Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1886-06-26
CAPTURING 4 WHALE
A Chase After the King Of the Sens In
the Days Gone Up

[Bfoo,iyn Eagle Interview
Suddenly o voice from alofs sings
out, There blows. At once all is ex-
element and animation. The officer of
the deck lays aloft with glass, where a
good view of the whale can be had. II
the vessel Is not to the windward side Of
the whale an attempt Is made at once to
get it there, because for reason I'M
known to whalers the whale when ex-
cited to fight almost invariably rushes
off into the very teeth OF the wind, and
IL 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.
1.-THE whaleboat is long, sharp, and
high at the bows and stern. 1t cuts the
water like q knife and can move back-
ward and forward with equal facility.
At the bows is deep groove, lead-lined,
for line to pass through; near the
stern is loggerhead, q stout round
post, about which q line might be
passed. Two tubs containing 600 faith
oms q, 900 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-headcr guild
ing the boat with an oar.
''The whale lies motionless. At in
tervals he spurts up a 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
square foot is above the water. His
eyes are SO set that he can't see straight
before him, so the boat tries to go 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 yulner-
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 fukes,
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 seiEes his second
iron, or preventer, which is fastened tt
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 reyerie. He mighty
quick becomes lively. He slashes thu
water into foam and bangs his flukes
with about as loud reports as heav)
artillery. Suddenly he dives under
Out goes the line like flash of light
ming, and water is used to keep the boa
from taking fire. He stops when h,
gets down one tube, 300 fathoms, anC
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 lint
slackens, ard he begins to rise Tn,
boat-steerer, who threw the irons, il
now at the oar in the stern of the boat
and the boat header is forward
1.-THE line is hauled in until the whal,
is within few fathoms of the surface
aud the boat moves off to keep clear o.
the tlukes. Up he comes and blows tire
mendously. He bangs the water will
his flukes until the noise is almost deaf
ening, and the boat rocks titfully on {
sea of froth. Over he rolls in fury unit
almost his whole belly is out of water
and back he comes again rolling over OIL
the other side. New men not knowing
their danger generally laugh and shou
and do everything but obey orders
But many Of the experienced men know
too we'll their position and become de
moralized with fear. The boat-heade
by turns roars and swears at and coaxe
the men to lay me on and lay me off,
until he has. become almost hoarse. On
flap of the fiukes on the boat woul,
smash it into kindling wood, or tn
slightest mismanagement Of the boat
steerer might spill them all into tn
water. The whales rolling lasts bu
two minutes Then he is sure to star
off on run dead to windward. So
needs quick work, and the boat-heade
| WOETlcS tu6 DOdb DIS clOS6 do - sale
When the animal rolls well over and ex
poses his life in goes the lance.
IF this piece of cold steel gets int
his life, matters become more livel
around, those parts than ever. Hi
flukes slash about wilder than ever, an
around and around, now diving, no.
jumping clear out of the water, th
whale rushes in his death agony, dral
cling the boat after him as child Nigh
chip on a pond. Up he spurts clot
of blood large as hat, covering tn
boat, its crew, and the sea for half
mile around with the sanguinary tiuid
But this tremendous exertion does M
last long, and in ten minutes the whal
is motionless
Sometimes when hit with the lane
the whale dives to such depth that I'll
line has to be cut and he is never see
again. Some people think that viii
underneath the water he dies, and ii
carcass becoming filled with water, i
specific gravity becomes so great that
4 =. ~ e