The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-10-23

WHALES rs. NPOETS.

| ~
whales battling with half dozen
waterspouts during terrible hurricane
was the unusual sight beheld by the
crew of the British steamer Bendo, on
July ), while passing Cape Hat
teras.
1t is seldom such large number of
| whales is seen at one time. and it Is
not frequent that six huge -whirling
roaring waterspouts sweep down upon
a vessel: so that when half dozen
columns of water are met by an army
of sea monsters the event becomes Of
considerable Importance and interest
to seafaring men.
Though the Bendo, which arrived
at Philadelphia from Rio Janeiro, sea
serpents are frequently seen, there is
no claim made to having sighted any
Of these very common reptiles, and for
this reason the crew aeserts that the
| terrible marine fray which they
witnessed must be accepted as the
truth.
The watersponts cansed by the cy
| clone on the deep were of immense
proportions, measuring about $50 feet
in diameter at the base and tarerlng
upgladually like huge cone to a point
where the diameter was less than a
foot. Above this the cone was form
ed in inverted shape until it resem-
bltd great tunnel.
here were six Of them, and they
| represented beautifully tinted columns
supporting the heavy masses of dark
black clouds above, while below rolled
the Atlantic.
The Bendo struck the storm shout
noon and had considerable difficulty
in weathcrlng the hurricane. When
the crew first caught sight of the
waterspout, they We're moving down
on the steamer at a rapid rate and
threatening to engulf her. They
were il line and swept forward III
such regular order that they resembled
squad of soldiers moving under
orders. When the towing masses of
water, which the crew Of the Bendo
already decided would cause their
death, had arrived within less than a
half mile of the ship, they veered off
to the windward, and then the truth
full sailor men beheld the strangest
sight in all their nautical expert
ences.
Capt. Doyle gave the reporter a
graphic description of the scene as he
beheld it. After telling of the storms
approach he said:
1T was about l o'clock in the after
noon when the waterspouts turned on
our windward, and we were watching
the beautiful sight when we saw
great number of large whales among
the columns of water, spouting streams
of water into foam with their tails
There were at least 80 in the school,
and from thrir actions it was evident
that they were engaged at the WAFER
spouis, for with dumb fury they would
blindly rush into the whirling cones
as if to shatter them to piec s. 1t was
an awsul sight.
GA huge whale would swim off
short distance and then with spur
" hich increased his momentum as he
proceeded would dash his many tons
of weight against waterspou'. Strik
ing, as he would, the base of the cone
there would be caused arrangement
of the spiral movement; the column
would totter, and then in an instant
the mass of hundreds of tons of green
ish water fell back into the ocean with
mighty roar.
''The whales were then in glee and
would sport among the water as il
pleased with their victory
''But the cyclonic movement would
restablished the connection between
the clouds and the sea and a new
wa'erspout take the place of the one
destroyed. The excitement became
ire men d GU s, and the whales
rolled over one another IN their fierce
battle with the forces of nature.
Some would dive into the waterspouts
and be carried into the ocean, while
the cone broke over them. Others
would throw their heads far out of
the water aud almost rise erect in the
ocean.
"a few would reverse this, land when
they rushed into the fight their trials
would be thrown into the air, and the
rotary movement of the sea would spin
them around like tops. They did not
appear to tire of their attempts to des-
troy the waterspouts, and during the
four hours IN which we were in sight
of the strange conflict they were con
stantly engaged.
THE prevailing tempest made the
affair one Of the weirdest things imagi-
nable, and never before in my life
have seen anything like it.