Daily Los Angeles herald., 1883-11-04
WHALES AND WHALING.
By An OLD waALRxAS.


l have been in the business
long time. I first went to sea whei
was twelve years old, and hac
command Of ship at twenty.
nave been round the world three
times, and X led three hundred
whales. By that / don't mean
mat | first struck them all--by nc
means. That is de6e with the
iron' as we ealf fit--what you call
me harp5on. l mean / have
.ancsd SO many. We proceed in
Ills manner:
When l used to go in whale
boat I took five men with me. /
steered, and they all pulled the
oars, till we came near the whale.
Then the man next the bow peaks
his 9 i-that is, puts it in, and
lays ! sticking up at the head Of
the boat. at an angle OF about
fftf degrees. to keep it from get
ting into the water in case we
have swift run. He takes his
iron, ard throws it into the whale,
and runi 70 the stern. The whale
may sol shines be lying asleep
on the Fater. but he is almost
Always Awake, at least by the
time we come up with him.. He
starts off as soon as be feels the
iron. and sometime sounds. or
!, dives and swims nnder water.
lint not very often, especially the
epefm whale. And after he has
fan awhile he stops and has ga
hurry" as we cali it-he shakes
all over and struggles violently.
Then is the time to spear him.
II you don't kill him then, you
probably never will. But you
must look out for him, for he may
strike your boat with his tail, or
ride it"-that is. throw himself
right across it.
The killing is done with a lance,
about fifteen feet long, with a
sharp point, sometimes made
rounding at the end. but by some
thought better when square. 1t
should, however, be held side
ways, and not up and down. be-
cause then. il it hits a rib, it is
more sure to glance and 60 in
right.
The best man / ever had with
me was q Shinnecook Indian,
from the east end Of Long Island.
He was with me seven years, and
rendered me important services
in SONS cases in which / thought
any other man I ever knew would
have been unable to act quite in
time or with sufficient strength.
coolness and dexterity.
One day l was out with him,
and whale rode my boat; that is.
he came up and threw himself
right across the middle OF it, and
OF course. broke it in two, and
instantly threw us all into the
sea. | believe be did it by acci-
dent, coming upon US in that
manner merely because we hap
pened to lie in his way. / recov-
cred myself, and got into the
>mate's boat, and helped to get in
my boats crew. The whale, in
few minutes. made his appearance
again ahead of US; but did not
observe him. The boat was
crowded. having two crews in
and / was sitting, with lance in
my hand, and the line which be
longsd to it about my feet. Sud
denly my Indian called to me:
"Lookl He's comingl' and I saw
the whale swimming right down
toward US. just ready, | thought,
to strike our bows with his head.
l had heard it said that if you
prick whale in the nose, il will
stop him immediately. as it seems
10 take him right back, aud he
will suddenly stop and turn away.
/ determined to try it, and struck
him with my iron and wounded
him deeply; but he did not mind
1t in the least.
On be came and the next thing
I knew 1 was deep in the water,
and going deeper; and, what
troubled me more than that, l
felt the rope around my ankles,
and knew that when it tightened
I should be tied tight; for one
end was fastened to the boat and
the other to the lance. l strove
TO clear away the rope, and got
IL of from one leg; but il took ne
long to get the other free. How
ever, I succeeded, and then be-
gan to try and find out my posi-
ton. This, as / have remarked,
l always had presence of mind
enough to do; and / can tell you
it is highly important. Other
men generally do not stop 10
look, bns do what they first think
,of, and so are as likely TO jump
into danger as out OF it. never
took much time, commonly sin
: gle instant, single turn OF my
eyes was sufficient; and so it was
in that case. I looked above me
and saw il was dark. and there.
fore presumed / was under the
whale. I then attempted to
swim little TO one side, hut that
brought me against his fin, and
then / "dove," knowing that the
Fms OF that kind OF wnale were
very broad, and extend dowr
much lower than the belly, 80 as
to shut a man completely in who
once gets between them. Wher
/ had swan under the fin I look
ed up again, and then / perceive,