Arizona weekly citizen., 1885-03-28
CAPTURING A WHALE.
A Chase After the King of the Sea, I

A Chase After the King of the Seas Ia
 the Days Gone By.
 B-ooklyn Ea-le Interview.1
 Suddenly a voice from aloft sings out, There blows. At once all Is eN- citemen. and animation. The officer of the deck lays aloft with glass, where 2 good view O. the whale can be Lad. If the V. Ssel k not 70 the windwari side of ihe wha an attempt is made at once 10 get it there, be ause for a reason un- known D whallrs the whale when eX. cited tC flight almost invariably rushes of into the very teeth of the wind, anu ii is utter folly to try and follow. The whale lies quiet and the vessel works 10 windward Everything Is then prepared for action. X couple of boats are low cred. the captain in charge of ono and the first or second mate handling the other
 The whalebOat is long, sharp, and high at the bows and stern. lt cuts the water like knife and can move back ward and forward with equal facility. At the bows Is a deep groove, lead-lined, for a line to pass through; near the stern is a loggerhead, a stout round post, about which a line might be passed. Two tubs containing GOO fath- oms l3, 600 feet of carefully eOiled rope he in the bottom of the boat. In the bows is the toat-steerer with his irons, to which is attached the long rope. At the stern stands the bOat-header guid- ing the boat with an oar.
 The whale lies motionleSs. At in- tervaiS he SpurtS up a bucketful of water three or four feet high. But nOl much O. his body can be seen. At times, in a calm sea. hardly more than a square foot Is above tho water. His eyes are so set that he can't see straight b fore him, 70 the Oat tries to go dOwD on him in front, which Is done so Suo cessfully sO.aet mes that the boat runs balf out of the water on Els head. The positions lest suited to begin operations are near either of the fns-tbe vulner- able points of a whales coating. The boat moves quickly, but cautiously, and the excitement increases. The boat steereI Steadies himself and makes ready with his first iron as the boat edges toward the monsters in, keeping as far as possible away from the tlukes, you un, erstand. 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 in. Then he quickly seizes his second iron, or preventer, which Is fastened tO the same line by a short lanyard and which, should the trst iron pull out, would prevent the whale from getting away. The iroEs very quickly wake the whale from his reyerie. He mighty quick becomes lively. He Slashes the water into foam and bangs his flukes with about as loud reports as heavy artillery. Suddenly he dives under. Gut goes the line like a Hash of light ming, and water Is used to keep the boat from taking fire. He stops when ho gets down on tube, 800 fathOms, and stays almost stationary. A ufteen-b bar rel whale will stay down half an hour; a sixty barrel whale will remain quarter Oi an hour longer At last the line slacAcns, ai.d he tegins Co rise. The boat-stgercr, who threw the irons, Is now at the oar m the stern of the boat, and the boat header Is forward
 The line Is hauled in until the whalo AN " NAAtlA tA ANN -AAhA0lAAN bA AAAN NAAA AsAIts and the boat moves oI tO keep clear of the iUkes tp he comes and LlOws tre- mendous.y Iie bang, the water with his llukcs until tine noise Is almost deaf cuing. ant the boat rocks ttfully on a sea of froth. Over be rolls m .ury until almost his whole belly Is out of wa r, ana back he comes agaiu roll '1g over on the other side. New men not knowing their dancer generally laugh and shout and CO everything but obey OrIers. But many Of the experien ell men know too well their position and become de mOrali ed with lear. The bOat-header by turns roars and swears at and cOaxeS the men to lay me on and lay me oil, until he has become almost hOarse. One flap of the fiukes on the boat would smash 1t into kindling wood, or the slightest mismanagement O. the boat steerer might spill them all into the water. The whales rolling lasts but two minLteS. Then he Is sure to start of on a rLu dead to windward. So 1t needs quiel work, and the bOat-header worries the boat as close as is safe. W hen the annual rolls We'll over and eX- poses his life iL goes the lance.
 ''If thls piece of cold steel gets into his life, matters become more lively around these parts than CT. His fiukes slash about wilder than ever, and around and around, now diving, now jumping clear out of the water, the whale ru-hes in his death agony, drag ging the ,Oat after him as a child mgLt a chip on a pond. tp he spurts clots of blood arge as a hat, covering the boat, its crew, and the sea for half a mic around with the sangJinary duid. But this tremendous eXertiOn does not last long. and in ten minutes the whale Is mOtiOnless-dCa
 som, times when hit with the lance tho whale dives to such a depth that the line has to ie cut and he Is never seen sgain. Some people think that while underneath the water he dies, and the carcass becoming filled with water, its spe inc gravity becomes so great that It con nnf ri-a tn inc Surfapp "