River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1880-07-15

\
mer Cant, IOngstreet and his hired
man hoist sail on the Selby at 4
o'clock every morning, when there is a
wind, and make for the rocks three
miles straight away Oft Seabright beach,
known to fisherman as the middle
ground. fla wind does not serve, Capt.
Longstreet and his hired man raise an
ashen breeze that soon puts them along
side of the rocks. In the cool, shaded
waters, ten fathoms deep, about the
rocks, bluefish and sea bass disport,
feeding eagerly upon the varieties OF
shell fish that make the rocks their
home. Capt. Longstreet knows every
nook and pool in the rocks, and his
boat rarely returns to the beach without
a heavy lading. At the usual hour on
Thursday morning, fair land breeze
serving, Capt Longstreet made sail on
the SelDy and put off for the rocks. AT
ter the anchor was cast the hired man
chopped mossbunkers into fine pieces,
and, Mt dawn, Capt. Longstreet began to
scatter them astern.
Fishermen" said Capt. Longstreet
Yesterday "cal this making "a slick,
because the oil in the mossbunkers
gives the water greasy look. The bits
| of mossbunkers float away, making a
| long trail from the stern of the boat.
With this trail hluefish can be brought
from miles away. They run up the
trail, swallowing the bits of mossbunk-
er, until they near the boat, and then
they are liable to swallow hook baited
with a tempting bit of mOssbunker.
| We fish with Il stout line, the hook
| being fastened with several feet of wire.
There is no sinker on the line, and,
when the tide runs strong, the hook
keeps a foot or two below the surface.
When ] thought | had made long
enough trail on Tuesday morning, |
cast my line and stood up in the boat to
handle it spryly. Well, | hauled in the
| bluefish and sea bass now and then until
about IL o'clock. Then | noticed that
| the bites became rarer / told my man
| to heave over more mossbunker, and
he did. But that didn't seem to do any
good. | was puzzled. The day was
! fine, the sea was right and the trail was
strong. Suddenly | felt a strong pull,
and a splash told me that had hooked
prime bluetish | began to haul it in
| leisurely. When it was within about
fifteen feet of the boat ON the port
side, it made sudden plunge forward.
| At the same instant | saw the dorsal
! tin of shark close behind it. The
sharks tail churned the water fully
twelve feet away, and | knew that the
shark must be ut least fifteen feet long.
Next the head rose out of the water,
and the great mouth, set with teeth
like those of a log-saw, opened and shut
in vicious snap ut the bluefish
"a common shark has shovel nose
and must, on account of the shOrtness
! of the under jaw, turn over on his back
to seize his prey But the black shark,
| the 'man-eater' of southern attitudes,
has longer under jaw, and snaps at
his victim as an ordinary fish does.
saw that the shark nearing the boat was
man-eater, the largest one that | even
heard of i'll this part 0fthe world. | say
frankly that lost all interest in the
bluefish on my line. | was willing to
let the shark have it if he would steer
| clear of me. | let go of my line, but
! the bluefish darted straight for the boat
slipping under it and escaping The
shark, followed closely with open
mouth, plunged his nose through the
tuck of the boat about a foot forward
| of the stern, and his under jaw closed
| on the keel with crash like the cut OF
an AK in dry tree trunk. Water squirt
! ed into the boat The shock threw me
| headforemost out of the boat. | sank
and, as / rose, felt that | was kept
under by the agitation of the water bythe
| To- Nh fl1faV Ton.
| the propeller of Il tug. But | strnck out
vigorously, and, to my horror came tC
| thesurface alongside the tail ofthe shark
| put out my hand before | realized
fully where | was, and touched his cold
| body and | remember | thought, How
hard and strong this is 7 As turned
| to swim toward the boat my right foot
struck his long tail, and here is tho
mark of the contact As soon as ] GOT
to swimming | felt at ease. didn't
seem to realize, as | do now, the hor
rified fate that awaited me if the strug
| Cling monster alongside of me got his
head clear of the hole i'll the boat. But
! | expected every moment to see him
turn and snap me up as he would :
weak fish. | climbed into the boat
helping myselfby putting my knee on
the sharks back The boat was full q
water, and sunk nearly TO the water
edge. My man had remained in it
| We threw over fish and bailed, all the
while shouting for help.
"John Irons, of Seabright, and his
hired man had been fishing about 4
| quarter of mile away. They had
hauled in their anchor and began tc
row home. They heard our cries and
pulled for us like men. We sprang in
| to their boat and felt like men rescued
from shipwreck. | got our anchor
aboard, and we began to pull toward the
beach, towing the Selby. / tell you she
was heavy tow, a quarter full of fish
water-logged, and dragging that hungry
sea devil, weighing probably close on tC
1000 pounds, pulling and splashing
Another fishing boat, sighting ou
strange tow, overhauled us. At that in
slant there was tremendous splash be
hind us and our tow was lightened. The
shark had got clear and next we saw
his dorsal fin circling around the boat
We concluded that the best way to get
rid of him was to right the Selby as fal
us we could We got her between the
two other boats, stuffed my oilskin coat
and trousers, and my hired mans in
the breach made by the shark, and
baled. Then we shifted the fish to the
bow, canting her forward and towed
her stern foremost. But the shark
still circled about us, his dorsal fin hiss
ing through the water. AS we got to
shallower water he rolled over, and with
heavier lurch and parting splash of
his tail, plunged out of sight. This
logged pursuit is a characteristic of the
man caters. They hold on like bull
dog when their teeth meet on their prey,
and drag it down by sheer weight,
"When we beached the Selby we
found gashes in her keel made by the
sharks teeth, that looked as though
they had been made with Ratchet.
A man could crawl through the hole in
her side. The city people boarding in
the hotels and cottages flocked to look
at the boat and listen to our story OF
the encounter with the shark. | have
followed the sea for a living for years,
and | must follow it for many year to
come: and So if the good little Selby is
ready for me on Monday morning, III
put out to the rocks again bright and
early"
The Story of Austin ID. Moore.
New York Sun.
Austin ID. Moore, the son of the late
Austin ID. Moore, died on Wednesday
after n short illness. nj II BROOKLYN ay-