Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1885-02-28
CAPTURING A WHALE.
4 Chase After the King of the Seas in
the Days Gone By.

the Days Gone BY.
brooklyn Eagle Interview.
Suddenly a voice from aloft sings
put, There blows At once all is ex-
element and animation. The officer of
the deck lays aloft with glass, where
good view of the whale can be had. 1t
the vessel is not to the windward side of
the whale an attempt is made at once to
get it there, because for reason un-
known to whalers the whale when ex-
cited to flight almost invariably rushes
off into the very teeth of the wind, and
it is utter folly to try and follow. The
whale lies quiet and the vessel works to
windward. Everything is then prepared
for action. A couple of boats are low
cred, the captain in charge of one and
the first or second mate handling the
other.
''The whaleboat is long, sharp, and
high at the bows and stern. 1t cuts the
water like knife and can move back
ward and forward with equal facility.
At the bows is deep groove, lead-lined,
for a line to pass through; near the
stern is loggerhead, stout round
post, about which a line might be
passed Two tubs containing 600 faith
oms 5000 feet of carefully coiled rope
lie in the bottom of the boat In the
bows is the boat-steerer with his irons,
to which is attached the long rope At
the stern stands the boat-header guild
ing the boat with an oar
THE whale lies motionlesS. At in
tervals he spurts up bucketful Of
water three or four feet high. But
not much OF his body can be seen. At
times in calm sea, hardly more than
a square foot is above the water. His
eyes are so set that he can't see straight
before him, so the Loaf tries to 90 down
ON him in front, which is done so sue
cessfully sometimes that the boat runs
half out of the water on his head. The
positions best suited to begin operations
are near either of the fins-the vulner-
able points of whales coating. The
boat moves quickly, but cautiously, and
the excitement increases. The boat
steerer steadies himself and makes
ready with his first iron as the boat
edges toward the monsters fin, keeping
as far as possible away from the fnkes,
you understand, the tail. When within
two or three feet of the whale the boat
steerer pulls himself together and with
all his might darts his iron in near the
fin. Then he quickly seizes his second
iron, or preventer, which is fastened to
the same line by short lanyard and
which, should the first iron pull out,
would prevent the whale from getting
away. The irons very quickly wake the
whale from his reverie. He mighty
quick becomes lively. He slashes the
water into foam and bangs his fukes
with about as loud reports as heavy
artillery. Suddenly he dives under
Out goes the line like flash of light
ming, and water is used to keep the boat
from taking fire. He stops when he
gets down one tube, 800 fathoms. and
stays almost stationary. A fifteen bar
rel whale will stay down half an hour;
sixty barrel whale will remain quarter
of an hour longer At last the line
slackens, and he begins to rise. The
boat-steerer, who threw the irons, is
now at the oar in the stern of the boat,
and the boat-header is forward
1.-THE line is hauled in until the whale
is within few fathoms of the surface,
and the boat moves off to keep clear of
the fiukes. Up he comes and blows ire
mendously He bangs the water with
his fiukes until the noise is almost deaf
ening, and the boat rocks fitfully on a
sea OF froth. Over he rolls in fury until
almost his whole belly is out of water,
and back he comes again rolling over on
the other side. New men not knowing
their danger generally laugh and shout
and do everything but obey orders.
But many of the experienced men know
too well their position and become de-
moralized with fear. The boat -header
by turns roars and swears at and coaxes
the men to lay me on and lay me off,
until he hassbecome almost hoarse. One
flap OF the flukes on the boat would
smash it into kindling wood, or the
slightest mismanagement of the boat
steerer might spill them all into the
water. The whales rolling lasts but
TWO minutes. Then he is sure to start
Off on run dead to windward. So it
needs quick work, and the at-header
worries the boat as close as is safe.
When the animal rolls well over and ex-
poses his life in goes the lance.
IF this piece of cold steel gets into
his life, matters become more lively
around those parts than ever. His
fukes slash about wilder than ever. and
around and around, now diving, now
Jumping Clear out OF the water, the
whale PUSHES in his death agony, drag
ging the boat after him as child might
a chip on pond. Up he spurts clots
OF blood large as a hat, covering the
boat, its crew, and the sea for half a
mile al und with the sanguinary fluid.
But tbs tremendous exertion does not
last long, and in ten minutes the whale
is motionless- dead.
Sometimes when hit with the lance
the whale dives to such depth that the
line has to he cut and he is never seen
again. Some people think that while
underneath the water he dies, and the
carcass becoming filled with water. its
specific gravity becomes so great that it
can not rise to the surface.
4 Case of bad Blood.