The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-03-03
NI1IIlls Es9le
WHALES AND wAALERS.

THREE were half a dozen of them, caD-
Trims and mates of whalers from the
arctics, and were just sort of drying out
in the sunshine after the storm. There
were half dozen or more tenderfeet in
the group. people who had read all
sorts OF stories about whales from the
one In which Jonah was the central
figure to that told by pictures in the
old geography, where whale, all head
and tail is knocking eight or nine
whaleboats into splinters and making a
light luncheon of three or four whalers
who had nst escaped by diving out into
the ocean.
Tales of the sea always have fasci-
nation for thelsndsman, and so it was
that this group of arctic blubber hunt
ers had lot of interesting auditors.
How would you like 10 have eight
or ten thousand dollars on a string?'
asked one of them, knocking his pipe
on the edge of the stringer and adj
dressing the group OF landsmen, col
iectively.
''Well. I've had that much many a
time" he went on without Visiting for
a reply, ~snd it makes fellow rather
nervous guessing whether he's going to
land his fish or whether he'll get tipped
overheard I've been to sea now thirty
four years. and 1 expect I've struck
about as many whales as the next one,
but it's pretty exciting business yet
Why. last season one of our boats
struck big sperm whale and he
started down. Our ship had five boats,
and each carries two hundred and
eighty fathoms of line. That whale
took down the whole five of 'em-four-
teen hundred fathoms in all 1t began
20 look as If we had lost the whole
thing, bat he was too tired, and when
he came up we teathered into him"
You wouldn't believe that ish-at
least spouting fsh-are influenced by
the moon9" said another of the group.
well, they are I've seen it time and
again, and I've called other peoples at
tention TO it, too, bus l never found
anyone else who had noticed it. Some
time when You are at sea and
whales are to be seen frequently
it may be at the full moon or at a new
moon-well, all at once they will dis
appear and you won't see one for two
weeks. Then just as suddenly the water
will be full of them I've compared
notes with other vessels. Maybe they
were sixty miles or more away at the
time and the whales there would be
numerous just at the same time they
appeared near our vessel On, you fel.
lows needn't laugh. There is some
thing IN it
And then I've noticed another thing
about this same class of fish. When
you catch them you will always find
that they have the pupil of the eye the
same shape as the moon at that time
If the moon is full the pupil will be
round, and if it is half or quarter
the sight will be like crescent"
The captain stopped to light a fresh
pipe and another one of the whalers
spoke up.
1--WE had some experience myself"
said he, "but two years ago 1 came the
nearest taking after Jonah that man
ever dad We had made strike all
right and the whale went down, not
very far, but when he came up he had
his mouth open, and somehow or other
he came up with one jaw on the port
and the other on the lee side of our
boat Surprised Well, that whale
looked very much as though he was
ready to receive company. but wasn't
invited, SO made streak for another
boat"
'You would be surprised" said the
first speaker, changing the direction of
81 - l. ha+
are In whaler's crew sometimes. Why,
I've had lawyers and doctors and any
number Of young men with a degree of
some kind OF other. And once 1 shipped
q fellow that turned out to be preach
sr, and / wish could get him again,
for we got eight whales that season.
believe he was a mascot. One poor fell
low, who went overbo in a gale, had
IN his trunk physicians diploma and
any number of letters with high recon-
mendations, but 1 guess he had gone
wrong somehow, and wanted to get out
of the way for awhile. He succeeded
better than he intended. l guess they
won't think OF looking for him at the
bottom of the Arctic.
I'VE get lots of men for a seasons
cruise that way. If a fellow wants TO
hide himself for awhile don't know
Of any place he could do it better than
on board a whaler. Nobody would
think of looking for such man in this
business, and then they couldn't look
much if they wanted to. That kind of
a seaman never makes you any trouble
It's the shiftless fellow you pick up
here on the wharf that you've got to
handle pretty roughly before he learns
how to keep a decent tongue in his
head"
ION one Of my cru>Ns 1 had big
black West Indian in the crew." said
the first speaker. 'One day, for some
reason, he jumped overheard. The sea
was little rough, and it was quite a
while before we got the boats lowered,
and we lost sight of him But we
pulled back little way, and l soon saw
him swimming with all his might, but
in the opposite direction from the boat.
/ yelled to him, and when he saw he
was discovered he maSe no further eff
fort TO get away. And where he was
going is more than l know. for it ali
happened in midocean. We hauled him
Snto the boat and made for the ship. 1t
was four months before we made port,
and yet in all that time Sandy-for that
was his name-never spoke a word.
No one~on board could get a sound
from him. Sometimes he would lie
Cown on the deck and seem to be
asleep, and some of the crew would slip
up and stick him with a pin. At first
he would twitch little and then would
not move at all We made a bed for