The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1898-12-30
IHE DREADED EV|ATHAN.
Story of a Whale Cow That
Was a Veritable Demon
of Destruction.
A FEARFUL REVENGE.
Her Calf Was Killed by Accident
and 1t Goaded Her to
Madness.


Only Two out of Flotilla of Fifty-two
Boats Escaped Her Attack-Ths Marvel
Speed She Made From Point to
Point-She Finally Escaped Without
Scratch.
A widely-known and feared devilfish
has its headquarters in the Northern
Pacific, mostly along the American
coast, especially affecting the Gulf of
California. This huge creature is
mammal, one of the great whale family,
really rorqual of medium size and
moderate yield of oil. 1t is peculiar
characteristic of this animal that it
seems ever on the alert, scarcely ex-
posing for one moment its broad back
above the sea surface when rising to
spout, and generally travelling, unlike
all its congeners, not upon, but few
feet below, the water A standing or
der, among the whalers is never by any
chance to injure calf while the moth
er lives, since such an act exposes all
and sundry near the spot to imminent
and violent death. Neglect of this
most necessary precaution, or more
probably accident, once brought about
a calamity that befell a feet of thir-
teen American whaling ships.
One bright morning, the whole flo
tilla of fifty-two boats, four from
each ship, had been lowered and were
making their way as rapidly as posi-
BILE keeping bright lookout for
U6cb CDraa dino ont fanmico fhou
were getting more and more scattered,
when about near the center of the fleet
some one suddenly struck" and got
fast to a fish But hardly had the in
timation been given when something
very like panic seized upon the crowd.
In moment or two the reason was
apparent. From some cause, never def
initely known, harpooner had in
striking large cow whale trans
fixed her calf at her side with his har-
pooh, killing it Immediately. The
mother, having quietly satisfied herself
that her offspring was really dead,
turned upon her aggressors like veri-
table demon of destruction, and, while
carefully avoiding exposure of her body
to attack, simply spread devastation
among the fotilla. Whenever she rose
to the surface, it was but for second,
to emit an expiration like the hiss of
lifting safety valve, and almost al
ways to destroy boat or complete the
destruction of one already hopelessly
damaged.
Every blow was dealt with accuracy
and an appearance of generalization
that filed the superstitious Portuguese.
who formed good half of the crews,
with dismay-the more so, that many
of them could not guess at the original
cause of what was really going on. The
speed of the monster was SO great that
her almost simultaneous appearance at
points widely separated made her seem
ubiquitous; and as she gave no chance
whatever for a blow, it certainly looked
as if all the boats would be destroyed
seriatim. Not content with dealing one
tremendous blow at boat and reduc-
ing it at once to a bundle of loose
boards, she renewed her attentions
again and again to the wreckage,
as if determined that the destruc-
ton should be complete. Utter
decentralization had seized even the
veterans, and escape was the only
thought governing all action. But
the distance to the shore was great,
and the persistence and vigor of the
furious leyiathan, so far from diminish
ing. seemed to increase as the terrible
work went on. At last two boats did
succeed in reaching the beach at a
point where it sloped very gradually.
The crews had hardly leaped over
board, to run to their craft up high and
dry. when close behind them in the
shadows foamed and rolled their re-
lentless enemy, just too late to reach
them. Out of a large number of we'll
equipped boats that left the ships that
morning, only these two escaped I'M
damaged. Most of the men were badly
injured, and six, one of whom was the
unhappy origin of the whole trouble,
were killed outright. The triumphant
avenger of her slain offspring disap-
peared as silently as she had carried
on her deadly warfare.