Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-03-21
OUTSIDE OF A WHALE
THE POSITION IN WHICH A NORTH
cARoLlNlAN FOUND HIMSELF.
4 Whale Hunt on the Carolina Coast and
the Exciting Details m Told by
Captain Jim williA.
washington STAR,

The piscatorfal reporter Will now intro
duce Captain jim Willis. who will favor
the readers OF the Star with fish story.
Captain Jim halls from Morehead City,
N. c., where he runs pleasure craft for
the accommodation OF northern consump-
tives. At this moment he is leaning
against the buffet at the Normandie. and
this Is what he Is saying:
Down yonder where / live we have all
sorts of finny, denizcns OF the deep from
minnows up to whales, including yachts-
men. / don't propose to stun you Win
trout story, or to say anything 10 you
about the size OF a black bass. because
am aware that there are n lot OF iaho-
lubbers right here in this city VINO can
lie Just about as hard as anybody else III
this particular line. i can't tell yarn
with any bigger bass In IL than the mex.
fellow. My specially is the whale. Ia
Nka 70 hot a hundred dollars to cent
that when n request for Story come"
round / can catch bigger whale thah
anybody else.
But. throwing all jokes to the four' OF
even a greater number OF the wihds vi
Heaven. I did have an experience win
whale that came near to making Jonah
ont of me with the casting-up process
omitted. One sunny Afternoon not very
long ago was sitting In the shacS OF
my own fig-tree and swinging IN my own
grapevine swing. II was one Oh 'io'e
DAYS when nature takes an GUIDE
THIS is FISH POETRY.
The heavens and the earth were poem
Of sunshine, green and blue 80,
wind that would not have kisseu O Iii
OF tan on the face of the fareSl g.,
plaved an idyl on the leaves and branches
~ the trees; patches of listless clouu iieo-
coed the dome of space, ana the sn,p,
ing stretch Of water answered III su'iie.i'
10 the sun. The sea was quiet even uiiD
the ever undulating. restless grouho
and in this mighty mirror the heavens
saw themselves as they are seen baIn
tiny wavelet rippled on the ceach uheOuy
at my feet, in a lazy, hmpid way anu
seemed TO say that 1t was almost TOO
faint 10 move. and that really had IT
not been for the eager waters IN us
roar IL would not have come to land. III
was one of those days when man can
go TO Elysium without the sacrifice OF
health. g,
A column Of fragrant smoke assembled
from my sweet cob pipe, and l felt as
though was the chosen of the Lord. Inc
ideal rather than the real held sway
A splash of water was seen to seward.
A let of the ocean went up and feli
back as spray. / saw this, but was In
too much of reverie to trace causes. a
party of my fisher friends, who lived
farther up the beach. came running Dy,
and as they passed me they sang out
There she blows" This cry woke me
up. once more the jet of water spurted
upward from the sea. and down to the
pier | rushed. a whale is apt TO create
a sensation in any seaside community.
even though there H. no summer guests,
because there are always many hundreds
Of dollars concealed on its person. 1t is
n red-letter event in local annals when
a whale comes down town. The saloon
keepers especially make merry over the
arrival. This kind of guests. however.
were so few and far between at More
head that accommodations for them were
rather below the standard
SOMEWHAT CROWDED.
our reception facilities in this particular
instance were so inadequate that it was
Ions an open question whether that whale
would or would not conclude To settle in
our town. II was only by luck and
through no particular preference Of his
own that ne did go The town only
boasted of two haTpo0n outfits. one was
an ancient harpor's."un that years before
had been found ~. Wrcckers on board the
hulk of South Sea whaer, which had
gone on our coast while bound TO New
Bedford, and the other was very print
tie hand-pOWcr harpOOn rig. There
wasn't a real whale-bOat in the town,
but four ordinary fishing-bOats were
manned by as many crews. one carried
The harpOoI-sun. and one the hand-hurl-
ing apparatus. The other two were with
out any armament. excepting several shot
guns ana one or two rifles.
II was almost a hopeless case with u.s.
for # a whale is not hit In the vitals, he
will so down. TO come TO the surface in a
distant part of the sea. When one Is
struck in the vitals. he spouts or blows
blood. and then floats into eternity. We
rOWed of as 10 come at the game
from different points of the compass. |
was In the gun-bOat. AS approached
the whale II was seen that he was large
and fat one. He took no notice of our
coming. When we got within about 100
feet of the monster the harpoon-gun was
fired, and the barbed weapon took effect
jus. behind the head. and pretty well
up on the back. This was painful, but
not necessarily fatal shot. The other