Morning journal and courier., 1882-03-01
An Exciting Chase.
Capture of a Monster Whale off The Pacific Coast.
[Frcm the San Francisco Chronicle.l

When within POO yards of the whale, we
 saw that the little black thing by the mon
 ster's side was her calf. Captain Mariana,
 seeing fair mark, quickly fired the swivel
 gun. A sharp report followed, and the boat quivered under the shock for a full half minute. Following the sound the harpoon could be seen cleaving the twenty fathoms of space between the boat and the whale, in which it was buried out of sight just behind
 the right fore fin Following and attached to the steel missile was some 200 feet of the
 stout line coiled in the bow, which bore the appearance of fash of dark brown lightning as it zigzagged through the air after its pow erful motor. The wounded leviathan lay almost motionless for a period of twenty seconds, as if unable to comprehend the
 nature of the attack, and then with snort
 like the puff of locomotive she descended
 beneath the surface at rate that made the manila llne smoke and emit sparks of fire as it ran out over the bows.
 Suddenly the movement stopped; the men bent to their oars, ready to pull in either di-
 rection at the first sight of an uprising on the
 part of the invisible monster. Captain Ma rieno peered uneasily into the blue depths forward, the boat-steerer performing simi- lar office astern. 'sPatha pratris I' (back all ) suddenly shouted the captain, and the five oarsmen sent the boat astern just in time to clear by couple of fathoms the black, ugly hulk of the infuriated whale, as 1t rose to the surface and spouted two columns of wa l ter forty feet into the air, 8 bucket or two oi l the briny fluid seeking out the back of the re. porter's neck for resting place as it descend ed. Before the animated water-spout could repeat the dose the boat was out of range both of his -extinguishing apparatus and his terrible hukes were now beginning to thrash the water with violence that created a cloud of foam.
 The performance lasted for two or three | minutes, during which the captain was una ble to obtain safe shot at the whale with the bomb gun, which he raised to his shoulder | more than once, only to lower it again in de- l spaIr. Suddenly the tail ceased its exercise, l and the next instance jerk was felt that buried the bow of the boat in a white-cap caused by the hghtning-liks descent of the whale. Barely had the staunch craft righted l itself after the shock than second tug was felt, and before the despairing reporter could offer up fear-inspired prayer the boat was I dashing through the water at terrible rate. | The speed was frightful, and for ten minutes the water stood in wall fully eighteen inches 1 above the forward gunwsle on each side oi the boat, the velocity preventing even a sin l gle drop from entering the interior.
 At the end of the time mentioned fully four miles of the distance between where the I animal was struck and the head of the bay nau been covered, and the speed Of the living | tug began to slacken through exhaustion. Finally it ceased altogether, and after spout 1 ing strong jet of 8 blood-red tinge the ! stricken mother once more sounded. Her i stay underneath the waves was of short dur l ation, and on resppearing on the surface her l movements were only sufficient to keep the gigantic carcass afoat Pulling up to within I five fathoms of the whale, the men rested on | their oars. Ten seconds later Captain Maria
 no had his chance second explosion was heard and the rubber-winged bomb buried l itself in the mass of blubber. Scarcely had ! the smoke cleared away from the bow when | the muffied boom of the bomb, exploding in ] the historical residence of Jonah, sounded 1 the death -knell of the old humpback The l victims huge bulk once more became ami,
 mated, and the deadly f1ukes lashed the water
 as the whale struggled in the throes of death. l The waterspouts changed into blood spouts, ! and grew smaller and smaller as the struggles
 became more contracted, until finally, with l one last effort, the leviathan rolled on its
 back and expired. The reporter heaved a sigh of relief and heartily joined in the | crew's shout of victory, which was answ cred from the other boats, by this time only few 1 fathoms distant.