The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-17
THE KILLERS OF THE SEAS.
Small Whales That Kill big Whales
and Seals.
From lac New York Sun.


From the New York Sun
If YOU want TO see big game said an
old retired sea otter hunter. "somet hing
that will give you as good as you send, try
the killers. What the tiger is to the jun.
gle the killer is to the ocean. and l would
rather tackle a shark any time. The first
time l ever saw a killer was
when l was whaling in the North Pa
cific some years ago We had killed a
big sperm whale and had got il alongside
with rush and took hold of the dead
whale. l was on the body at the time,
holding on with a spade I had stuck into
the blubber, and they jerked the big car
cass SO hard TO one side that l was thrown
down. The men cut at them with spades
and lances, but all TO no purpose They
paid no attention to us, 5ut took great
chunks OF the whale, biting it's tongue ON
and acting like a Pack of wolves They
grew SO ferocious that we took 70 the
boats, and the last we saw of the whale
they were dragging il down, head first.
They literally carried IL off.
fIhG killer continued the otter hunter
is small whale with big. sharp ivory
teeth Ike those of an alligator. When they
SHUT down on anything they take a piece
completely out of il. 1ney are particularly
fond OF seals. In one that WIS cut open
by Capt. Scammon fourteen seals or Their
remains were found. There is no animG
that lives that viii take such chances u
secure its prey, aud they have been seen
to rush inshote and take seals thar We're
Yang on slopin2 rocks, aud almost lose
their lives in the act Siding off with the
greatest difficu.ty. They get the name Kill
Ter because they XIII Everything in sight
and are the enemy of the big game fishes
of the sea aud every thing else trey con get
hold OF. Sometimes tney follow boats,
though ] have never heard of any one he
ing caught by them, and l think that
when they do that they take the boat for
some of their own KIND and are in play. A
Dig whale once followed a snip from San
Francisco TO Central America and made
Itself SO Objectionable by rubbing against
the bottom and blowing near the ship that
every attempt was made 10 get rid of It,.
Dozens of bullets were fired into II, il was
struck with harpoons, hot coais were
thrown on Its back, yet il stood by the
ship until some one thought of or. and a
train was started overheard with ashes
that drove the monster away.
DO they ever catch these orcas?" asked
a listener
They try TO catch them" was the re-
py and the only way 20 do Il success
fully is to harpoon them and use "a har-
pooh gun; but several attempts have been
made TO take them like ordinary fish, with
comicai results. One attempt perhaps
the first, the result of wager, was made
off Long Beach, Cal The orcas bad the
habit of sailing up and down In front OF
the beach with their great black fms
sticking out of water and some one
wagered that a famous fisherman could
not catch one with hook and line. The
angler took the wager and went to work
in a sys bematic way. He bought long
rope-a size larger Than is usually en-
ployed as a shark iine-had hook made
about foot across which was bated
with several l2-pound yeliowtais. This
he buoyed about ten feet from the sur
face, then attached the end Of the rope to
a large, tight dry goods box that was
left afoat slightly anchored to the bot
tom A crowd on the wharf kept watch
of the water and finally sighted the puff
of the killers and the big, black trlangu-
lar fins. There were four TWO old ones
and two calves about eight feet long.
They were remarkable looking crea-
lures black as ink, and under the mouth
of each a patch of white that showed
plainly as they turned or rolled over ana
over They were coming IN single file and
right for the bait, and the work being
passed up the long pier, people Went run
lning down to see the biggest hsh ever
caught with line landed. Some went
out in boats and drifted by the box. When
The killer reached IL they saw the bait al
once and evidently the entire herd or
school struck i at one time, as there was
big furry and foam over the water; then
the unexpected happened. one of fhe or
cas- went into the air, and tie spectators
went up. But the heal was short one
as the line frightened out with extraordin-
airy speed the dry goods box, which had
been carefully devised TO wear out the
fish. disappeared for moment and theh
with loud report the pieces shot into
the air That was the .ast that Was seen
OF the Killers az Long BtdcH ana the last
attempt made there to catch them with
a line. and it is generally believed that
the hooked killer Is still going.
Yes said the otter hunter II believe
II is possible to catch a Blacklist this WY
| by having a buoy that would tire 1t out
and man has invented scheme that
may work 1t has been tried on the dig
jewish and worked to charm. The in
strument was a parachute with. ribs OF
| steel and of the strongest kind or canvas
about three feet across. One half this
Size stopped boat at once. The para
chute is closed except when the fish PUSHES,
when 1t opens out and presents so formid-
able a resistance that In an experiment a
boat was Immediately stopped. and If the
tuna parachute will stand the first strain
il will soon tire out the fish.
Another killer was hooked by young
boy. who was trolling with a smet as
bait when he received a strike; the next
instant a killer--a young one about eight
feet long-went into the air IL also wns
short heat. as it took all the linz In
about five seconds; but the boy could say
| that for one heeting moment he had play
cd a whale