The Brunswick times. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 188?-1900, 1897-06-13
LAND GOING WHALES.
FACTS ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF
KEEPING WHALES ALIVE ASHORE.

the two white whales now i'll the New
York aquarium from Riviere Ouelle,
near the mouth of the st. Lawrence
river, by railroad i'll recent interview
spoke as follows about his achievement:
I'm telling you how l keep a whale
alive ON land, it will be necessary for
me to give away one of my professional
secrets, but | guess there is no reason
why shouldn't give it away. First
catch your whale. Then put him i'll a
box, open at the top and lined with wet
seaweed. That will give him enough
moisture to keep him fairly comfortable
Now comes the trick of the trade-that
is, to keep his blowhole moistened with
a wet sponge. Of course you know that
a whale is not a fish. He breathes air,
like any other animal, and he has only
one breathing passage, the blowhole
He can't breathe through his mouth as
a man can, and if he caught bad cold
i'll his blowhole he would suffocate for
lack of air Now, if the blowhole dries
up it cannot relax and contract, but
stiffens up, and the whale promptly
dies. Therefore it is necessary to keep it
constantly moist. This requires little
water. In fact, think l didn't use
more than two pailfuls on my two
whales in the 900 miles trip down.
That included sponge bath apiece
twice a day.
hnT E1ncf
whale. That was about 30 years ago,
when l was i'll the show business. l
was employed in Barnum's museum
here, and also had an aquarium in
Boston, where L spent one week out of
the four. While | was there two men
named Tetu came from the mouth of
the ST. Lawrence with two whales fro
zen solid, which they exhibited i'll
building on Chatham street. A neat
business they did, too, with those
whales. Eventually the whales were
dissected, and was present at the dis
section. Although L was no scientist
only practical showman-I decided,
on examining the internal economy of
the subjects, that it was practicable to
bring live whale to Boston. Of the
financial advantages of such scheme |
had no doubt.
If those fellows can make good
thing out of dead whales, I said, L
can make fortune ont Of live one.
$50 l went to see Professor Agassiz,
who was at that time at the height of
his fame.
Professor, said 1, how long will
whale live out of water?:'
Six hours, if it is a good, healthy
specimen, said he.
IN going to bring one down here
by train from the gulf of St Lawrence.
l said. 1 believe lean keep him alive
during the journey
40 Young man, said he, don't you
be fool. If you've got money to waste,
you can have better time with it than
that.
But l felt certain, and so l made ar
rangements with the Tetus to catch me
whale in the spring. They caught me
white whale, like the ones now i'll the
aquarium more dnd F555t - e. hs
Portland without any one finding out
about it. Then the-newspapers got on,
and the Boston papers published dis
patches telling of our progress along the
route. You'd have thought that whale
was a member of royalty from the at
tention he attracted That was the first
whale ever brought alive into America,
and everybody wanted to see it. had
special exhibition, at which Agassiz,
Longfellow, Wendell Phillips, Whittier,
William Lloyd Garrison, and other we'll
known people We're present. In con-
graduating me Professor Agassiz said:
L didn't think it could be DONE
There is nothing like believing i'll
thing and then going on and doing it.
'No sooner had Mr.. Barnum heard of
my whale than he came to me and said:
He'll, Butler Chat was the only
profanity he ever used(, why can't we
have whale in the museum
''At that time there seemed to be no
space for a tank, but later l put one in
Meanwhile the Boston whale flourished,
and | had harness made for it, which
| hitched to water chariot. The whale
would draw the chariot around the
tank, and any child that wished could
ride behind the monster. Meantime l
was busy having basin dug in the eel
lar of Barnum S museum, at Ann street
and Broadway, New York. Another
whale was caught, and | brought it ill.,
How to keep the water in the tank fresh
was problem. We decided on bold
course, and on Saturday night big
gang of men were at work laying pipes
down Fulton street and through Wash
ington market to the river. 1t was done
by Monday morning, before anybody
had chance to get out an injunction
against us. A few people knew about it,
among them the alderman of the ward,
but the alderman-well, he was all
right. guess the pipe is there yet.
Soon we had pumping engine
working, and our whale was supplied
with good fresh water. He lived for
nine months. Afterward, when my
Boston whale died, l brought on the
tank, cut it down, put it III Barnum's,
and got two more white whales. These
were burned i'll the fire which destroyed
the museum i'll March, 1868, a strange
death for a whale. Some time after W.
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