The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1896-01-10
COVERED THE SHIP WITH BLOOD.
An Old Salt Beats the Record With .
Yarn Abou" u Whale. y

Yarn Abou" whale. z
The story of whale as told by
Mate Schlaiker of tho good ship Ann
rum is as follows:
"The Amrum left Progreso, Mex
leo, with cargo of hemp, bound for
: this port. For the first few days out
we had such delightful weather that
those of the crew who were super
stitious declared that something re.
markable would happen before we
reached port.
Tho officers, of course, paid no
attention to them until we ran into
: heavy northeast winds and seas that
ran mountains high. Then we be-
gan to think that perhaps they weres
right, and wo felt that the re,narka-
BILE thing had happened after ono of
the seamen was washed from the
top of tho deckhouse by & huge
, comber that broke over us and was
carried the entire length of tho ship,
21O feet and inches, without being
seriously hurt.
THAT in itself was remarkable,
an occurrence OH Dec. s, when we
ran upon what tho lookout thought
; was an unmarked island, but what
we found to be only school of
whales.
Two seen whales before, but /
never saw such q sight as saw that
Z, day.
1.-THE weather had calrcd down,
and tho sea had become smooth
again, and when took my obsorva-
ton just before going to dinner, at
noon, l found that wo were in lati-
tudo 81 degrees Al minutes and Ion
gitudo AZ degrees 81 minutes.
II had just seated myself at tho
dinner table with tho other officers
when the ship received blow that
shook her from stem to stern, and
threw US from our chairs. Then tho
ship ceased to move forward and we
we1o filled with consterIation.
'Dcrclictn somo ono shouted,
and we all ran on deck, not knowing
what had happened to us. We found
tho crew all forward somn busy
with tho lookout and others looking
over tho bow into tho water.
The vessel was covered with
blood from the fore rigging 70 tho
bridge, and tho lookout appeared as
though hc had been bathcd in il.
II ran to his assistance, and asI
did so another great fountain CT
blood came over tho bows. 1t was
from Il whale that wo had struck.
The whale was sroutim" gallons OF
blood, and as / looked 1T him, I saw
that we had hit him hTO&GsiL on
and had cut great cash in his ,ilc,
the blood from which hGudiScolored
tho water for hundreds of feet
around.
"Ie was the largest whale that I
ever saw, for lie exposed fuiiy 80
feet OF his length. How mach lOnccr
he was had no means Of knowing,
for, rs he went under our st&rboard
bow and disappeared VIC forced
ahead again and right into the midst
of school of whales that was so
compact that ono might have step
ped upon their baC.;s and walked
from one to another without wet
ting his feet.
1T was most remarkable sight
and ono that is rarely seen.
just as wo reached the whales
they all spoutcd and Went out of
sight. The water that they throw
into tho air with their immcnsc
iiukcs came upon tho deck and min
glcd with the blood OF their Door,
unfortunate mate, who undouEtCdly
was asleep when we strull, him.
"Thcy arose all around us, and in
anger thrashcl tho water until it
was covered with rcd foam. SOmo
of them followed Us for long dis.
tancc, but mono charged on our ship,
rs we thought that they might do.
"Nou can appreciate the force Of
the ships compact with the whale
when | tell you that VIC were forced
backward, although ruuning eight
knots an hour when VIC struck.
'Thc blood that covered the
bridge and everything forward Of If
VIC were two days in removing. and
| dare say that even then We did not
get it all off.
1T was most wonderful expert
cncc, ana one That | do not care TO
go through G"ain, although there
waI no danger connected with It. "
New York Times.