Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-05-23
CAPTURING A BIG WHALE.
An Exciting Catch Made on the Is
land of Bermuda.

land of Bermuda.
From the Worcester Spy.
In years gone by there was a whaling
station here in Bermuda-this speck lying
upon the bosom of the Atlantic ocean, sew
en- hundred miles east by south of New
York ard six hundred miles east of
Charleston, s. c. But of late years the
whales have been living away up in the
North sea-" and the industry has been
abandoned Recently. however. the writer
had thrilling experience during the cap
ture of a whale on the reefs of these coral
isles. While the stanch steamer Trinidad
was nearing the coast Captain Frazer
spied a school of eight whales. The sun
was al its zenith and its rays shimmered
from the whales backs. No such leviathans
Of the had been seen in this neigh
b0rhOOd for many years, and the fact was
sisnaled 10 the islands. Ry a code of mill
tary flag signals this information was soon
known from one end of the group to the
other.
Presently Joseph c. Fox and a crew. in
the whale boat Shamrock put out from
the shore and started in pursuit. At the
same time a pilot was brought in skff
to the Trinidad, and the writer on inform
ing the captain that he represented the
Spy. was allowed to leave the ship IN a
small boat. The Trinidad passed on with
its joyous passengers, and the whalers
went in the opposite direction. BY this
time the whales had divided into three
groupS-two i'll one group and three each
III the other two groups Mr.. Fox decided
TO attack one of the whales in the third
group. and. taking advantage Of a change
in the direction of their course. he so
maneuvered the Shamrock as to get di-
IeCtly in the path of the nearest whale.
As the monster approached, quite unCon-
sCiOus of danger, for a sperm whale can
not see object lying directly ahead. a
skillful movement of the steering oar
brought the boat within five feet of the
whale and enabled Mr.. Fox TO send a we'll
aimed harpOon into its body near the
right fin.
This made his whalelets" mad, for in
stantly his tail flew straight up in the air
and he began what is termed sounding
that is, diving straight down. The coil
of rope ran out so rapidly that it kept
three men busily engaged in drenching it
with water to prevent fire by friction.
The whale was a good diver. for he stayed
under half an hour before he came up to
do his "spOuting.'
While he was in the act of throwing off
the vaporiZed water. which vas just begin
ming to form pretty siphon, Mr.. Fox fired
a bomb lance. which exploded in the
whales side. This enraged the monster so
greatly that he upset the small boat with
his tail. and threw one whaleman high into
the air. The man fell on the whales back,
and. while holding on to the haTpCon, rode
several miles before 1t occurred to him to get
off and suffer himself to be rescued by his
companions. WHO, IN the meantime, naQ
been picked up by the larger boat. The
hero of the hour was the man who rode on
the whales back, Isaac Nadele, a native
of Ohio who had served in the French
army during the Franco-PrusSian war. He
has had many exciting adventures, but he
voluntarily told the Spy representative
that it was the first time he was ever real
ly frightened.
Then the attack began again. There
were many thrustS of the harpoon, while
the bomb lance was fired occasionally to
vary the mOnOtOny.
The big fish" did not sound" any more
but lay most of the time on the surface of
the water. rolling and beating the sea with
its fins and tail. After struggle of two
hours and Il half the whale succumbed,
and another half hour suffi1ed to strap up
the carcass and take it in tow.
1t was fifteen miles from land. The
whale was sixty feet long, and it is eSti-
mated that the blubber will yield sixty
barrels of oil. The catch is said to be
worth over 800. or something like 81 900.
The writer had a steak cut from the
whales side. and the French chef at the
Princess Hotel toasted it to beautiful
brown. 1t lacked that toOthSone flavor Of
ten discovered in the steaks of Worcester
boarding houses. Enough was as good
as a feast The waiter was told to take
II away.