The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-04-06

About 200 people went down on the
Wilmington Seacoast railroad yester-
day to see the whale that was stranded
and left high and dry on WrlghtsV1ila
beach last Thursday morning. the
monster Of the deep was cast up With
in thirty feet of the Carolina Yacht
Clubs house.
Some say it is a sperm whale and 9TH
ers that it is a Wright whale. A Mes
senger representative measured it yes
4erday. It's length is 50 feet and it's
width is 8 feet. The tail is II feet wide
from point to point. It's fins are Az
feet long and 8 feet wide
The carcass is still we'll preserved
but for the curiosity friends who have
cut and slashed the big fish's hide all
over and have also removed parts of
the flesh. 1t seems that the sharks had
also got in some destructive work on
the carcass before it came ashore, as
the marks on the tail and head show.
"A portion of the head was almost en-
1irely cut off and after the carcass was
landed the surf beat it off and drifted
1t d SDOEL ulSldlltt u Lie to"h tAA'
beach. Several photographers have
been down and photographed the
whale.
Below we copy from The Roanoke
News a thrilling account of a whales
incursion up Roanoke river, within two
miles of Weldon, and the narrow es-
cape two bOat loads Of fishermen made
fro~, 1aetr ,,o+ior Inv tho rpnnctar f.
ter it smashed one boat and capsized
the other, it escaped down the river,
having been shot several times by the
fishermen. al the whale on Wrights-
vile beach be the same one that
tackled the fishermen or the Roanoke
river. 1t is aid they are rapid SWIM
mers and some think it might have
had time to make it's way down here
after it's escapade with the fishermen.
The time, if the Roanoke News is cor
rect in stating that it was Thursday
morning when the whale was seen in
h Roanoke, would hardly MAKE it
possible for the monster to make ita
way down here, as the whale on
Wrightsville beach was discovered at
5 O'Clock on Thursday morning. It was.
however, not on the beach at a late
hour the night before, as some gen.
tlemen were at the club house until
nearly midnight. 1t was quite probable
that a school of whales is off this coast
and that these two strayed off from
them.
BATTLE WITH A MONSTER.
a- Ill., Doo~o1
News, OF Weldon, N. c., under date of
April list:
Four Northampton county fishermen
lives early this morning on Roanoke
river, just below the piers of the old
Petersburg railroad bridge.
The men were out in two boats, two IN
each, and the sun was just peeping over
the hill tops when the occupants OF the
boat farthest down the stream discovered
towards them. They scarcely had time
to shout to their companions before the
enormous creature was upon them. 1t
was of tremendous size and to the ex-
cited men in the boat it's eyes appeared
to emit sparks of fire. 1t was undoubted-
'1y a whale, and it was in an ugly humor,
for just as it got opposite the boat It
gave a tremendous spring forward and
appeared to life itself clear out of the
water. Then with a swash of it's tail that
sounded like a hurricane, it struck the
OOdl IlSuI dCIoS LII I'LL oAAu "a -
it like an egg shell. The men were
thrown into the water, and screaming
for help, began to swim for their lives.
The occupants of the other boat came at
once nObly to the rescue. Fortunately
they each had guns and opened fire upon
the monster. The shots took effect and
pected attack, made a break for the other
boat. The men gave themselves up for
lost, but with the nerve born of despera-
ton and fear, they waited until they
could almost feel the breath of the enOr-
nous creature, and then they fired point
blank into it's face. The shots must have
struck some vital point for with a roar
unlike anything they had ever heard be-
fore, the monster swung around and be-
gan to swim at a great rate down stream.
In turning around the tail or the great
fish struck the boat, capsizing it and
throwing the fishermen into the water:
They. fortunately, like the occupants of
the first boat. were good swimmers and
soon Joined their companions who had
succeeded in reaching the banks in safety.
The creature was doubtless a cachalOt
or sperm whale and we are Informed that
it was at least fifty or sixty feet in length
If any of our readers will mark out this
length on the ground they will see at
once what an enormous creature 1t must
have been. But the skeptical, who will
be disposed to doubt the statement of
these. humble fishermen. will naturally
ask What was this ugly monster doing
in Roanoke river. and why was it SO far
from its native element. the high seas?'
This question we cannot answer, of
course, but this much We do know. The
cachalot usually swimS in large herds or
schools and rarely leaves the high seas.
but now and then. however, it separates
from it's companions and takes an eXcur-
sion up the stream of some large river.
When this is the case he is generally a
quarrelsome. sulky old fellow. inclined to
show ight and is highly dangerous. This
was the case with the one encountered
by the fishermen in Roanoke river this
morning. AS soon as the men reached
land they began to gather reinforcements
and getting together all the boats they
could possibly procure, and armed with
every available weapon in the neighbor- |
hood, they put off down the stream and
after going several miles and seeing moth
ing of the whale they abandoned all hope |
of capturing the creature and returned to |
their homes to calculate and figure on the
probable amount of their loss. If the
fishermen are correct in their estimate of
the size of the whale it would ~undoubted- !
1y nave yielded ten barrels Of sparmeceti,