Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-02-15

deep and head seawed leaving the I'M
fortunate one to his dreadful fate.
And. In truth, it is dreadful fate; for
the fierce creatures range aionSside, OF
him from his head down TO the small OF
his back. and tear great slabs Of blubber
from off his writhins sides IN huge
mouthfuis, taking care TO aNold u dow
from his llakes In vain, xain Inc h hnI1n.s
on either side of his jaws. their cruel
teeth fixed firmly into his huge lips; per
haps two or three are underneath hiln
teari1g and irving at the great tough
corrugations of his ribbed belly, White
others, drawing back for Iiity ieet or so,
charge him amidships and strike him on
the ribs with their bonys heads Around
and around in wide circles the tortured
humpbaek swims, sometime nins turning on h,s
over on his back or sw ',nd,,lth on MS
Hes done for. lads. Pull up ana give
The boat dashes up, the man pulling the
bow oar Uhe harpooner) ships his car and
picks up his harpoon minute alter 7
is buried deep into the duiNering animal,
cutting through the tough SKIN as Il fa-
zor would cut through the SKIN OF a
drum.
Stern am" and the harpooner tumbles
aft and grips the. steer oar, ana the
steersman takes his place in the head Of
the boat with his lance. But "humpy Is
almost spent. and. though by a mighty
effort he ups hukesa ana SOUNDS, n, ne
three swift blows into his life, Il gush-
ing torrent of warm blood, and he rolls
And now comes the curious and yet alb
solutely truly described part that the kill
| ers play in this ocean tragedy. The kill
| ers the moment the whale IS dead. close
| around him and. fastening their teeth in
| 10 his body bear him to the bottom.
Here they tear out ms tongue ana eat
| thirty-six to forty hours the carcass will
rise again. to the surface; and as the spot
where he was taken tn down own, mas mas been
waiting to tow him ashore to the trying
out works The killers accompany the
| boats to the head of the bay and keep
| off the sharks which otherwise would
| strip off all the remaining blubber before
| the body had reached the shore.
The killers never hurt man. Time
after time have boats been stove in or
| smashed into splinters by a whale and
| the crew left struggling in the water TO
be rescued by the pickup boat, and the
and smell them-but never touch them.
And wherever the killers are the sharks
are not. for Jack Shark breads a killer
as the devil breads holy water. Jack
will rush in and rip off piece of bluo-
Der if he can. but he will watch MS
chance to do so.
out matchmaking they will be Joined by
a tnreSher-the fox shark tAionias
vulpesp-and then. while the killers bite
| and tear the unfortunate cetacean, the
| thresher deals him fearful blows with
, his scytheiike tail The master of a
whaling vessel told me- that off the north
| end of New Caledonia there was Il pack
| of nine killers which WAS always attend
| ed by two threshers ana Il swordtsh. Not
only he, but many other whaling Shippers
| htu seen this particular SWordiiSn year
after year joining in attacks upon whale.
The cruising ground of mis- pack extend
| cd for thirty miles. and the nine crea-
! lures ana their associates We're indiNid-
| ually known to hundreds of whalemen.
| Ana no doubt these combats, witnessed