The record-union., 1898-01-30
BAY STATE WHALING.
NEW BEDFORD IS NOW A MILL
ING CENTER.
Picturesque Calling Of It's People
Has Given Way TO the Hum
Of Cotton Spind1es.

I
clatter of the loom and the whirr of the
spindle of to-day, says a New Bedford
correspondent of the Chicago Record" :"
been sighted, and as it was shouted
| from the lookout sat the masthead it
caused a great commotion en- the deck
| of the whaier beneath.
Where away?" is the cry from the
deck
| Two points on the weather bow"
Keep your eye on her. shouts the
Captain, sing out when we head her
| right" AS soon as the vessel is near
enough to the prize the Captain gives
the order to stand by and lower the
boats. Sometimes two or three crews
will go for the whale, and often there
is the most exciting race between two
boats belonging to different ships, for
the enc that first gets harpoon in and
makes fast to the whale claims the
prize.
Off they go, these brave fellows, row
! ing with all their might toward the
monster spouting in the distance, who
with che whsk of his enormous tail
can send them all to kingdom come.
The beat header watches his chances
as they draw near and hurls the barbed
/ harDoon, which has a small but very
| strong line attached. The head of the
| weapon turns as it enters the whales
| side and fastens itself there the mo-
/, ment the line is pulled taut, and in this
! way the boat is made fast to the whale.
| The mate in command, who now takes
his position in the bow, drives his lance
| in, and its keen edge pierces the crea-
| ture'S vitais and as he begins to strug-
gle the mate shouts at the top of his
voice, Stern all. Stern all! for your
livesi'
But whale takes a lot of killing and
the lance does not always strike his
vitals. When he begins to spout blood
| instead of water the whalemen know
! that a vital point has been struck and
! his dying agonieS begin Sometimes he
rdarts away furiously, tearing through
the water like an express train, with
the little boat spinning along behind
him at such a tremendous speed that il
| Is necessary TO cut the line to prevent
the boat from being swamped. Some
| times he spins round and round, lash
/ ing the sea into seething foam, upset
! ting a boat or splintering it into kind
/ ling wood, or even biting it in two with
| MS terrible Jaws. Or perhaps he sud-
| denly dives into the depths of the ocean
making the harpoon line whiZ over the
! bow Of the boat so that the men have
| to pour water over it to prevent the
friction from setting the wood afire
But at last the final furry is over, and
the whale floats on the surface, mere
| carcass, from which the oil must be
| tried out and the bone removed
! There was time when New Bedford
led the world in her whaling interests
time when all the interests of the
| city Centered along the water front.
| But the rata -tat-tatS of the caukers'
chisel and the coopers' mallet have long
! since given way to the clatter of the
| loom, and the hum of the spindle, and
| New Bedford, once the first whaling
port in the world, is now the first city
| in America in the manufacture of fine
cotton goods and the second city in
the land in the number of spindles
From October 10th to 18th New Bed
ford VIII celebrate the semi-centennial
of her incorporation as city, and she
| has enough to celebrate AssuredIy
! there Is no city in America and prob
ably nc place in the world which can
equal New Bedfords record in one
respect-the entire change of the prin-
| cipal industry within the half century
| of ner corporate existence
When the city charter was granted
by the Legislature in 1917 every effort
was turned toward securing whale oil
and bone. The city's motto, which
adcrns the city's seal. shows the ten
deney of the times. IT is 'Lucem Duff
/ fundo"-freely translated, Il shed
highland in the foreground appears
whaling bark sailing up the harbor
/ Were new city seal to be adopted
to-day the motto would be changed
and the whaleship in the foreground
would give way to the representation
/ of a cotton mill. and the new motto
would read First in fine cottons"
But the old city seal was true at the
time of its adoption. New Bedford did
shed light in the old days, and until the
petroleum discoveries in Pennsylvania
ruined the business of whaling, her
/ ships foated on all the seas of the
world. The oil dip and New Bedford's
whaling fame, although they shone
! brightly at the time, are now super
seded by electricity and by the city's
| reputation for cotton manufactures
| Pages might be filled with the part
which New Bedford has taken in the
! history of her country 1t was the
Dartmouth. the first ship built in New
/ Bedford, upon which the indignant cit
iZens of Boston held their famous tea
party in 1913. 1t was the ship Bedford
owned by William Roach of New Bed
ford, which first displayed the Ameri-
can flag in Great Britain in 1893, when
| she proudly foated the thirteen stripes
of the ''rebeP' colors as she sailed up
the Thames in February Of that year
| Ii was New Bedford fitted priyateesrs
which so harassed the British fleet dur
| ing the wars of the revolution and 1912
| that the British deemed it necessary
| to punish the town by landing armed
| forces and destroying the dwellings and
| shipping. 1t was New Bedford sailors
| who, during the civil war, fought so
nobly for the preservation Of the Union.
| 1t was the gallant Randall New Bed
| ford born and bred, and still an honor
| ed citizen, who fired the last shot from
| the Cumberland as she sank under the
| fire of the Merrmac just before the
dreadful rebel ironclad was driven back
! by the famous little cheese box on a raft
| in Hampton Roads. 1t was Sergeant
/ Carney. now the oldest New Bedford
| letter carrier, who bore so braveiy the
| colors of the Fifty-fourth Massachu-
setts-Colonel r G.. Shaw's regiment
during the famous sortie on Fort Wag
ner, when '.the old flag never touched
the ground. boys" The pen might run
on for columns with the brave deeds of
| New Bedford men and women. In all
| these things New Bedford rejoices. and
| all these things will enter into the an
L nl..l,, sil,x,