The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1881-08-25
Fights with Whales.

eyes, we did see something Of a school
Of sperm whales" said Captain King, OF
the steamer Tropic, but it was good
ways off and we didn't take especial no.
ticc. We were bowling along at about
ten knots an hour with light breeze
and fair sea, in latitude 34 deg. % min.
and longitude II deg. "a min. had
the wheel and was talking with one of
the men, when all at once 1 saw as
pretty Il sperm whale spout as ever saw
i'll my life. Am I sure about it? should
say L was, for nm an old whalcman,
having started to follow the sea in an
old-time whalcr. The whale was going
about south-southwest, I should think
1t was going slowly and evidently hay
ing q good time. After awhile / saw
another one following md swimming
fast, as if to catch up with the first one.
Next day ], saw another whale q great
ways off, but couldn't tell which wny
it was going. There may have been n
school Of them, but I didn't see only
three. Sperm whales stray in that part
of the ocean only once in great while,
and then they nre probably chasing their
favorite food.
Sometimes they are dangerous TO
whale hunters, especially when a crank
whale is met. I have heard men say
that the sperm whale will not show fight,
but it struck ME that they had never
sailed in whalcr. The first fight with
n sperm whale in which I took q hand
was i'll 1869, when [ WAS with the whalcr
Mary G.. Currie. We sighted one after
noon fine largo whale, about fivo miles
OIL, and when we were nenr enough we
luffed up and lowered away the boats.
The captain himself had one boat, the
mate had one and M old whaler had
another. l WAS with the mate You
have heard about whales running from
boats, but this one stood his ground and
didn't seem to be afraid Of us. Our boat
reached him first, but as soon rs the
whale saw us coming he came at us Bows
on We lost no time in getting out of
his way and it made us laugh to see the
other boats dodge around. This made
the men trifle nervous and when we
tried him again they backed away for
dear life, afraid to go hear enough for
the harpooncr to throw his weapon.
This mado the whale raving mad, and,
as consequences, we went SO near next
time that the whale opened his cavcr-
nous jaws and bit the boat in two.
After the men had been tishcd out of
the water by the old whaler's boat the
mate got into tho captains boat and
tried the whale again. When they start
ed the mate stood up in the bow and
yelled: "The first man who looks out of
this boat at that whale will get stabbed
with this harpoon. Away they went
right up to the spoutcr's head. The
harpoon was driven home and the boat
was backed away. The cold steel had
done its work well, for soon the sea was
red with blood and the monster whale,
after thrashing the water into foam. lay
dead.
81 wns in another fight with whale
near the same place, the Conncll grounds,
i'll 1871. We came out Of the fight will,
two smashed boats and two or three dis.
abled men, but wc killed the whale. The
mate wns with in the first fight was
killed two years ago III fight with al
ugly whale. L understand they fought
for three hours, but the whale got the
best Of them. He was one Of thc.iargcst
ever seen and had half dozen harpoons
sticking in his back. Tho mate was al
ways game and would never give up, but
he met his match that time. 1t was q
fight to the death and the mate went
into one fight too many.