The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-06-11
FIRE HARPooNS FROM CANNON.
Scientific Methods That Are Now Used
in Killing Whales.

in Killing Whales.
From the New York Evening Post.
Three hundred miles north of ST.
Johns, at Shocks Arm, on the east
coast of Newfoundland, is the only
scientific whaling station in the west
ern hemisphere. The great cliffs, reach
ing from sea to sky, like the walls of
some giant rampant, and polished
smooth by passing icebergs, are broken
by a narrow rift, which leads to a
little oblong harbor. Lofty encircling
! mountains shut out these boisterous
northeast gales and the factory occu-
pies one of the most sheltered hooks
| on the wild remote shore. Until the
| whaling steamer Cabot came here last
| July the whole region was one undis-
| turbed playground of the great crea-
! lures of the deep. The naked ribs of
| wrecked schooners and occasional hutS
| of fishermen and seal hunters were the
| only signs of human intrusion.
| Early in spring the vast ice fields,
| drifting from the north, bring down
| countless herds of seals. In less than
| "a hours more than 10000 seals have
| been slaughtered on one foe of ice by
| the crew of a single steamer. The cys-
| tai plains, stretching away from rocky
| shore to ocean horizon, are simply alive
| with these great floundering creatures
| from the end of February to the begin
| ming of April. After the disappearance
| of the ice the waters in the vicinity of
Shocks Arm become the rendezvous
| of the clumsy porpoise, or grampus,
| the steel-colored fnback whale, the
treacherous sleeper shark, the fighting
swordflsh, his lieutenant, the thresher.
| and the swift, black, humpback whale.
| Before the whale hunters came here
| the great creatures only foes were
| those of his own watery realm-the
fish, the thresher and the sleeper shark
No oh ,ly iS. bh hi ay-f,oo Of hn
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 vanquished
fish. The swordfsh. with long sharp
| toothed weapon, and the thresher
armed by nature with powerful fin, al
ways go together against the whale.
When a finback whale so or 80 feet in
length is attacked by asswordfish of Il
feet, not including the sword, which
is almost as long, and a thresher 10
feet from nose to tip of TAIL the con-
flict is royal one. The amazed whale,
| believing till the cliffs resound with
echo like thunder, strikes with tremen-
dous force at his enemies, defending
himself with gaping jaw and flashing
tail, but the swordfsh and the thresher
are dexterous dodgers and seldom suf-
fer one of the whales vicious blows to
touch them. The swordfish darts be-
|
sawlke rapier upward, repeatedly
piercing and wounding the whales
body. Meanwhile the. thresher takes
up his position on the surface of tbs
water, springing al every opportunity
on the whales back and at his head
giving sledge-hammer blows with his
strong fin. The whale Is not easily
beaten and the fight often lasts more
than two hours, but when swordfsf
and thresher are in league no whale
J can withstand their furious attack. The
shark sneaks into the fray at the enc
of the battle. when the poor whale is
, tagged and dying.
1t is in this merciless and warning
kingdom of the great creatures that th
new scientific whaling station has beer
established. adding yet a deadlier fo
to the number of whales enemies. Sci
ence has superseded the crusade meth
DDS of former days, when schooners AM
frail skiffs, manned by hardy Eskimos
went whaling in northern seas. In tn
north Pacific, in Cumberland straits
. Baffin's bay, Davis strait and Hudson
bay there are still whaling station
where the primitive way of hunting til
whale at close quarters with harpoor
spear and small firearms is still con
tinued. but at the great whaling sta
/ lions of Iceland, Norway and the on
\ scientific factory in America al Shook
| Arm, specially constructed steamer
are employed, equipped with every ap
4 pliance that science can devise.
small harpoon is no longer hurled fror
the hand of some skillful. Eskimo, bu
an immense iron bar, more than 81
feet long, with great wings, or fiange:
Il few feet from one end, like the bar
4 of a cross. only folded back close t
4 the main shaft, is now fired from a car
q non on the ship. There is a large pre-
jectile at the end, filed sharp and poin,
ed, to penetrate the whales body an
loaded with combustibles that general
u volumes Of gas.
n Everything on the whaling steame
n Cabot at Shocks Arm is managed wit
NJ mathematical exactitude. The vess