Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-08-19
FIGHT WITH A SHARK.
Gigantic Monsters of the, Deep
 Seen by a Yankee Sailor.

So0n by Gnkoo sSauCr. How Ono of Them Whooped Things Up for vonturesome Fishermen-Somo Truo Fish Stories Told by Strictly Truthful Old Tar.
 "Captain Sam," said little boy who, ac- cording to the Philadelphia Times, was watching very red-faced old fisherman | way up the Maine coast, ss he baited his | trawl hooks, ''what is the largest fish you ever saw or heard off"
 sWal," 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 ain't any use in denying | that. One of 'cm starts yarn, and it keeps a growin' so fast that by the time it gets ashore the man what started it wouldn't | know it."
 But there are some true fish stories,"
 persisted the little boy.
 "Sartin, sartin," replied Captain Sam, "and guess I've seen about as big fish
 as the next one. When I was a boy not
 mite older nor you my gran'ther was owner | and skipper of fine sixty ton schooner
 as cut the water in these parts, and as soon
 as got big enough not to fall overheard
 and to pull on q herrin' or ack'rel line he y
 cruise that saw big fish. We were fish
 in on what is called the Georges Bank, i away up to the north ard spell. The men
 were out ill dores fishin' an only me an
 gran'ther aboard. l was foolin' around
 two lines, when I sec somethin' B1ack a
 lyin' alongside. First l thought it was a
 shadder of the keel, but it kept comin'
 nearer and more distinct, until all at once
 see it was critter. First thought it was
 @ whale and sings out to my gran'ther that
 there was big whale alongside. He came
 running out of the cabin and took one look
 at it and says: Its bone shark and the
 biggest one ever see.'
 "As far as we could make out it was
 sixty feet long-a lyin' perfectly still, it's
 back out of the water so that man could
 have walked ten or twenty feet on his
 back. We had harpoon, but he didn't
 dare throw it for fear of losn' it, havin' no
 boat to follow, so therc tho big shark stayed
 until finally the old man tuck 3 ton of red
 hot coals from the galley fire and tossed
 them on his back. Some of them stuck, and
 it wasn't long before he left
 "When got grown up," continued Cap
 tain Sam, "I saw another shark almost as
 big, and helped catch it. I shipped in a
 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 southard we found about all we
 could attend to, and ill less than week
 bore away for New Bedford with a good
 Boston load.' Wo put to sea again on a
 Friday, a bad day, so sailor men say, but
 this turned out good luck for us. We were
 about on what they call The Sisters when
 the lookout sighted what he thought was a | swordfish, and we cleared decks accordin'
 but when we got alongside we sec it was
 big bone shark. The skipper said it ought
 to pay one hundred dollars in ic, 80 we kept
 away while the man spliced bigger line or
 to the harpoon and then wore around anC , came up on him again.
 "He was a-lyin' right in the slush of tho
 sea. There was fair so'west wlnG
 a-blowin', just enough to make tho ses
 make clean break over his back tha looked like big log, and I reckon that: ' what you'd a-taken it for if you'd a-seen it Howsomever, we cane a-bowlin' along il
 great shape, the skipper putin tht schooner within ten feet of him. and, as w shot by, me and the second mate let drive ] our irons into him, and the same minute tht men hove over the keg an line.
 "What did he do!' said Captain Sam who, in the excitement of the old memory had dropped his line and was looking tho | little boy in tho face, with a hand on eacf ! il-skin knee.
 "Why, he whooped things, and accordin l to my mind we got out of the way just il time. You'd a-thought a volcano had bus
 right thar Up come a big tail fifteen fool in the air, with water and sprays a-Ayin' l then down it went with a noise like the top
 sail of fifty gun frigate in stays. There was long cable or line on the harpoons but it wasn't two minutes before we saw 1 the kegs go under and up they came hundred fathoms away, and went along sending tho water as high as our topmast. 'It so happened our luck bein' still on
 that the fish bore away on tho wind; if i had a struck to tho windward 1t would l have been good bye sure, but on the wine was our best pull, and after two houl chase we came up with the kegs, havin kept lem i'll sight the hull time from thu 5 l tops. Yc see the kegs was painted white, st we could see which way the fish was goin' "The big fish was about played out; tel l ] miles or more at such rate had abou knocked him, and we rounded to and pu t out two dories and took the kegs in. 'Stane Q byr says the skipper, for the minute h. - feels us a-takin' in slack he's a-goin' to talk 0 off agin,' and sure enough he did. We go the kegs aboard, and the first pull he made 8 l was nigh lerked overheard but we hunS I to him, takin' in a foot when we could losin' one an gainln' two, durin' whicl r he lowed us a matter of three miles O. d more; then we reckoned he was abou @ through, and we took in pretty fast. W. : got within one hundred feet, when th' :. other dory ahead slipped alongside and giv, him the lance the same way they Xiii s whales.
 Fl have heard of bone sharks sevent, foot but fifty and sixty Hooters IS all 1 Xiii speak for sartin about, and I guess that r the biggest fish that swims to-day" a Equilibrium of the Sexes. s Whenever careful and reliable statistic d have been obtalned it is found that nor o male than female children have been born v In Great Britain. where the returns ar d nearer perfection than elsewhere, the pro }. portion for the last ten years was found t