Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1895-06-05
PHILLIPS HELD ON.
HE STAID WITH THE WHALE AND
NOW Is WELL FIXED.


NOW Is WELL FIXED.
The Thrilling Adventure of q Long Island
Truck Farmer Who Has His Share of
the Qualities Generally Credited to Resi-
dents of His Part of the World.
GA whaling story? Well, there's
man here named Phillips, a truck farm
er, and of course whaler. About eight
years ago he belonged to one of our boat
crews. A big whale was sighted about
three miles out, and the usual excite
ment occurred. Every man of crew
knows his place, and when the alarm is
given he drops everything and makes for
the beach.
$50, at the first cry Of 'WhaleP 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
trimming some trees, and had no coat
on, though it was pretty cold day. He
ran down the road in his shirt sleeves,
knife in hand, just as he was. If MEM
ber of crew isn't there, you see, vol
unteer will get his place, and if the
whale is killed, also his share of the pro-
ceeds. Phillips got there. The boats
were manned-the oars, ,harpoons, lances,
etc., are always kept right there under
the boats for such an emergency-and
with the general help got safely through
the combers that were rolling i'll from a
pretty stiff sea.
"Now, there's always rivalry be-
tween whalemen as to getting III the
first iron. The two crews were pretty
evenly matched and reached the whale
about the same time, taking either side,
the whales nose being toward shore. 1t
is trick they play on a whale, you see.
He Just lies there, looking from one to
the other, as if wondering which he'd
tackle or which was liable to tackle
him. The bowman who was to throw
the harpoon was as much excited Ill one
boat as in the other. Both threw at
once, and both fell short-yes, and both
boats were swamped at exactly the same
moment. The whale was so surprised
to see everything suddenly disappear on
both sides of him that he never stirred.
1t was nasty situation.
Phillips was thrown out of the boat
right up against the side of the mon
ster. Pn;,,;rss s ,Ess ,s excited, and beineE
truck farmer from Long Island, hated
to 60 out three miles and get only a
wetting. He had the pruning knife in
his overalls, and while every other man
was trying to right the boats he drew
this knife and struck the whale terri
BILE blow just back of his left flipper and
killed it.
eyes, that single blow killed it, but
a whale never dies right away when he
gets death blow Phillips didn't want
to lose his knife, and he could not pull
it out. While he was hanging on to it
the whale dived to the bottom of the
ocean, taking Phillips along with it.
You never heard of Long Islander let
ting go of anything voluntarily that had
money in it, so Phillips 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 alongside.
''The whale never stopped until he
got ten miles out, where he rolled over
on his side, as dead as salted mackerel.
Now, Phillips was sticking ON the star
board side, you see, and when the whale
rolled over the other way it brought the
truck farmer on the upper side, and on
a moderately firm footing. To be sure
of not slipping off, he took off his sus-
penders 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 ye doing there?' he says.
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 and
take him back to Southampton for moth
ing for whatever interest he had in the
whale.
"'Not a cent less than $3.50 will buy
me off" said Phillips.
"'Then stay on, said the skipper,
and he squared braces and sailed away,
leaving Phillips where he was He was
a plucky man, and he knew what a
whale was worth. And he said to him
self, 'I'll stick to my whale till I get
my price, if I have to live on blubber
all summer and then he cut out a
chunk for lunch.
''But he was right in the track of ves-
sells and was finally picked up at a
bargain by whale ship just going
around to Bering sea, and they took in
the oil and bone and paid Phillips big
salary to go along-more than he could
make by his truck farm and summer
boarders in five years. The skipper rea-
soned that man who could go out and
kill whale alone with pruning knife,
and had pluck enough to stick to mis- find
until he sold it, would be a good man
to take on the 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 it in a sand
bank and sold out to New Workers for
country seats.
''He lives over yonder in that pretty
cottage, but you'll know him by scar
on his nose, where the whale scraped
him on the bottom of the ocean eight
years ago. New York Herald.
Only Few of Them.