The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1889-09-11
FIGHT WITH A SHARK.
Gigantic Monsters of the Deep
Seen by q YanSoo Sailor
How Ono Of Them whoopsd Things Up for
venturcsomo Fishermen-Some True
Fish Stories Told By Strictly
Truthful Old Tar.

COfuinB W tno IuhhuCiPhin AhhcDt WeD
watching very red-faced old fisherman
way up the Maine coast, as he baited his
trawl hooks, "what IL the largest fsh you
ever saw or heard of" As-s Nat Z
"Waln replied the old fisherman, with
out looking up, "it stands TO reason that
I've heard on some bigger ones than ever
clapped my eyes onto. Sailor folks Is great
on yarning; there amt any use in denying
that. One Of 'em starts n yarn, and II keeps
o CROWN so fast that by the time II gets
ashore the man what started II wouldn't
know It," o., A lt
"But there are some true fish stories,n
persisted the little boy.
"Sartin, sartin," replied Captain Sam,
"and guess I've seen about as big fish
as the next one. When ] was o boy not q
mite older nor you my gran'ther was owner
and skipper Of as fine sixty ton schooner
ss cut the water in,these parts, and as soon
rs 1 got big enough not TO fall overheard
and to pub on o herrin' or mack'rei line he
took me along, and IL was on this very
cruise that saw big fish. We were fish
in on what 10 called the Georges Bank,
away up to the north'ard spell. The men
were out In dories hshin, an only me en-
gran'ther aboard was o foolin' around
two lines, when I see somethin' black q
lyin' alongside. First I thought it was Q
shadder Of the keel, but IL kept comm
nearer and more distinct, until all at once
see It was critter. First thought II was
o whale and sings out TO my gran'ther that
there was big whale alongside. BE came
q inning out Of the cabin and took one look
at Il and says; s'Ips Q bono shark and the
biggest one ever sea-
Gas far as we could make out II was
sixty feet long-a lynn perfectly still, It's
back out Of the water 80 that man could
have walked ten or twenty feet on his
back. We had harpoon, but he didn't
dare throw IL for fear Of losin' II, havin' no
boat 10 follow, So there the big shark stayed
until finally the old man tuck ton Of red
hot Goals from the galley IRE and tossed
them on his back. Some Of them stuck, and
It wasn't long before he left
"When got grown mp" continued Cap
tain Sam, ~ saw another shark almost as
big, and helped catch It. shipped In q
sword fisherman as first man. We sailed
from Boothbay, but finding fish scarce, we
put down toward Cape Cod. and when we
got TO the south'ard we found about al we
could attend 10, and In less than q week
bore away for New Bedford with q good
Boston load.' We put TO sea again on q
Friday, bad day, so sailor men say, but
this turned out good luck for US. We were
about on what they call The Sisters when
tho lookout sighted what he thought was q
swordhsh, and we cleared decks accordin';
but when we got alongside we see IL was q
i hfex hona aharL ho alrfx.x,ar sof1 n.,nxhS
to pay one hundred dollars In lie, 80 we kept
away while the man spiiced bigger line on
to the harpoon and then wore around and
came up on him again.
"He was s-lyin' right In the slush Of the
SEA There was fair so'west wind
a-blowin', Just enough 70 make the Sea
make o clean break over his back that
looked like o big log, and reckon that's
what you'd a-taken It for II you'd a-seen It
Howsomever, we came a-bowlin' along n
great shape, the skipper putin thu
schooner within ten feet Of him, and, a. w
shot by, me and the second mate let drive
our irons into him, and the same minute tho
men hove over the lreg an line.
"What did he doP' said Captain Sam
who, In the excitement of the old memory,
had dropped his line and was looking the
little boy In the face, with o hand on each
oilskin knee.
"why, he whooped things, and accordin'
to my mind we got out Of the way just in
time. You'd a-thought q volcano had bust
right thar. Up come big tail fifteen foot
in the air, with water and sprays ahyin';
then down IL went with noise like the top
sail OF fifty gun frigate in stays. There
was long cable or line on the harpoons,
but Il wasn't two minutes before we saw
the kegs 20 under Odd up they came q
hundred fathoms away, and went along
sending the water As high as our topmast.
'It so happened, our luck bein' still on,
that the fish bore away on the wind; II Il
had a. struck TO the windward Il would
have been good bye sure, but on the wind
was our best pull, and after q two hour
chase we came up with the kegs, havin'
kept 'em In sight the hull time from the
tops. Ye see the kegs was painted white, "a
we could see which way the fish was eoin'
''The big fish was about played out; ten
miles or more at such q rate had about
knocked him, and we rounded 70 and pui
out two dories and took the kegs In. Stand
byP says the skipper, for the minute be
feels Us a-tal<in' In slack he's a-goin' TO take
Of agin,' and sure enough he did. We got
the kegs aboard, and the first pull he made
was nigh leyked overbozrdi but we hung
TO him, taEin' in . foot when wo could,
losin' one an gainin' two, durin' which
he towed Us n matter Of three miles o.
more; then we reckoned he was about
through, and we took In pretty fast We
got within one hundred feet, when the
other dory ahead slipped alongside and give
him the lance the same way they Kill
whales.
II have heard Of bone sharks seventy
foot, but fifty and SIXTY footers is all Kin
speak for sartin about and guess that,