The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-06-03
WORSE Than The SHARK
Tine Noracious Killer-Whale, the Were
Wolf of the North Seas.

1
often honored with such names as the
sea tiger" or the terror of the ocean. -
The Spltzbergen fishermen would find
a more appropriate use for the latter
eplthet, Seals, porpoises, and even
white whales have been known to
spring out of the water and run ashore
to avoid the attacks of a creature
which, in proportion to its size, is GER
talnly the most voracious of all marine
beasts of prey. 1t is the orca, or killer
whale (orca gladiator), a close relation
OF the deiphinid@, but as superior in
strength to the southern porpoise as a
walrus is to a seal. The orca reaches
a length of twenty-five feet, and its
jaws are bristling with teeth from four
to SIX inches long and as sharp as
a dirk knife. Single specimens have
been seen of thirty Capt. Ross says
thlrty-hve) feetand fully able to devour
a sea lion with few quick snaps. Its
digestive power is proportional to the
tremendous efficacy of it's jaws. Prof.
Eschrlcht examined a specimen that
had been killed in shallow water and
found in its stomach thirteen porpoises
and fourteen seals, and 1.-The atrocious
glutton, he adds, seemed to have got
choked in the attempt to swallow a
fifteenth since its gullet proved to be
obstructed by an intertwisted mass of
seal bones. Capt. Wiclxes describes a
battle between Baleen whale and a
swarm of orcas that jerked the big
monster about as pack of dogs would
worry a fat sow. They flew at its
TANKS, snapped big pieces out of its
lips, and finally hauled it under, while
a surge of blood-stained foam bespoke
the consummation of the submarine
butchery
These demons will attack their larg-
est relatives and pursue them like
raging hounds" says DIR. James Murie,
who POUNDS his study of the whale fam
| lily on years of personal observation
I'm one instance they assaulted Cali
fornia gray whale and her young. The
orcas killed the latter and sprang on
the mother, tearing away large pieces,
which they greedily devoured. Orcas
have been known to attack white
| painted herring boat, installing it for a
beluga, and they will not hesitate to
lay hold of harpooned whales and drag
them perforce under water"
The orca is also known as the Green
land grampus, and good deal of con-
troversy about its murderous propensi-
ties has been caused by the fact that
some writers have COMPOUNDED it with
its small relative, known as Rino's
grampus (Phocena grisea), compare
lively harmless creature, found all
along the east shores of the Atlantic
from st. Helena to Scotland, while the
orca is seldom seen south of the fortieth
parallel, and is found in shoals only
near Spitzbergen and the east coast of
Greenland.
Compared with that marine werewolf
even the shark is a rather sluggish
brute, though he is apt to offset his lack
of speed by cunning and patience. The
white shark of the tropics will hang
about wharves for days and haunt
bathing places, rarely betraying his
presence by premature gambols Near
Singapore boats manned with lancers
and kettledrums cruise about the docks
before bathers venture to enter the
water, and in the harbor of Havana a
man was nipped up year ago under
circumstances which seem to prove that
ordinary precautions do not always
avail against the running of a veteran
''maneater." A stout nestizo employed
in downtown livery stable came to
the beach with a couple Of horses and,
after letting them splash about in the
shallow water for a minute or two, rode
in deeper to give them a chance to cool
off. A number of promenaders on the
beach were watching the horses when
suddenly, to their horror, they saw a
big shark rise out of the water, seize the
riders leg, and drag him down before
he had time to utter more than a single
Shrek The water near the scene of the
tragedy was not more than waist deep.
but the whole thing was done so quick
| ly that attempts at rescue were unavail-
| ing. though the witnesses instantly
! rushed in the water, swinging their sticks
and yelling away with might and main.
| Like most sluggish creatures, sharks
are extremely tenacious of life. Tor
toises of several species will live for
hours after being beheaded, but show
the effect of the operation by sitting
almost perfectly still or slowly moving
their forelegs as IL trying to ward off an
unseen foe Decapitated sharks, on the
other hand, will continue to use their
| tail muscles with destructive force, and
| in the water have been known to swim
about as if nothing unusual had hap
pencd, till their vitality becomes ex-
hausted by loss of blood. Sir Emerson
Tennent describes rather inhuman
experiment of that sort in the ofiing of
Trincomale, Ceylon, where crew of
enraged sailors dashed white shark to
the gunwales, amputated its head and
flung it overheard. The water was per-
fectly clear and not very deep, and the
headlcss sinner was seen to swim slowly
about for nearly two hours, when its
movements gradually became imper-
ceptiblc, and it settled on the gravelly
bottom, its tail limp or stirred only by
the rolling of the breakers.
A large shark can snap off the leg of
a horse as easily as carrot, its biting
apparatus being entirely different from
that of a wolf or crocodile. The white
shark of the Indian Ocean for instance
has six rows of teeth in the upper jaw
and five in the lower, each tooth about
two inches wide at the base and Jagged