The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-10-19

K11u IA lily l1Gs 0AA 3
through a number OF strange experien-
ces. And I tell you right now there's
no more ocean fishing for me-that ID
unless I am in a good-sixed boat"
The speaker was Tom Butwell. keep
Of the Ano Nuevo fog signal. and he
was engaged In helping two pale-faced
men out OF q small skin on to the
wharf at the island. The pale-faced
men had little to say. In fact. they
were shaking like h leaves OF q pop
ular tree when the autumn winds blow,
showing plainly that they had been
frightened. Any one would have been
who had passed through what they
had OIL that morning a few weeks ago
Come up to the house and I'll tell
you all about it," said Tom, after the
boat had been made fast. Il kinder
feel as though / would like a little
something TO steady me. myself. I
guess q little would do us all good"
After h pale-faced men had been
made more comfortable and Tom was
feeling as steady as he could expect.
he tilted his hair back against the
wall and told the story Of how a whale
had that morning got hold OF the
anchor of their fishing o a and start
ed to China with them. The whale
seemed TO have a preference for a deep
water route, and would u~ndoubtly
ave taken it a not the rope been cut
just as the sea was coming over the
gun-wale.
You see." began Tom, my assis-
tant, Jim here. and my friend. Mr..
Jones, and 1 all concluded we would
try our hands at deep water fishing
hale n nil nr So 70 ~ xrnrt - tha &C.
land. The tide was just right this
morning and we had little work rowing
out. The swell was magnificent and
the day perfect for u sport.
Il had been out to the same locality
before and knew where to anchor so a
to be ear a reef where there was like.
ly to be plenty Of fish. We got fixed ir
short order. 1 threw out a small an
Choir at the end Of about 40 feet OF rope
and 1t held at once, so that in a mo
! ment we were riding the swell in CRANE
| style.
Usually after We throw out on
lines the fish began to bite as soon a!
the bait touches bottom, but to-da!
something was wrong. Half an hou
passed without a nibble, and I wa
about making up my mind to go t,
some other place. Suddenly my lin
gave a series Of jerks. and so did Jim
and Mr.. Jones's, almost at the sam
moment.
when we pulled up every hook ha.
a fish on it, and it was plain to me tina
a school Of fish had come by and w
were getting the benefit Of it. The
the fun commenced, but didn't las
long.
1T was all we could do to bait on
lines and take off the fish. Before tn
hooks had touched bottom there was
fish on each We kept this up for
few minutes, and then something har
pened.
81 was sitting in the bow of tn
boat, Jim was sitting in the middl
and Mr.. Jones was in the stern. Jus
as our sport was at its height our boa
seemed to give a jump and a buml
I thought at first that we nus hav
gone adift and struck on a reef.
looked about to make sure and sa'
that the anchor line was taut. The
the boat gave another jump, and we a
looked at one another.
''It was not until the real cause {
our trouble came in front Of me Thu
I knew what it was. / had considere
a number of things, such as gettir
caught in some current, becoming el
tangled in seaweed, inc a few othe
just as sensible.
Before I knew it We were going lii
lightning and foam was flying on DO
sides of us. l reached for the n
rope, and just at hat moment a mo-
ster fluke rose before me and can
down with a splash not three inches
: front of the o If it had touched
) it would have been all night with
and nobody would ever know how '
} came to our untimely ends.
0 course, as sOOn as / saw the flu
: I knew we were fastened to a wha
i md a moment 1afar I cow tho fQl1T
who had us with an anchor sticking
= one corner of his mouth. Away
: went in a series of leaps over t
4 waves.
Il tried to unite the anchor ro1
but couldn't.
Then I reached for my knife, h
e it had been used for cutting bait a
was in the bottom Of the o SON
where.
THE oars had been poked under
= seats so as to be out Of our way, a
q could not be extricated.
Faster and faster the whale w
: over the water churning it into fo'
1t all around. 1 knew as long as he k
l. on top we were safe, but did not tn
le this would last long. Nor did 1t. ]
whale began to dive and sink our b
:. to the gunwale every few seconds.
= Then he remained under the wa
y and i about concluded that our II
s. had come. I knew that the first lii
is wave We ran into would let in enol
Re water to allow the whale to sink I
a it was fortunate for us that the WI
l. was a small one.
at Just as we were coming to a Ii
bit Of SLOPPY water Jim found
e. knife and handed it to me. 1t b,
~ awful dull. I cut and sawed, and
ne tie splashes Of water came in every
minutes. Still the rope held.
s, "It seemed to me like an age BET
ly I managed to eventually cut thro'
On that rope. But I did, just as the b
ed shipped about a tubful Of water.
Mr.. Whale took himself away and
as anchor with him. But he was '
IN come to it.
ct was some moments before we
cd tempted to row back to land: but
st can see that we got here. And a
said before, no more ocean fishing
re me, unless I am in a big boat.
C Now that it is all over 1 can tn
n of how it happened. / lay it all to