Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1896-07-02
BIG WHALE CAPTURED.
Exciting Adventure of Crew uh the
Island of Bermuda.

, In years gone by there was a whaling
station here in Bermuda speck
lying upon the bosom of the Atlantic
ocean, 700 miles east by south OF New
York, and COG miles east of Charleston,
S. G. 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 a
thrilling experience during the capture
Of whale on the reefs of these coral
isles. While the staneh steamer 1rlni-
ddG v as nearing the coast captain
Fraser spiel a school OF eight whales.
The sun wGs At its zenith, and its rays
shimmered upon the whales backs.
No such leviathans of the sea ia been
seen in this neighborhood for many
years and the fact was signalel to the
islands. BY a code OF military Iilg sig
mails this information wac soon brown
fror. enc end OF the group to the other.
Presently Joseph G. Fox and crew,
in the whalehoat Shamrock, .,ut out
from the shore and started in pursuit.
At the same time a pilot was brought
in a skiff to the Trinidad, ana tine
writer, on Informing the captain that
he represt nted the Spy, was allowed TO
leave the ship in the small boat. The
Trinidad passed on with its joyous pas
sengers and the whalers went IN TIE
opposite direction. BY this tine 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 tnird
group, and, taking advantage Of a
change in the direction of their course,
he so maneuvred the Shamrock as to
get directly in the path Of the nearest
whale.
AS the monster approached, quite un-
conscious of his danger-for a sperm
whale cannot see an object lying di
rectly aheada skillful movement of
the steering oar brought the boat
within FIVE feet of the whale and en-
abled Mr.. Fox to send we'll aimed
harpoon into its body near the right
fin.
This made his whalelets" mad for
instantly his tail few straight UP in
.the air and he began what is termed
sounding" is, diving straight
down. The coil of rope ran out so zap.
idly that it kept three men busily en-
gagged in drenching 1t with water to
prevent fire. by friction The whalH
,ras q oood divar for ha c+ova1 ,1ndar
half an hour before he came up to do
Lis "spouting.'
While he was in the act OF throwing
off the vaporized water, which Was just
beginning to form a pretty siphon, Mr.,
Fox fired bomb lance. which exploded
in the whales side. This enraged the
monster so greatly that he upset the
small boat with mis- tail and threw one
whaleman high into the air. The man
fell on the whales back, and, while
holding on to the harpoon. rode Sc eral
miles before 1t occurred to hiln TO let
so and suffer himself to be rescued by
his companions, who, in the meartime,
had been picked up by the larger boat.
the whales back. was Isaac Nadele, a
native OF Ohio, who had served in the
French army during the Franco Prus-
sian war. He has had many exciting
adventures. but he voluntarily ,old the
Spy representative that It was tho hrst
time he was ever really frightened.
Then the attack began again. There
were many thrusts OF the harpoon.
while the bomb lance was fired occa,
slonally 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
d struggle of two hours and aalf the
whale suecumbed, and another half
hour suffieed 70 strap up the carcass
and take il in tow.
II was then fifteen miles from land
The whale was sixty feet long, aud it Is
estimated that the biubber will yield
sixty barrels of oil The catch is said
to be worth over ZOO. or something
like 81 Geo. Worcester spy.