Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1882-09-07
SIARKING AT NANTUCKET.
How itFecls to Haul in Il Fish that
Weighs Thousand Pounds.

How lt reels to Haul i'll FISH that
Weighs a Thousand Pounds.
Nantucket Letter in the st. Louis GIabe-
Democrat.
The hunting of the shark, by its ex-
element and colossal dimensions, about
! corresponds to the noble chase of the
buffalo or the grizzly on shore, and is an
| experience we'll worth travelling to Nan
tucket for. Every self-respe citing tourist
carries home sharks jaw or some of
the sharks curved teeth as trophies,
! and small boys have their wonderful
pockets filled with assorted teeth and
scraps of sharks skin, on which they
sharpen their jack-knives as on so many
| whetstOnes. To catch a shark you stop
the boat while out blue fishing and drop
the line down in those shoal places off
shore where the sharks chiefly lie in
watt but the blue fishing company gen
orally object to this and prefer to stay by
their original spot. A better way, and
one partaking more of the typical is and
| flavor, is to sail down the harbor to the
little peninsula of Wauwinet and, cross
ing the narrow strip of sand, re-embark
in an old whale boat and, at mile off
shore, drop anchor at the favorite sum
mer resort of the sharks.
Hunting the shark is the nearest APP
prOach to Sitting on a mountain to bob
for whale" since the Norcross bows
present you with 200 feet of stout clothes
line and an iron meat hook for tackle,
and impuie eight or ten perch on the
long barbed hook for bait. When our
nine lines were steaming out from the
boats side. and each one WAS braced for
the coming struggle, first one female
head and then a second wes bent in
pensive attitude by the gunNale. Ny
own head was swimming, and sea and
SKY were rolling together, when shout
from the man in the bow drove every
such notion and sensation away, and we
all stood up and shouted with excitement.
The rope came slowly in, and soon the
big fish was tloundering on the surface,
churning the waters white all around,
and drenching Us with the spray. The
NOrcrOSS boy seized club, his brother
held the line, after succession of blows
on his pointed nose, the shark was haul
ed aboard, its jaws wide open and its
raVcnOus career ended.
After this first catch there was sup
dued excitement all around and no one
thought of the ground swell again. The
Harvard prize man announced that he
thought he had bite, and, hauling in
his line cautiously, found little yellow
crab "lawing at the trembling bait. The
shout of laughte- was drowned by my
own shrek of victory, as their came a
jerk from the other end Of my rope.
1t may be cruel and murderous sport,
but there is savage excitement in
waging war against wild beasts and
pulling in that shark was equal to hold
ing n runaway horse. with braced feet,
and taking it hand over hand, the line
gradually shortened and the body Of the
shark was seen darting arc md in the
water. 'Look out or you'll land him in
your lap" cried the yachtsman, "and if
he comes in some of us will have to get
out" The little boys danced, the men
shouted, and the ladies stood up and
shrieked in chorus with me, while the
shark lashed the waters with his mighty
tail and sent the spray all over US and
the boat seats. The Norcross boys took
the line and drew my prize in, hammer
ed him On the head with club, and
putting another hook in his back pulled
him over and stretched him out. There
he lay, his nose at one side Of the great
whaleboat and his tail hanging over the
other, 8 feet long from tip to tip, a
good-for-nothing lump ola fish, weighing
500 pounds.