Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-03-30
YARNS OF THE SEA.

IhG Hem0rknOle Adx enture Oh n Long
Island Truck Farmer.
From the New York Herald.
"a whaling story? Well. there's a man
here named Phillips. truck farmer, and.
of course, a whaler. About eight years
ago he belonged to one of our boats crews.
A big whale was sighted about three miles
out, and the usual excitement occurred.
Every man of a crew knows his place, and
when the alarm is given he drops every
thing and makes for the beach.
$50. at the first cry of whale the barber
left his half-shaved man in the chair, the
man driving out of town drove back again,
the storekeeper deserted his customers.
and everybody ran.
This truck farmer happened to be trim
ming soma trees, and had no coat on,
though 1t was a pretty cold day. He ran
down the road in his shirt sleeves, knife
in hand, just as he was. If member of
a crew isn't there, You see volunteer
will get his place. and. If the whale is
killed. also his share of the proceeds.
Phillips got there. The boats were man.
red-the oars, harpoons, lances etc. are
always kept right there under the boats
for such an emergency-and with the gen.
eral help got safely through the combers
that were rolling In from pretty stiff
sea-
Now, there's always a rivalry between
whalemen as to getting in the first iron.
The two crews were pretty evenly matched,
and reached the whale about the same
being toward shore. 1t is a trick they
play on a whale, you see. He just lies
there looking from one to the other, as II
wondering which he'd tackle, or which
was liable to tackle him. The bowman
who was to throw the harpoon was as
much excited in one boat as in the other.
Both threw at once. and both fell short
yes and both boats were swamped at
a m no VI "a a VCaS
so surprised to see everything suddenly
disappear on both sides of him that he
Fever stirred. 1t was a nasty situation.
His Remarkable Feat.
Phillips was thrown out of the boat
right up against the side of the monster.
Phillips was excited, and, being a truck
farmer from Long Island, hated to go out
three miles and get only wetting. He
had the pruning knife in his overalls, and
the boats he drew this knife and struck
the whale terrible blow just back of his
left f1ipper-and killed it.
Yes: that single blow killed 1t, but
whale never dies right away when he gets
death blow. Phillips didn't want to lose
his knife. and he could not pull 1t out.
While he was hanging on to it, the whale
di. ed to the bottom of the ocean, taking
Phillips along with 1t. You never heard
of Long Islander letting go of anything
voluntarily that had money in it, so Phil
lips held on. The whale soon came to the
surface, or else the man would have been
drowned, and as soon as he came up he
made for the open sea, dragging Phillips
alor gside.
THE whale never stopped until he got
ter miles out, where he rolled over on his
side, as dead as a sailed mackerel Now,
Phillips was sticking on the starboard
side, you see, and when the whale rolled
on er the other way 1t brought the truck
farmer on the upper side, and on a mod
erately firm footing. To be sure of not
slipping on. he took off his suspenders and
tied himself to his knife, still fast behind
the starboard fin, and then went to Sleep
well. sir. ship came along and found
the man there asleep on top of the whale
The skipper hailed Phillips and woke him
up.
'What're We doing there?'' says he
Sleeping. says Phillips. Dye want to
buy whale?'
The skipper was a Yankee, and saw
that there was money in this job, so he
Offered to rescue the truck farmer ard
take him back to Southampton for nothing
for whatever interest he had in the whale
Not a cent less than $3.50 will buy me
Then stay on said the skipper, ard
he SQUARED braces and sailed away, leaving
Phillips where he was. He was a plucky
And he said to himself, TIL stick to INV
whale till get my price, if 1 have to live
on blubber all summer and then he cut
out chunk for lunch.
1t Made His Fortune.
But he was right in the track of ves-
sells. and was finally picked up at a bar
gain by whale ship just going round to
Boring sea, and they took in the oil and
bone. and paid Phillips a big salary to go
alorg-more than he could make by his
truck farm and summer boarders in five
years. The skipper reasoned that a man
who could go out and kill a whale alone
with pruning knife. and had pluck
CROUCH to stick to his find until he sold it.
would be good man to take on a VOYAGE
And he was right for the vessel had the
biggest kind of luck, and came home full
of oil. The share of the truck farmer gave
him good start, and he invested in a
sandbank, and sold it out to New Workers
fer country seats.
He lives over yonder in that pretty cot
tage but you'll know him by a scar on his
Nc Sc, where the whale scraped him on the
hnttn eli ~