Evening star., 1898-11-09
A WHALES REVENGE.
Destroyed Beats and Men because
Her Calf Was Killed.

From the Cornhill Magazine
A widely known and feared devil-fish has
its headquarters in the northern Pacific
mostly along the American coast especial
ly affecting the Gulf of California. This
huge creature is a mammal one of the
great whale family, really a rorqual of
medium size and moderate yield of OIL
Only the elite of the Yankee whalemen
dexterous and daring as are all the tribe,
can hope to get Ito windward of the dia-
bolically cunning giants whom they abuse
with such fluent and frequent flow of pic
turesque profanity. 1t ia peculiar charae-
teristic of this animal that it seems ever
on the alert, scarcely exposing for one
moment its broad back above the sea-
surface when rising TO spout, and generally
travelling, unlike all it's congeners, not
upon, but few feet below, the water For
this reason, and in this fishery alone the
Whalers arm themselves with iron-shafted
harpoons. i'll order to strike with greater
force and certainty of direction a whale
some distance beneath the surface. A
standing order, too, among them is never
by any chance to injure a calf while the
mother lives, since such an act exposes all
and sundry near the spot to imminent and
violent death. Neglect of this most neces-
Sary precaution, or more probably accident,
once brought about calamity that :befell
which had been engaged in the "bowhead"
fishery among the ice-fioes of the Arctic
Pacific. In order to waste no time, they
came south when winter set in, and by
common consent rendezvoused in Margha-
rita bay, Lower California, for a month or
two's .devil-fshng" 49,
The whales Were exceedingly abundant
that season, and all the ships were soon
busy with as much blubber as they could
manage. The ease with which the whales
We're being obtained, however led to con-
siderable careiessness and forgetfuinesS OF
the fact that the whale never changes it's
hablts. one bright morning, about three
weeks after the opening of the season, the
whole ffotilla of fifty-two boats, four from
each ship, had been lowered and were max
ing their way as rapidly as possible to the
outlying parts OF the great bay, keeping
bright lookout for fish, Spreading out
fanwise, they were getting more and more
scattered, when about near the center of
the fleet some one suddenly struck and
got fast to fish. But hardly had the in
Iimation been given when something very
IKE panic seized upon the crowd. In a
moment or two the reason was apparent
From some cause, never definitely known,
a harpconer had in striking large COW
whale transfixed her calf at her side with
his harpoon, killing it Immediately. The
mother, having quietly satisfied herself
that her offspring really dead, turned
upon her aggressors like d Veritable demon
OF destruction, and, while carefully avoid
spread devastation among the flotilla.
Whenever she rose to the surface. it was
but for a second, to emit an expiration
like the hiss OF a lifting safety-yalve, and
almost always to destroy a boat or COM
plete the destruction of one already hope
leSSly damaged.
Every blow was dealt with an accuracy
and appearance Of premeditation that filled
the superstitous 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 monster
was SO great that her, almost simultane-
Gus appearances at points widely separated
made her seem ubiquitous; and as she gave
no chance whatever for a blow, it certain
ly looked as If all the boats would be de-
stroyed seriatim. Not content with deal
Ing one tremendous blow at a boat and re-
ducing 1t at once to bundle of loose
boards, she renewed her attentions again
and again to the wreckage, if de-
termlneo that the destruction should be
complete. Utter decentralization had seized
even the veterans, and escape was the only
thought governing all action. But the dis
tance 10 shore was great, and the persist
ence and Vlgor OF the furious leviathan, so
far from diminishing, 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 overheard,
to run their craft up high and dry, when
close behind them in the shadows foamed
and rolled their relentless enemy, just too
late to reach them. Out of the large num-
Der OF weH-equipped boats that left the
ships that morning, only these two es-
capped undamaged. and the loss Of the
seasons 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 triumph
ant avenger of her slain offspring disap
peared as silently as she had carried On her
deadly warfare. as far as could be known
unhurt, and with an accumulated hoard
Of experience that would, II possible. rem
der her more OF q "devir' to any unsus-
peoting whalemen who should thereafter
tack her than she had proved herself to
be already. Detected and crippled, the
fleet lost no time in getting away from the
spot and fleeing north to San Francisco,
there to reft for other and more profit
able fishing grounds.