The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1891-01-15

LlVILY ADVENTURE WITH A cETAc'
Fan MONSTER.
The Great Fish SnaShPs Three Boats Be
furo t!Ie Life il IlarPOoned Out
OF Tim.

many Il try INC scene and bloody fight,
and, although have faced death in
thousand forms in the war, it was on
whaling voyage that came nearest be-
ing killed."
'Well, we rounded the cape without
any interesting incidents, and up near
the island of Juan Fernandez we lay
one bright morning and ali on board
were cleaning up when There she
blows came the ringing cry from the
man ut the masthead. and away off to
the northwest we saw 4 stream of water
spoutiug out Of the ocean and knew it
must be a huge whale. At once all
was confusion on board. and the cap
tain gave the order, Stand by to lower
boats, and quick as cats we sprang to
our places. When within about a mile
of the monster Down boats Lower
away and Go for your whale came
the orders in quick succession, and
away we SHOT toward our prey. The
boats on such occasions have nothing
in them but cask of water and one of
biscuits, and two harpoons aud lanceS,
with the necessary rope, about 100
fathomS, coiled in a tub so that it could
be paid out easily. The three boats,
carrying eighteen men altogether,
rowed swiftly, with muIN1d oars, for
the whale. A whale is very easily
frightened and the greatest care must
be exercised in getting close upon him
without detection, for when scared he
will dive and come up perhaps three
miles away. 4 queer fact in this con-
neclion is that he will always dive in
the winds eye, as though he under
stood that, having pull against the
wind and swell. he could be least
followed. However, we got pretty
our oars and padlled the rcmaindcr of
the distance. We came up quietly
without his having any suspicion of
| our presence. and just as the edge OF
our boat Scraped his side the officer
| plunged the harpoon into his side. and
stern all came the order, and every
man lay to his oar and backed out.
These whaliuG- boats are sharp a both
ends 50 that they can be backed al
most as fast rs they can be rowed for
ward. 1t was we'll for us in this case
| for our whale dove straight down.
making whirlpool and taking out
| line with frightful rapjdity. Seeing
, that our line would be insufficient a
second boat came up and made fast its
! line to ours, and that, too, was soon
! paid out, and still the whale went on.
! The third line was attached and that,
too, was soon gone. aud as we had no
more rope block Of wood two inches
thick amt two feet square was attached
10 tie end, and as this could not be
| : .;
we kept trace OF it, and by that means
! OF the whale.
| In about forty minutes the fellow
! came to the surface, spOulinw furi0uSly,
and we picked I'D the block and rOWed
for him, taking in line as we advanced.
! 4 second time we drew near, but Just
rs another harpoon was to be thrown
he gave one splash with his tail and
knocked us about twenty feet in the
air. The boat was smashed to pieces
and | came down so close to the mon
ster that put my foot against his side
to push myself SO that l might swim.
The captain lighted on the whales
head, but rolled off into the water, and,
seeing my action, he tried the same.
Unfortunately, he stuck his foot into
the mouth Of the whale. and down went
the monsters jaw, held it fast. and
down went the whale, taking the
captain along. But whale has teeth
only on its lower jaw, and these fit into
depresSiOns in the upper gums, so that
the captain was not severely crushed,
but badly bruised. and soon the whale
let him 60 and he came to the surface
about used up and was taken in by
one of the boats.
Again we made for the whale. This
time the second mate took the har
pooh, and as we neared the quieteC
monster, only a broad expanse O.
whose back projected above the water
the mate, who thought himself funny
said: (which end are we at?' AS if ir
answer to the question the whale
showed plainly that we were at the
rear end by giving one swoop with his
great tail fin, which landed us in 6
dozen directions, while our prey again
disappeared.
1.-The second mate had had enough
and the third mate now took charge Of
one boat, and again we rOwed for the
big fish. But this time he saw us com
ing, and like mad bull, with tail ir
|
Now, of all the jewellers of the deer
the whale is the swiftest swimmer, anC
the speed with which the Infatuated
monster came at us was frightful. JUS
as he was almost upon us, Jump fol
your lives came the order, and into
the water we went like so many fright
ened frogs. None too soon, either, for
true to his aim, the whale seized the
empty boat, and one bite turned it in
to lot of splnters. We shivered a
we saw this, for although a whale car
not eat man he can smash one VI
pretty badly.
The two harpoons gave the monster
no end of pain, and now he began tt
roll about in agony. We got another
boat and put after him. and now h'
was in too great torments to notice US
and we slipped up, and as he rolled his
belly up lance was driven into hin
just under the left forward fin. Blood
Barrels of it poured out. The whole
ocean seemed made of blood, anC
finally he commenced running in Cir
Gle and one tremendous convulsior
proclaimed the end.
The ship was hauled alongside tn,
carcass which it equaIed in length
and we began to take off the blubbcr
First the head was unjoined and wa
swung around to the stern, and tn,
bIubber was stripped off the body
This is done by fastening pully in ;
lOOSenCd place and then pulling anC
cutting. at the same time rolling The
carcass over as the bluINar was strip
PEE! off. When this was done the hea,
was turned up, and with small bucket
we dipped out the liquid amber oil
This WAS greasy job, that with fryin9
the bIubber out and heating the sperm
oil. The grease is clean, though, and sal
water will wash it OF, except what ha
been cooked, and for this we wash tn
decks with lime juice. When q whaI
il killed the blood attracts thousand
of sharks. and after the carcass i
stripped thousands of birds pick off thu
flesh.
We'll, we had scarcely finished boil
ing the oil of the whale. and the decl
F,,ll 9 a.