The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-06-18
BIG SEA GAME.
Lively Sport With the RorquaI, the Black
fish and Even PorpoIses.

| The seeker after big sea game should
attack the rorqual if he would see sport
| indeed. For this agile monster has
such a reputation for almost supernat-
ural cunning that even if he were as
valuable as he really is valueless COM
mercially, it is highly doubtful if he
would ever be moIested. AS it is, all
the tribe are chartered libertines, since
no whaleman is likely to risk the loss
of a boats gear for the barren honor of
| conquest. And not only so, but the
rorquals, whether "fin-back," sulphur
bottom or ue-back," as we'll as the
/ "hump- back" and grampus, make it a
point of honor to sink when dead, un-
| like the "cachalot" or "bOwhead," who
| float awash at first, but ever more
| buoyantly as the progress of decay
within the immense abdominal cavity
| generates an accommodating volume of
gas.
Any old whaleman would evolve in
the interests of sport no end of lodges
| for dealing with the willy rorqual, such
as a collection of strongly attached
bladders affixed to the line to stay his
downward rush, short but broad-barbed
| harpoOns, to get better hold upon the
thin coating of blubbber, etc. In this
kind of whaling there is quite sufficient
danger to make the sport exciting in
the highest degree. Not, however, from
the attack of the animal hunted, but
because his evolutions in the effort to
! escape are so marvellously vivacious
that only the most expert and cool
headed craftsmanship can prevent a
sudden severance of the MENUS between
boat and crew.
splendid days sport can be obtained
with a school of blackfiesh. Although
! seldom exceeding a ton and a half in
weight, these small whales are quite
vigorous enough to make the chase Of
them as lively an episode as the most
enthusiastic hunter could wish, es-
pecially if two or even three are har-
pooned one after the other on a single
line, as the whalers custom is. The
sensation of being harnessed as it were
to a trio of monsters, each about %
feet long and eight feet in girth, every
one anxious to flee in a different direc-
ton at the highest speed he can muster,
and in their united gambols making the
sea boil like a pot, is one that. once eX-
perienced, is never likely to be forgot
ten. The mere memory of that mad
frolic over the heaving bosom of the
bright sea makes the blood leap to the
face, makes the nerves twitch, and the
heart long to be away from the placid
IOuLu u ever ucls AALC HPbAA NAAN ~ e, ~
free wave again.
Even a school of porpoises, in default
of nobler game, can furnish a lively
hour or two. especially if they be of fair
size, say up to three or four hundred
weight each. But of a truth there need
be no fear of lack of game. The swift
passage from port to port made by
passenger vessels is apt to leave the
voyager with the impression that the
sea is barren waste, but such an idea
is wholly false. Even the sailing ships,
bound though they may be to make the
shortest possible time between ports,
are compelled by failure of wind to see
enough Of the everyday life Of the sea-
population to know better than that,
and whose gives himself up to the gla-
NOR of sea-study. making no haste TO
rush from place to place. but leisurely
lettering along the wide plains of ocean,
shall find each day new world unfold
ing itself before his astonished eyes,
world of marvels. infinitely small, as
well as wondrous great-from the thou
sand and one miracles that go TO made
up the "Plankton' to the antediluvian
whale. Fishing in its more heroic phases
is obtainable in deep-sea cruising as
nowhere else.-London Telegraph.