St. Landry democrat., 1888-07-28
BATTLE WITH WHALES.
Two Sea Monsters Pursued and Wounded
Off ProyincetoWn, Mass.

Two Sea Monsters Pursued and Wounded
Off Proyincetown, Mass.
The pretty little schooner A. B.
Smart owned by E. W. and Richard
Smith, was off the cape on a fishing
trip, when whales were. seen sporting
in the distance. With ashrewdness to
the manner born, they put about. re-
turned home, and with never a word,
took on board whaling tackle and hur-
ried away to the cape again. Their
smartness-they are as smart boys as
there are in town, and as popular as
anyways promptly rewarded. A half
| dozen right whales were gamboling off
the cape, and paid no attention to the
schooner, which rapidly slid in among
them. Manning their w%haleboat, in
which was every thing suitable to the
dangerous enterprise, the brothers and
their companions pulled up beside the
nearest monster and hurled a har-
poon into it's side. Mr.. Whale
Git turned out to be a Mrs, but never
mind) jumped when the keen-edged
barb entered his side, and then ''sound-
ed" going down with a rapidity which
made the harpoOn line smoke as it ran
around the loggerhead and out through
the bow of the boat. When he next
showed himself above water the boat
was at hand (for experienced whale
men can generally tell which course
their prey adopts to escape), and two
hnnoh 1onanc yEarn Chnf into thn h,,ro
creature before he had time to look
about him. The bombs exploded, and
the whale, frightened and stung to
death, sped away like the wind, snap
ping the line and spouting blood as he
fled.
Hes got his death wound" said
Dick Smith to his mates, ''and we'll
get him yet" Bright and early the
next morning the crew of the Smart
we're on the lookout for their friends
the whales. Their harpoons were
sharpened, the lances were coiled, and
bomb lances were placed in plenty in
the boat. These lances are about
ten inches in length. The point is
triangular and razor-sharp, and
the body contains about a quarter of a
pound of powder. This is fired from a
gun, the discharge igniting a fuse
twelve seconds life. The result of one
of these weapons is almost always i'm
mediate death.
The next whale which was attacked
was a little smaller than the other,
but far moro expert in gymnastics and
of a more p%ugnacious disposition.
Whale No. 2 (Which turned out to
be the consort of the other) gave the
crew a long and a hard chase. He
would dive and double on himself
while down, coming up in the direc-
ton opposite to the one expected.
Then he would start Off in a run, head
in air, and all of a sudden dive and be
out of sight from five to ten minutes.
Once at least his whaleship treated the
men in the boat to a surprise and
fight, coming up from one Of his ex-
cursions to the bottom right beside the
little craft. With startling velocity the
monster rushed up from below, not
stopping at the surface, but keeping
right on up into the air, until fully
thirty feet of his ponderous person was
erected beside the boat, like a leaning
tower. Only one thing could be done.
The terror-stricken men thrust out
their hands, so near "a the whale,
and pushed the boat away to an oars
length and then pulled out of harms
way; for, had the creature come down
the left, instead of to the right-had
he known his power-the little craft
would have been crushed like an egg
shell.
All the while bombs were being fired
into the whale whenever opportunity
offered. Ten of them were planted in
various portions of his anatomy before
he gave in, and it was three hours aft
er the first shot when the leviathan
turned up his belly Che had no toes)
and was observation-disclosures american.