow, while the
men padded as near the furious animal as
they dared, he leaned far over the boats gun
! vale, and with both hands thrust in the lance
behind the shoulder and worked it backward
and forward three times. Immediately a
ian ike, blood red mist spouted three times
from the whale. More furiously he dashed
| blindly about him with his fukes. Once the
boat narrowly escaped being struck, but the
experienced seamen kept out of reach.
| Suddenly the huge head rose four feet
clear out of the water. Then the lifeless
body relaxed and sank beneath the waves.
1t remained near the surface, however, and
a rope was passed around the fukes and fas-
tened. Rowing tandem, the boats towed the
whale to shore. Here new difficulty arose.
The surf rolled heavily. The whales tail
was made fast to the beach, but the under
low kept sweeping the body out toward the
sea. Capt. Edwards then cut hole in the
whales lower lip with spada, ard a cable
was fastened to it. The other end of the
cable was carried ashore, and with "Heave,
ohs,' the men pulled the heal up and fas-
tened it. But the sea swell was 80 heavy
that the strain on the three inch cable broke
1t. Again it was fastened and pulled in, and
again it was snapped like Irvine. For TWEEN
ty-four hours the victors worked thus to
secure their prize, and at last new and
larger cable was obtained that held fast.
1t was right whale, black, smooth, ard
shining. 1t measured about forty feet in
length. Capt Edwards called it "young-
st:r." Across its mouth were whalehoneg
which served as a sieve to retain it's food.
taken with water into its mouth, while the
water escaped through the meshes of the
WhalebOne. The f1ukeS made a carload
and were twelve feet across. After stripping
OFF the blubber, cutting off the head, and
carrying the jaws to land, the carcass was re
leased. For day it foated around the
wreck of the Catherine, sunk on the rocks
twenty EIGHT years ago, and yet holding aloft
her ribs intact, and then caught in .'lea
pousse,' or swift current setting away from
land, it was carrying out to sea. The whale
bone alone paid for the trouble, and every
man got two barrels of whale oil.
ROMANTIC SUICIDE.
Il Bride Ends Hes' Life In the Presence of