New Ulm weekly review., 1881-01-05
Old.Time Whaling.

Old.Time Whaling.
a harpoon was not toasting-fork to
throw in the days when men oftener
threw the iron by muscle instead Of
powder. It is q I" shad," with heavy
wooden pole five or six feet in length
fastened into the socket of the iron barb.
This, with the line attaehel, makes q
weight requiring for the cast the use
of both arms, and strong arms at that.
A man would not care TO carry har-
poon more than a mile in a hot day. Its
own weight, as much as the impelling
force, is depended on to bury itself in
the floating mound of seemingly pol
ished India-rubber which constitutes q
whale above water. And when it first
buries itself, there is, for few seconds,
some vicious splashing and ugly flirting
of tluke or fin. A whales tail is an in.
strument of Ofense of about one hundred
horse power and we'll adapted to cut
ting through a boat as a table knife
goes through an egg shell. The two
fins suggest members between paddles
and rudimentary arms. It is also a
member very capable of striking out
from the right or left shoulder, 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 a trifle
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 tight like
shooting lions and tigers from the
shelter of trees or rocks. It's q
fair stan.d-up combat between half q
dozen men in an egg-shell of boat
on the open sea, and sometimes on
heavy ocean pillows, and five hundred
tons of flesh, bone and muscles, which,
II only animated by few more grains
OF sense, could ram the whaleship her.
self as efectually as an ironclad. Hall
century ago q mad whale in this way
sent Nantucket ship to the bottom.
AS murderous spectacle the capture
and killing Of a whale, as seen even by
a sea-cook from the galley window. is
something ultra-exciting. 1t ma kes
ones hairs stand upon both ends.
There is the whaleboat, the men sit.
ting motionless in their seats, the lone
bars apeak, shooting through the water
lowed by the whale unseen underneath
the surface. Sometimes two or three
boats hitch on, for the more 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 and closer they near him, the
passage OF the great mass under water
being marked by swlrls and eddies on
the surface. Our herculean king.
| "B]ack jake" is at the bow, the round,
razor-edged, long handled lance LYING
by him, bis back to the crew, his eve on
the eddies, his great bare black arms,
now the right, now the left-movine
ilrst IN one direction, then another, as
thus he signals to the steersman the di.
rection in which to keep the boats
head; for although we are being towe6
as a tug would tow skih, we must be
Kept as near as possible in line with
the submerged motive power, and ther
with a swash and snort, out of tho
water six feet ahead comes twenty
maybe forty feet of that great black
mass! 1t 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
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 a submarine island o.
flesh, bobbing like released cork. She
! is resolving herself into a submarine
earthquake, and proposes to send that
boat and crew ten feet into the air, o1
capsizing them off her India-rubbe1
back. One hundred or five hundred
tons of wicked intelligence is thus
cropping about in the unseen depths for
the purpose of attaining the propeh
position, 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 o
unpleasant anticipation. Those who
have seen the thing done before, await
in dread suspense the shock and upset
It's very much like being over a powde,
magazine about to explode. TO kee1
up the interest let us leave this partlcu
lar boat and situation in stnta1 0alo
Your imagination may complete the
catastrophe or not, as you choose. Fina
consummations are not desirable in a
thrilling tale, and this tale is meant to
be thrilling. Therefore, if you've got
thrill in you, please thrill.
From the schooner's deck, mile and
a half away, Captain, cook and cooper
the head, tail and midriff of the ships
company-now perceive that the white
puff of spray from the whales blow
holes has changed to a darker color.
"Spouting blood" we remark. The
boat is lying quite near by. Atintervals
of a few minutes circular streak of
white water is seen breaking the smooth
surface of the lagoon. He's in his 8. fur
ry.' He is dying: It is a mighty
death, wonderful escape of VITALITY
and power, affection and intellioence
too, and all from the mere pins prick
of an implement in the hands Of Won
meddlesome, cruel, audacious, greedy,
unfeelingg pigmies. Spouting blood,
bleeding its huge life away, shivering in
greatconvulsions, ,meansonly forus forty
barrels more of grease and couple Of
hundred pounds Of bone to manufacture
death-dealing, rib-compressing, liver
squeezing corsets from. And all the
while the calf fingers by the dying
mothers side, wondering what it is ali
about. Dead and with laborious stroke
towed to the vessel, the calf swims in
It's wake. :, Made fast alongside, its
beautifully symmetrical bulk tapering
from head to tail. in lines which man