The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-30
MOTHER WHALE TOOK REVENGE.
visited n Whole Fleet with wrath
for the Killing of Her Offspring.


From the CornhiH Magazine.
A widely known aud feared deviI fish has
It's headquarters in the Northern Pacific,
mostly along the Amer ican coast, especial
J ~ affecting the Gulf OF California. This
| huge creature is a mammal one Of the
! great Wha!c family, really a rorqual of
| medium size and moderate yield of oil"
only The elite OF the yankee whale
| men, dcNlerous and daring as are all the
| tribe, can hope TO get TO windward" of
! The diabolicahy cunning giants whom they
/ abuse with such fluent and frequent flow
| OF picturesque profanity. II IS peculiar
! characteristic of tbs animal that IL seems
! ever on the alert scarcely exposing for one
moment Its broad back above the sea sur
| face when rising TO spout and generally
| travelling, unlike al ils congeners not
upon but few feet below the water For
| this reason and in this fishery alone the
| Whaiers arm themselves with iron-shaft-
| cd harpoons In order TO strike with great
er force and certainty of direction a whale
! some distance beneath the surface A
standing order, too. among them is never
| by any chance to injurc a cart while the
mother lives since such an act exposes all
and sundry near the spot TO imminent and
| violent death. Neglect Of this most nee
| essarY precaution or more probably acct
| dent once brought about a calamity that
! befell a fleet of thirteen American whale
ships which had been engaged in the bow
| head fishery among the ice foes of the
| Arctic Pacific. In order to waste no time
| they came South when winter set in and
| by common consent rendezvoused in Mar
| Eharita bay, Lower California, for "A month
| or two's devil fishing"
The whales were exceedingly abundant
! that season, and all the ships were soon
| busy with as much bluDber as they could
| manage. The ease with which the whales
were being obtained however, led to con-
| siderable carelessuess and fOrgetfulness of
! the fact that the whale never changes its
| habits. one bright morning about three
! weeks after the opening of the season,
| the whole notilla of nfV-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, keeping a bright lookout for "hsh."
| Spreading out fanwisc they were getting
! more scattered, when about near the cen~
| ter Of the feet some one suddenly struck
| and got fast to a FISH. But hardly had
the intimatlon been given when some
thing very like panic seized upon the
crowd In moment or two the reason
| was apparent. From some cause never
| definitely known, harpOoner had in
striking large cow whale transhxed her
calf al her side with his harpoon. killing
| II Immediately. The mother having qui-
city satisfied herself that her offspring
was really dead. turned upon her agrees
Z sors like q veritablo demon of destruc-
ton. and. while carefully avoiding ex-
posture of her body to attack, simply
spread devastation among the hotlla.
! Whenever she rose to the surface 1t was
but for a second, to emit an expiration
like the hiss Of a lifting safety valve, and
| almost always to destroy boat or COM
plete the destruction of one already hope
lessly damaged.
Every blow was dealt with an accuracy
! and appearance OF premeditat ton that filed
he w
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 simulta-
neous appearances a points widely separ-
ated made her seem ubiquitous. and az she
gave no chance whatever for a blow it
| certainly looked as IL oil the boats would
| he destroyed seriatim. Not content with
dealing one tremendous blow at a boat and
reducing 1t at once to "A bundle of loose
I boards, she renewed her attentions again
and again to the wreckage. as II determin-
ed that the destruction should be complete.
Utter Generalization had seized even the
veterans and escape was the only thought
governing action. But the distance from
the shore was great and the persistence
and vigor Of the furious leviathan. 50 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 IL 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 wel-equipped boats that left the
ships that morning only these two escap-
ed unchanged, and the loss of the seasons
work was irremcdiable over fifty men
were badly injured and six, one of whom
was the unhappy origin of the whole
trouble. were killed outright The tri-
umphant aVenger of her slain offspring
disappeared 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 posi-
BILE render her more of a devil to any
unsuspectlng whalemen who should here
after have the misfortune to meet with and
attack her than she proved herself 10 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.