The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-10-20
A WHALES REVENGE.


 fish has its headquarters in the North
 ern Pacific, mostly along the American
 coast, especially affecting the Gulf of Californa. This huge creature is a
 mammal, one of the great whale fami-
 ly, really rorqual of medium size and moderate yield of oil. , Only
 the elite of the Yankee whalemen, dex-
 terous and daring as are all the tribe,
 can hope to get ito windward' of the diabolically cunning giants whom they abuse with such fluent and frequent flow of picturesque profanity. It is a peculiar characteristic of this animal
 that it seems ever on the alert scarce ly exposing for one moment it's broad
 back above the sea-surface when ris- ing 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, in order to strike with greater force and certainty of dir ection 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 sun- dry near the spot to imminent and vio- lent death. Neglect of this most nec-
 essary precaution, or more probably &C., cident, once brought about a calamity
 that befell a fleet of thirteen American whaleships which had been engaged in the "bowhead'' fishery among the ice flows of the Arctic r a fife. In ord T to waste no time, they came south when winter set in, and by common consent rendezvoused in Margharita Bay, Low CT California, for month or two's devil fishing"
 The whales were exceedingly abund-
 ent that season, and all the ships were
 soon busy with as much blubher as they could manage. The ease with which the whales were being obtained however led to considerable carlessness and for getfulness of the fact that the whale
 never changes his habits. One bright
 morning three weeks after the opening of the season, the whole flotilla of fifty | two boats, four from each ship, had l been lowered and were making theii ! way as rapidly as possible to the out | lying parts of the great bay, keeping
 a bright lookout for fish" Spreading | out fan-wise, they, were getting more l and more scattered when about near the centre of the fleet some one sudden | Iy struck" and got fast to the fish l But hardly had the intimation been given when something very like panic seized upon the crowd. In mo-
 ment or two the reason was apparent | laAr ifaIxy known, a harpooner had in striking a l large COW whale transfixed her calf at
 her side with her harpoon, killing 1t | immediately. The mother having qui- etly satisfied herself that her offspring
 was really dead, turning upon her ag- 1 gressors like a veritable demon of de- l struction, 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 a second, to emit an ex-
 piration like the hiss of lifting safety | valve, and most always to destroy a
 boat or complete the destruction of one
 already hopelessly damaged.
 Every blow was dealt with an &C.,
 curacy and appearance of premedita-
 tion that filled the superstitious Port
 uguese, 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 really was going | on. The speed of the monster was so l great that her almost simultaneous ap- l pearances 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 scriatim. Not con
 tent with dealing one tremendous blow | at boat and reducing it at once to a
 bundle of loose boards, she renewed
 her attentions again and again to the
 wreckage as if determined that the
 destruction should be complete. Utter
 demoralization had seized even the 1 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
 leviathan so far from diminishing,
 seemed to increase as the terrible work 1 went on. At last two boats didsucceed | in reaching the beach at 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 shallows foamed | and rolled their relentless enemy, just | too late to reach them. Out of the