Washington sentinel., 1898-10-22
How a whale ReveDged the Death
of her ORlf
cornhiH Magazine,

A widely known and feared devi
fish has its headquarters in thS
northern Pacific, mostly along the
American coast, especially affect.
+ inc the Cult OF California. This
huge creature is a mammal, one
OF the great whale family, really a
roroual ot medium size and mod
crate WELD of oil. y Only the
elite of the Yankee halemen, dex-
ferrous and daring as are all the
tribe, can hope 70 get ito wind
ward ot the diabolically cunning
giants whom they abuse with such
fluent and frequent flow OF pictur-
esque profanity. 1t is a peculiar
characteristic OF this animal that it
seems ever ON the alert, scarcely
exposing Tor one moment its broad
bank above the sea surface when
rising to spout, and generally trav-
elling, unlike all its congeners, not
upon, but a few feet below, the
water. For this reason. and in this
fishery alone, the whalers arm
themselves with iron shafted har-
poons. in order to strike with
greater force and certainty oil direc-
ton a whale some distance beneath
The surface. A standing order, too,
among them is never by anv
chance to injure calf while the
mother lives, since such an act eX-
poses all and sundry near the spot
to imminent and violent death.
Neglect OF this most necessary pre-
caution, or more probably acct
dent, once brought about a calam-
ity that beiell a feet Of thirteen
American whaleships that had
been eng aged in the "bowhead"
fishery among the ice foes OF the
Arctic Pa=i6c. In order to waste
no time, they came south when
winter set in, and by common con-
sent rendezvoused in Margharita
Bay, Lower California, for month
or two's "devil fishing"
The whales were exceedingly
abundant that season, and all the
ships were soon busy with as much
blubber as they could manage.
I he east with which the whales
were being obtained, however, led
to considerable carelessness and
forgetfulness OF the tact that the
whalG never changes its habits.
One bright morning, about three
zee s after the opening Of the
~, the whole hotilla Of Sc
boats, four from each ship, had
been lowered and were making
their way as rapidly as possible to
the outlying parts Of the great bay,
keeping a bright lookout for
fish" Spreading out ian-wise,
they were getting more and more
scattered, when about near the
centre OF the feet some one sud.
denly Struck" and got fast to
fish. But hardly had the Intima-
ton been given when something
very like panic seized the crowd.
In a moment or two the reason
was apparent. From some cause,
never definitely known, a har-
pooner had, in striking large COW
whale trans6xed her calf at her
side with his harpOon, killing it
Immediately. The mother, having
quietly satisfied herself that her
offspring was really dead, turned
upon her aggTessors like a verita-
BILE demon of destruction, and,
while carefully avoiding exposure
OF her body to attack, simply
spread devastation among the flo
tilla. Whenever she rose to the
surface, 1t was but for a second. to
emit an expiration like the hiss OF
a lifting safety valve, and almost
always to destroy a boat or COM
plete the destruction of one already
hopelesslY damaged.
Every blow was dealt with an
accuracy and appearance OF pre-
meditation that filled the supe rs,i-
tious Portuguese, who formed a
good half oil the crews, with dis
mav-the more so that many OF
them could only guess at the orig
inal cause Of what was really going
on. The speed of the monster was
so grdat that her almost simulta-
neou&appeaTances at points widely
aparIMmade her seem ubiquitous;
and ~ she gave no chance what
ever for a blow, 1t certainly looked
as if all the boats would be des-
troyed one by one. Not content
with dealing one tremendous blow
at a boat and reducing it at once
10 a condition Of loose boards, she
renewed her attentions again and
again to the==wEeckage, as if deter
mined that the destruction should
be complete. Utter Generalization
had seized even the veterans, and
escape was the only thought gov.
erning all action. But the distance
to shore was too great, and the
persistence and vigor OF the furious
leyiathan, so far from diminishing,
seemed to increase as the terrible
work went on. AT last two boats
did succ eed in reaching the beach
ar a point where it sloped very
gradually. The crews had hardly
leaped overheard to run their craft
up high and dry, when close be
hind them in the shadows foamed
aud rolled their relentless enemy,
lust too late to reach them. Out OF
the large number of well equipped
boats that left the ships that morn
ing, only these two escaped un-
damaged, and the loss Of the sea-
sons work was irremediable. Over
fifty 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 dis
appeared as silently as she had
=. Lo~ IaaJ1xy xvarfara aa