Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1881-12-01

NeWiounuiahu corresponding
writes vivid account Of fight which
he Witnessed between sea monsters !:
On lovely afternoon in July 7 stood
upon the bank of lofty cliff on that
part of the coast between Placent;a
and st. Mary's Bays. Everything was
still. Only the faintest murmur, the
angry tones of the ocean roar upon the
surf, melted into delicious music. stole
up from the strand to where stood.
AS stood like everything about me,
mute under the influence Of the after
noon, a sound as Of innumerablc and gen.
tie tappings came up fromth still sea,
and looking Tsaw that nyriads OF fishes,
cod and the lesser creatures on which
the former preyed, had risen to the sur
face and were "breaching." The tap
ping sound was made by beating the
water with their tails and fms. Such a
scene is not uncommon; but almost
simultaneously with this I heard a
hollow, whistling sound, and saw
column Of spray rise like geyser,
about IA feet from the water. I saw
then that whale had risen among the
fishes, and with his mozster, gaping
jaws, in fourth of the time it takes to
write it, had engulfed several hundreds
Of the preaching fishes, and was about
to plunge under the waves again to
swallow his prey piecemeal, wher two
other creatures appeared upon the
scene. They we're the united and i'm
placable foes of the whale, the sword
fish and thrasher. The sword fish is a
long, 1.-THE creature, armed with long,
hard substance protruding from its
snout, resembling sword, from which
it derives its name /; the thrasher is a
species of sea-shark or fox-shark. 1t
was evident that they had come for the
double purpose Of making war upon the
whale and getting some of the feast for
themselves. In the space it takes the
eye to twinkle the offensive and defen-
sive were assumed. The sword fish
attacked the whale under water, the
thrasher attacked him above. AS the
whale made an effort to dive he impelled
himself against the armed head of his
1.-the foe, and If he remained where he
was the thrasher brought its ungainly
body with the precision of machinery
down upon Fthe unfortunate monsters
back. Such .sthrashing" I had never
conceived OF esuin my dreams, when
used to go the hills and rob blls'
nests, and saw the teacher, more terri
bic than awrathful dragon, with COW
hide to expiate my guilt. The sounds
were dull thuds when the th1ashel
struck his antagonist, and sharper and
louder when he missed his aim and
struck the water. The waves were
beaten about in foam and spray, the
whale trying to ply his tail upon his
enemies, but before he could get his
ungainly body into position his enemies
were out of harms way and making a
new attack upon an unexpected quarter
The contest continued, broken only by
short intervals, when the whale vert
below the surface for about ten minutes.
Then the sword-fish, as if satisfied with
the part he had played, dived down into
the clear blue water and the thrasher
followed his example. The whale, too,
suddenly disappeared, and as he was
the only one Of the three that had to
rise and breathe at stated intervals, /
watched with much eagerness to see
where he would rise and "blow," or if
he rose at all. Beyond the point, a
half-mile distant, / saw the spout, and
then vigorous plunge and knew the
whale had survived his thrashing.
Numbers Of boatmen had rode up to
see the affray, and gazed at the contest
between these monsters Of the unknown
deep with pleasure deeply mingled
with awe.