The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-01-04
A DEADLY COMBAT.
The Ferocious Battle Waged Between
Three Orcas md n Whale.


Three Orcas and Whale.
Hank Welsh, who has followed whal-
ing for many years. was lucky enough
to be one of a crew beyond the Gulf of
the Holy Cross last spring that came
upon large whale in distress. sur
rounded by three monster orcas. or bill
lers. which had him winded and badly
wounded. The story is best told by
Welsh.
I'VE saw big broadhead half mile
away to w;ndward. and he kept a-jump-
ing so hard that we knew he was in
trouble. When we got close we saw
some thrashers or billers afoul of him.
and the water for an acre or two
around was bloody. The orcas We're
pretty big ones and very vicious, espec-
tally one which was fully twenty feet
long, and when the whale went
down few fatho1ns this old
boy rushed down after him and gave
it to him hard. You see whale
can stay under about half an hour, and
he can go down four hundred or five
hundred fathoms without minding the
pressure, but he can't do a single sub
marine trick ahead of an orca. These
orcas sometimes chase whale so hard
that when he hits the bottom he breaks
his jawbone. Well, this old orca fol-
lowed the whale SO savagely that he
did not stay down over FIVE minutes at
Il time, and when he came up he was
jumped by the other two, which kept
watch on him like two hungry wolves.
When he saw the ferocious gang he
seemed TO lose heart. for they were too
quick for him. 1 think he was just
about worn out or down-hearted, or
something. for he anchored for a sec
ond. This gave the big orca chance
to slide up and catch him by the under
lip and bite piece out The old fell
low lashed and dived, but down went
another orca after him
when the whale came up the orca
had him by the lip. and the third one
caught him by the tongue. Now
whales tongue is six feet long and
weighs as much as a man. The way
the orcas jerked it all out of him piece
by piece and then ate off his lower lip
in spite of all he could do, beat all the
fights under the sun How that whale
did suffer till we got up and let dyna-
mite boom into him. When Bill Peters
lanced him he seemed to enjoy it, for
he turned over and died easily"
1t seems to be agreed among all
whalers that no fight ever seen equals
the awful combats which these sea
monsters wage against one another
with unfagging ferocity. The orca is
the only grampus or warm-blooded an
imal of the ocean that constantly preys
upon warm-blooded creatures of his
own kind, preferably the whale, the
largest of his species The orca's hab-
its are predatory, and his strength and
ferocity are remarkable.
''The orcas often travel with sword
fish, said Capt. Thompson, an old
whaler, land | have sometimes seen a
whole school in combat with four or
FIVE orcas and a few sword fish.
When the sword fish gets under
whale and the orcas commence to tear
his under lip and tongue, which are
choice morsels for them, he seems to
know his days are numbered. / don't
know how long a whale can live after
these savage creatures attack him, but
our crews have found several carcases
of whales which had bled to death
from wounds thus inflicted by their en-
emies. | have also seen brol1enbacked
orcas which had been struck by
whales hukes. San Francisco Chroni-
Gle