Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1896-07-02
CAPTURING A BIG WHALE.
An Exciting Adventure on the Island or
BermuGix.

BermuGix.
In years gone by there was whaling
station here in Bermuda, this speck
lying upon the bosom of the Atlantic
ocean. 700 miles east by south of New
York and Goo miles east of Charleston,
s. c.. says Hamilton (Bermuda) letter.
But of late years the whalers have been
living away up IN the north sea" and
the industry has been abandoned. Re
Gently, however, the writer had a thrill
ing experience during the capture OF
whale on the reefs of these coral isles
While the stanch steamer Trinidad was
nearing the coast Capt. Fraser spied
school of eight whales. The sun was ar
its zenith and its rays shimmered from
the whales back. No such leviathans OF
the sea had been seen in this neighbor-
hood for many years and the fact was
signaled to the islands. By a code of
military 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 whaleboat Shamrock put out from
the shore and started in pursuit. At
the same time pilot was broughtin
skiff to the Trinidad, and the writer, on
informing the captain that he repre-
sented the Spy. was allowed to leave the
ship in the 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 in one
group and three each in 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 di-
rection of their course, he so ma
neuvered the Shamrock as to get di-
rectly in the path of the nearest whale
AS the monster approached, quite I'M
conscious of his danger-for a sperm
whale cannot see an object lying d.
rectly ahead--a skillful movement of
the steering oar brought the boat with
in five feet of the whale, and enabled
Mr.. Fox to send well-aimed harpoon
into its body near the right fin.
This made This whalelets" mad. for
instantly his tail few straight up in the
air and he began what is termed
'sounding''-that is, diving straight
down. The coil of rope ran out so rapid
1y that it kept three men busily engaged
in drenching it with water to prevent
fire by friction. The whale was 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 was just
beginning to form pretty syphon, 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 hold
ing on to the harpoon rode several miles
before>it occurred TO him to let 60 and
suffer himself to be rescued by his COM
panions, who in the meantime had been
picked up by the larger boat. The hero
of the hour, the man who rode the
whales back, was Isaac Nadele, native
of Ohio, who had served in the French
army during the Franco-Prussian war.
He had had many exciting adventures.
but he voluntarily told the Spy represen-
tative that is was the first time he was
ever really frightened.
Then the attack began again. There
were many thrusts of the harpoon.
while the bomb lance was fired occasion
ally 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 beat
ing the sea with its fins and tail. After
struggle of two hours and half the
whale succumbed and another half
hour sufficed to strap up the carcass and
take it in tow.
1t was then Is miles from land. The
whale was 60 feet long and it is esti-
mated that the blubber will yield co
barrels of oil. The catch is said to be
worth over 200, or something like
$1,000.
The writer had a steak cut from the
whales side, and the French chef at the
Princess hotel toasted it to beautiful
brown. But it lacked that toothsome
flavor often discovered in the steaks
of the Worcester boarding houses.
Enough was as good as feast" The
waiter was told to take it away.-Wor-
cester Spy.
Restoration of Organs of the BODY