Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1886-11-24
cRAYBAcK A
HOW They are anntea in marsaerisa

How They Arc 9nnted in marsderisa
Bay.
Especial correeoondcncel
SsN FRAEctsco, Nov. H. Marguerite
bay, on the Lower Californian coast, was,
some years ago, one vast nursery fun of
cows and calves, as the whalenlen persist
in calling the Old and young of the whale.
For two weeks the Henry was "kcdgedn
through a succession of long lagoons, sepa-
beach. Hundreds % low, green Islands were
dotted about, cutting them up into labyrinths
of natural canals. AT intervals Of five or six
miles were openings leading into the breakers.
These were doors by which the mother whales
entered their nursery. They caple from the
outer ocean regularly in January, brought
forth their young, and remained until May
GENTLY strong to brave the more turbulent
waters of the Pacific.
We worked up to one lagoon through a
most crooked channel. 1T was necessary to
indicate it by stakes planted at low water.
Sometimes but a few hundred yards would
be gained during an entire day. At ebb tide
Nuop iietlS VI uufu, WHlle Sdllu were TEL. Dlfe
for miles on either side of us. We could jump
from the schooner's rail on dry land. The
Henry at such times would be heeled over in
a most uncomfortable manner, especially for
the unfortunate individual whose duty it was
to attend to the culinary affairs of the vessel
in a kitchen inclined at an angle of forty five
degrees.
There were twelve vessels in the bay that
caaSnn r. EonI no,,ta;,, or,oa,a - .a,..
separate lagoon, and take his chance of such
fish as he might find there, without interfering
with the rest.
Viewed as a business this occupation was
legitimate and right. In the light of hui
manity it was murtlerous. These mother
whales came to this sheltered retreat to nurse
their children. They had the same maternal
love which pervades all forms of animated
nature Close about tho vessel the cows
might be seen rolling, tumbling and playing
in giant and clumsy fashion with their
calves, They sacrificed themselves for their
young. We never struck a COW whale unac-
companied by a calf. Because in such case
they ran the line out too quickly. They
would gain the passages also and we dared
not allow ourselves to be towed by them
through the angry rollers on the bar.
1t is impossible to kill the graybacks in
deep water as with the right or sperm
whale. They dive too deep and stay under
too long. But in this nursery the hunted
mother would not desert her young. She
swan slowly when chased that the feeble
offspring might keep up with her. So, in
such case, there was more time for the lance
to do its murderous work. She would bear
repeated thrusts, and seek only to get away
Sfrnoptir,aS hu ocai9 ~ fla ,a1f .ro,
wounded. Then, on her part, the instinct for
battle and revenge s%upplanted that of flight.
The whalemen used to say that the scow"
could smell the calf,s blood when thus
drawn, no matter though 1t might be yards
behind. An infatuated dam provoked in
this manner once chased one of our boats
ashore. When the misdirected iron pierced
the calf, directly she turned and churning
and thrashing the sea with fluke and fincame
head on toward the boat The crew saw that
as it were, given a monetary sense of her
own might and the pigmy weakness of her
purslers. A hundred tons or more of flesh
and bone shooting through the water at the
rate OF q mile In two minutes il g serious pro-
jectile for an eggshell of a whaleboat to en-.
counter, and would start the timbers of the
v ooGis - IbuIidttl1 Euo SuCT6 dllQ
shallow water were but a few yards distant.
1t was o close race. The great black mass
rolling a sheet of foam before it was but a
few feet from the beats stern when the water
suddenly Swallowed, and these animals know
well how many feet they draw. She block
AIDED her foes, however, for an hour, swim
ming to and fro, waiting for them to put off.
But in her present mood they did not see fit
to renew the contest.
For ever mother whale slain a calf died of
starvation. Every dead whale on being
towed to the vessel was followed by its young
one. Through the night we could hear its
feeble g low" in the vicinity. Tt would re-
main for days swimming about the carcass,
even when stripped of the blubber coating
and cut loose, a vast mass of putrescence, to
float with wind and tide mp and down the
lagoons, ~navigated by stupid gulls gorged to
repletion. These islands of carrion rising
daily higher out Of water, huge bladders, as
it were, filled with gas generated from their
own decomposition, sometimes came sailing
down npon us, and lodging under
the bows or counter gave all hands an hours
work with poles and handspises to set them
again on their aimless voyage. The
was simply terrific.
There can be no skulking in the fight with
the whale. To plant the iron In his back, the
boat must be lowed straight up to and even
on him. 1t Is a fair, open fight; no trees,
rocks and thickets for caneealment and shell
nor land to run away on, nc escape by
should the animal turn and give fight.
A kink in the rushing, smoking line may
snatch a rover from his seat and drag him
into the depths. When hauled up and driv-
Ing the lance home a smash is imminent
every moment; In midsocean the boat may be
and tho ship miles away lost to sight
in fog.
The man who made our voyage the king
whaleinen and champion grayback slayer
Of Marguerite bay, was Jake. Jake was a pure
African. His ugliness was grand; his
face magnificent in its grotesqueness, massive
IN its coarseffess. His strength was enormous.
He could throw the harpoon twice as far as
an ordinary man. A harpoon when 'sshodn
with the heavy iron pole is no light weapon.
1t must be cast by the two arms in a curve,
depending es much on its weight for burying
the iron in the whales body as on the inn
petus given il.
Jake louriging about decks or in the fore
castle was only a ~s'nigger.n But when he
at the boats bow IN chase of the Gray
back, his cap off, his eyes fixed on the spot
Just ahead where momentarily he expected to
see the monsters enormous bulk emerging
from beneath, his two great, barred, black
arms holding over his headt the harpoon ready
for the cast, the "nigger'' had vanished and
In his place, stood the Ethiopian gladiator,
the leader on whose courage, GOODNESS and
depended success and life itself.
Gut flies the iron and line attached from
the arms of our black Hercules. Barely has
its sharp point settled in the preat b,act