Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-06-14
SCIENTIFIC WHALING.
A Cannon Used That Shoots q Har-
pOOn q Hundred Yards.

From the New York Post
Three hundred miles north of st. Johns,
at Shocks Arm, on the east coast of New
foundland, is the only scientific whaling
station in the western hemisphere. The
great cliffs, reaching from sea to sky, like
the walls of some giant rampant, and pol
ished smooth by passing icebergs, are brok-
en- by a narrow rift, which leads to a little
oblong harbor. Lofty encirciing mountains
shut out the boisterous northeast gales and
the factory occupies one of the most shell
tered hooks on the wild remote shore I'm
til the whaling steamer Cabot came here
last July the whole region was one undis-
turbed playground of the great creatures of
the deep. The naked ribs of wrecked
schooners and occasional huts of fishermen
and seal huntersswe the only signs of hu-
man intrusion.
Early in spring the vast ice fields, drift
ing from the north, bring down countless
herds Of seals. In less than twenty -four
hours more than 10000 seals have been
a single steamer. The crystal plains,
stretching away from rocky shore to ocean
horizon, are simply alive with these great
laundering creatures from the end of Feb
ruary to the beginning of April. After the
disappearance of the ice the waters in the
vicinity of Shocks Arm become the rendez-
vous of the clumsy porpoise, or grampus,
the steel-colored 1nback whale, the treach-
erous sleeper shark, the fighting sworo.-sn,
his lieutenant. the thresher, and the swift,
black, humpback whale.
Before the whale hunters came here the
great creatures only foes We're those Of
his own watery -realm-the swordfsh the
thresher and the sleeper shark. The shark
Is the highwayman of the sea. He Is no
open assailant, but sneaks on the trail of
other fighters and steals bites the size of
a mans head from the sides Of the van
quished fish. The swordfish with long
sharp,toothed weapon, and the thresher,
armed by nature with powerful fin always
go together against the whale. When a
hnback whale eighty or ninety feet in
length Is attacked by a swordfish of four
teen feet, not including the sword, which
Is almost as long, and a thresher ten feet
from nose to tip of tall the conflict is a.
battle royal. The amazed whale believing
TIL the cliffs resound with echo like thin
uer. strikes with tremendous force at his
enemies, defending himself with egapiaga law
and lashing tail, but the swordffsh u 1he
thresher are dexterous dodgers and seldom
suffer one of the whales vicious blows to
touch them The swordfish darts below
rapier upward, repeatedly piercing and
Wounding the whales body. Meanwhile
the thresher takes up his position on the
surface OF the water, springing at every OPP
portunlty on the whales back and at his
mead, giving sledgehammer blows with his
strong nm. The whale Is not easily beaten
and the fight often lasts for more than two
hours but when swordish and thresher n re
Gus attack. The shark sneaks into the fray
at the end Of the battle when the moor
whale is tagged and dying.
1t is in this merciless and warning king
dom OF the great creatures that the new
scientlfc whaling station has been estab-
iished, adding yet deadlier foe to the
number Of the whales enemies Science
has superseded the crusade methods of
former days, when schooners and frail
skiffs, manned by hardy Eskimos, went
whaling in northern seas. In the north Pa
cific. in Cumberland straits, Baffin's bay,
Davis strait and Hudson's bay there are
still whaling stations where the primitive
day OF hunting the whale at close quarters
with harpoon, spear and small firearms is
continued. but at the great whaling sta
tons of Iceland. Norway and the one sci
entihc factory in America at Shocks Arm,
specially constructed steamers are employ
ed, equipped with every appliance that sci
ence can devise. A small harpoon Is no
longer hurled from the hand Of some skill
fui Eskimo. but an immense iron bar, more
than six feet long, with great wings or
fanges q few feet from one end, like the
bars CT cross. only folded back close to
the main shaft. Is now fired from a cannon
on the ship. There Is q large projectile at
the end, filed sharp and pointed. to pene-
trate the whales body ard loaded with
combustibles that generate volumes of gas.
Everything on the whaling steamer Cabot
| At Shocks Arm Is managed with mathe-
mattcel exactitude. The vessel steams with