, 1889-08-03
FIGHTS WITH SHARKS.
HOW THEY WHooP THINGS UP
FOR THE SAILORS.

capt. Sam" said a little boy who was
watching a very red faced old fisherman
way up the Maine coast, as he baited his
trawl hooks, "what is the largest fish
you ever saw or heard Off
oval, replied the old fisherman, with
out looking up, "it stands to reason that
I've heard on some bigger ones han /
ever clapped my eyes onto. Sailor folks
is great on EARNING, there amt any use
in denying that. One of 'em starts a
yarn, and it keeps a CROWN 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 Capt. Sam,
a i guess I've seen about as big a fish
as the next one. When l was n boy not
a mite older nor you my gran'ther was
owner and skipper of as fine a sixty ton
schooner as cut the water in these parts,
and as soon us 1 got big enough not to
fall overheard and to pull on a herrin' or
mack'rel line he took me along, and it
was ON this very cruise that 1 saw a big
fish.
Z HOT CoALS ON HIS BACK.
1--WE were fishin' on what is called the
Georges bank, away up to the north'ard
n spell. The men were out in dories q
fishin' an only me an gran'ther aboard.
! was n foolin' around two lines, when 1
see somethin' black n lynn alongside.
First 1 thought it was a shadder of the
keel, but it kept n comm nearer and
more distinct, until all at once 1 see it
was a critter. First l thought it n whale,
and sings out to my gran'ther that there
was a big whale alongside. He came q
running out of the cabin and took one
look at it and said: Its a bone shark,
and the biggest one 1 ever see.'
GAS far as we could make out it was
sixty feet Tonga lynn perfectly still, its
back out of the water SO that q man
could have walked ten or twenty feet on
his back. We had a harpoon, but he
didn't dare throw it for fear of losin' it,
havin' no boat to follow, so there the big
shark stayed until finally the old man
tuck a ton of red hot Goals from the gall
ley fire and tossed them on his back.
Some of them stuck, and it wasn't long
before he left.
when l got grown up" continued
Capt. Sam, II saw another shark almost
as big, and helped catch it. l shipped in
n 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 southland we
found about all we could attend to, and
in less time than a week bore away for
New Bedford with "a good Boston load
We put to sea again on n Friday, a bad
day, 80 sailormen say, but this turned
out good luck for us. We were abouto N
what they call The Sisters when the
lookout sighted what he thought was n
swordfsh, and we cleared decks &C
cordin'; but when we got alongside we
see it was n big zone shark. The skipper
said it ought to pay 500 in lie, 80 we
kept away while the man spliced q big
ger line on TO the harpoon and then wore
around and came up on him again.
"He was a-lyin' right in the slush of
h sea. There was n fair so'west wind
a-blowin', just enough to make the sea
make n clean break over his back that
looked like a big log, and I reckon that's
what you'd a-taken it for if you'd a-seen
it. Horsepower, we came a-bowlin'
along in great shape, the skipper putin
the schooner within ten feet of him,
and, as we shot by, me and the second
A"NS ~ N"A HOA5 nv IlLAls Nv
the same minute the men hove over the
key an line.
what did he do?" said Capt. Sam,
who, in the excitement of the old mem
DRY, had dropped his line and was look
ing the little boy in the face, with a
hand on each oil skin knee.
why, he whooped things, and ac-
cordin' to my mind we got out of the
way just in time. You'd although a
volcano had bust right thar. Up como a
big tail fifteen foot in the air, with water
and sprays a-hyin'; then down it went
with a noise like the topsail of a fifty
gun frigate in stays. There was n long
cable or line on the harpoons, but it
wasn't two minutes before we saw the
kegs go under and up they came q hun
dred fathoms away, and went along
sending the water as high as our top
mast.
at so happened, our luck bein' stin
on, that the fish bore away on the wind;
if it had a struck to the windward it
would have been good-by 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. You see the kegs
was painted white, so we could see
which way the fish was a-goin'.
"The big fish was about played out;
ten miles or more at such a rate had
about knocked him, and we rounded to
and put out two dories and took the kegs
in. Stand byr says the skipper, for the
minute he feels us a-takin' in slack he's
a-goin' to take off agin, and sure enough
he did. We got the kegs aboard, and the
first pull we made 1 was nigh jerked
overheard; but we hung to him, takin' in
a foot when we could and losin' one an
gainin' two durin' which he towed us a
matter of three miles or more; her we
reckoned he was about through, and we
took in pretty fast, We got within 100
feet, when the other dory ahead
slipped alongside and gave him the lance
the same way they kill whales.
81 have heard of bone sharks seventy
foot, but fifty and sixty footers is all ]
kin speak for sartin about, and l guess
that's the biggest fish that swims today"
DIsl- n