The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1880-11-18
0ld-Time Whaling.

I ~ q, Old-Time Whaling.
4 A harpoon~was not a toasting-fork to
throw in the days when men oftener
threw the iron by muscle instead OF
powder. 1t is a IS shad," with a heavy
wooden pole five or six feet in length
fastenedint the socket Of the iron barb.
Ihls, with the line attached, makes a
j weight requiring for the cast the use
OF both arms, and strong arms at that.
A man would not care, to carry a har-
poon more than mile in hot day. Its
own weight, as much as the impellino
force, is depended on to bury itself in
the fioatlng mound OF seemingly pol
lshed India rubber which constitutes a
Whale above water. And when it first
buries itself, there IS, for few seconds,
some vicious splashing and ugly flirting
OF luke or tin. A whales tail is an in
| strument of otfense of about one hundred
horse power. and wei adapted to cut
ting through q boat as a table knife
] goes through an egg shell. The two
Ans suggest members between paddles
and rudimentary arms. 1t is also O
/ member very capable of striking out
from the right or left shoulder, and
striking very hard. When ahalf-dozen
men are within six feet of these weap-
ons, controlled by an enormous black
sunkena mass, eighty or one hundred
1sfeet long, they are apt to look. tribe
| wild and their eyes have a tendeney to
bulge. There are stories among whale
men OF boat-steerers who have had all
the grit permanently taken out of them
by the perils and catastrophes of that
moment. A New Londoner once had
the cap swept from his head by the
sweepsof the whaie's' tail over it, and
she was too nervous for boat service ever
safterWard, 1t is no skulking light like
shooting lions and tigers from the
shelter of trees or rocks. It's a
|. fair sstand-tip combat between half a
dozen 'mens in an segggg-shen of boat
on the open sea, and sometimes on
/ heavy ocean billows,s and five hundred
tons OF flesh, bone and muscles, which,
II only animated by a few more grains
OF sense, could ram the whaleship her
self as effectualy as an ironciad. Y Ha1f
a century ago mad whale in this way
sent a. Nantucket ship to- the bottom.
As q murderous spectacle the capture
and killing Ola whale, as seen even by.
sea-cook from the galley window, IS
something ultra-exeiting It makes.
one IS hairs stand upon both ends. T19ss
There is the whaleboat, the men sita
ting fhotionless in their seats,g the long
shars apeak, shooting through the water
towed blythe whale unseen underneath
the surface. Sometimes two or three
boats hitch on, for the. morefthe whale
has to drag the sooner he becomes ex-
hausted.- Now they haul in on him and
carefully coil the wet line In the tubs
Closer and closer they near him. ,setlie
passage OF the greatmassz under water.
being marked by swlrls: and ,eddies on
The surface. Our herculean king,
% Black Jake is at the bow, the round,
razor-edged, long handled lance lying
by him, his back toIthe crew, his eye on
the eddies, his great bare black arms, {
! now the right. now the left moving
first in one direction, then another, as
thus he signals to the steersman the di-5,
feetion in which to keep the boats
head; for although we are being towed
as a tug would tow skitf, we must be-
kept as near as possible IN line with
the submerged motive power,f and then
with a swash and snort. out of the
water six feet ahead comes twenty,
maybe forty feet of that great black
mass! It's astonishing how much there
is of him. Sand he is down and under,
with his great gulp of air, in less time
than it takes to write or even speak
these last twenty words, but not before
the lance is outsof Jakets hands, driven
! three feet into his side, and. hauled
aboard again by the light, strong line
attached, Suddenly the whale line
slacks. The boat ceases its rush through
the water. The eddy and swirl ahead
cease. Now look out for squalls. This
is one of Mrs. Grayback's peculiar
tricks. She is ambushed somewhere
below. She designs coming up under
the boats bottom, and constituting
herself into submarine island of
flesh, bobbing like released cork. She
is resolving herself into submarine
earthquake, and proposes to send that
boat and crew ten feet into the air, or
capsizing them off her India-rnbber
back. One hundred or five hundred.
tons of wicked intelligence lis thus
gropfng about in the unseen depths for
the purpose of attaining the propent
position,1 and, as it were, exploding |
herself like an animated torpedo Every
seat in the boat is an anxious seat.
There is no talking, but great deal of |
unpleasant anticipation. Those who
have seen the thing done before, await |
in dread suspense the shocksand upset. |
1T very much like beingover powder
magazine about to explode. To keep
up the interest let us leave this partacu-
lar boat and situation in stasu quo.
Your imagination, may complete the
catastrophe or not, as you choose. Final
consummations are, not desirable in e |
thrilling tale, and this tale is meant to /
be thrilling. Therefore, if yousve got
a thrill IN you, please thrill = 80
From the schooner's deck, q mile and |
half lf.away. Captain, cook and cooper.
the head, tail and midriff of the ship,s
company -now perceive that the white |
puff of spray from the whales blow |
holes has changed to darker color.
E Spouting blood,n we remark. The
boat is lying quite near by. Atintervals
of q few minutes circular streak Of !
white water is seen breaking the smooth |
surface OF the lagoon. He sin his l. fur
u