The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1880-11-20
Old.Tlme whaling.

threw the iron by muscle lnStedu VI
1t is /" shad," with heavy
wooden pole five or six feet in length
fastened into the socket OF the iron barb.
This, with the line attached, makes
weight requiring for the cast the use
of both arms, and strong arms at that.
A man would Lot care. torcarry a har-
pooh more than mile IN hot day. Its
own weight, as much as the impelllng
force, is depended on to bury itself in
the floating mound of seemingly pol
ished India-rubber which constitutes a
whale above water. And when it first
buries ITSELF, there IS, for few seconds,
some vicious splashing and ugly hirfing
of fiuke or fin. A whales tail is an in
strument of offense of about one hundred
horse power and well adapted to cut
ting through a boat as 4 table knife
goes through an egg shell. The two
fms suggest members between paddles
and rudimentary arms. 1t is also
member very capable OF striking out
from the right or left shoulders and
striking very hard. When half-dozen
men are within six feet of these weap-
ons, controlled by an enormous black
sunken mass, eighty or one, hundred
feet long, they are apt to look tribe
wild and their eyes have tendency 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
sweep of the whales tail over it, and
he was too nervous for boat service ever
afterward. 1t is no skulking fight like
shooting lions and tigers from the
shelter of trees or rocks. It's a
fair stand-up combat between half a
dozen men in an egg-sheH 'of IA boat
on the open sea, and sometimes on
heavy ocean pillows, and five hundred
tons Of flesh, bone and muscles. which,
if only animated by q few more grains
of sense, could ram the whaleship her
self as effectually Us an ironclad- Half
century ago mad whale in this way
sent Nantucket ship to the bottom.
As murderous spectacle the capture
and killing of q whale. as seen even by
sea-cook from the galley window, is
something ultra-exciting. 1t makes
ones hairs stand upon both ends. ~
There is the whaleboat, the men sit
ting motionless in their seats, the long
bars apeak, shooting through the water
towed by the whale unseen underneath
the surface. Sometimes, two. or three
boats hitch on, for the pa6re the 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 aud closer they near him, the
passage Of the great mass under water
being marked by swIrls 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 to the crew, his eye|on
| the eddies, his great bare black arms,
now the right, now the ileH-moving
first in one direction, then. another, as
thus be signals the, steersman the .di-
rection in which to keep the boats
head; for although we are being towed
as tug would tow a skitf,. we must be
kept as near as possible in b line with
the submerged motive power, and then
with & swash and snort. -out of the
water six feet ahead sc0mess twenty.
maybe forty feet of that great black
mass! It is astonishing how much there
is of him. And 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 out of Jake's hands, driven
three feet into his side, and hauled
aboard again by the light, strong line
attached Suddenly the whale line
Stacks. The boat ceases its rush through
the water. The eddy and swirl ahead
cease. Now look ont 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 a submarine island o.
flesh, bobbing like released cork. Shs
is resolving herself into submarine
earthquake, and proposes to send tina
boat and crew ten feet into the air, o.
capsizingr them off her sIndisrubbe
back. One hundred or FIVE shdhdred
tons of wicked intelligence is thu
cropping about in the unseen depths fol
the purpose of attaining the prope
4 position, and, as it weres explQdius
4 herself like an animated torpedb. Ever
seat in the boat is an anxious seat
There is no talkjng, but great deal o
unpleasant anticipation. Those 'wh'
have seen the thing done before, await
in dread suspense, the shock and upset
It's very much like being over . powder
magazine about to explode. To keel
| up the interest let us leave this partlcu
| lar boat and situation IN >9qetrpuo
Your Imagination may complete tn
catastrophe or not, as you choose. oFiha
consummations are not desirable in
thrilling tale, and this tale is meant II
| be thrilling. Therefore, if you've go
| a thrill in you, please thrill. 'as 80
(. From the schooner's deck. a mile an,
half away, Captain, cook and coope
the head, tail and midriif Of the ship'
company-now perceive that the whit
puff of spray from the. whales blow
holes has chhnged ID q, darker color