The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-05

mat season, and all the ships were soon
ousy with as much bFubber as they could
manage. The ease with which the whales
We're being obtained however, led to con-
siderable carelessness and forgetfulness Of
the fact that the whale never changes it's
habits. One bright morning, about three
weeks after the opening of the season, the
whole fiotilla of fifty-two 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. keep
ing bright lookout for fish" Spread
ing out fan-wise, they were getting mora
ana more scattered, when about near the
center of the fleet some one, suddenly
struck and got fast to a fish. But hard
ly had the intimation been given when
something very like panic seized upon the
crowd. In a moment or two the reason
was apparent. From some cause, never
definitely known, a harpooner had in
striking a large COW whale transfxed her
calf at her side with his harpoon, killing
it Immediately. The mother having quiet
ly satisfied herself that her offspring was
really dead turned upon her aggressors
like veritable demon of destruction, and,
while carefully avoiding exposure of her
body to attack simply spread devastation
among the hotilla. Whenever she rose to
the surface, it was but for a second, to
emit an expiration like the hiss of a lifting
safety-valVe, and almost always to de-
stroy a boat or complete the destruction
of one already hopelessly damaged.
Every blow was dealt with an accuracy
and appearance of generalization that filed
the supersttious Portuguese, who formed
a good half of the crews with dismay-
the more so that many of them could only
guess at the original cause of what was
really going on. The speed of the mon
ster was so great that her almost stimuli
taneous appearances at points wideiy
separated made her seem ubiquitous; aud
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 reducing il at once to a bundle
of loose boards, she renewed her attens
tons again and again to the wreckage, as
IL determined that the destruction should
be complete. Utter decentralization had
seized even the veterans and escape was
the only thought governing all action. But
the distance TO shore was great and the
persistence and vigor OF the furious levia-
than, so far from diminishing, seemed TO
increase as the terrible work went on
At last two boats did succeed in reach-
ing the beach at a point where it sloped
very gradually The crews had hardly
leaped overheard, TO run their craft higd
and dry, when close behind them in the
swallows f0Gmed and rolled their relent-
less enemy, just too late to reach them.
Out of the large number of well-equipped
boats that left the ships that morning,
only these two escaped unchanged, ana
the loss of the seasons work was ire
mediable. over fifty men were badly in-
jured. and six, one of whom was the UNI
happy origin of the whole trouble, were
killed outright The triumphant avengeF
Of her slain offspring disappeared as SILENT
~ as size had carried on her deadly war;
fare as far as could be known unhurt'
and with an accumulated hoard of expert
ence that would, il possible. render her
more of "devif to any unsuspecting
whaiemen who should hereafter have the
misfortune to meet with and attack her
than she had proved herself to be al.
ready. Detected and crippled, the fleet
lost no time in getting away from the
spot and fleeing north to San Francisco
there to refit for other and more profitable
fishing grounds.