The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-01-28
SOME JERSEY WHALES.


TFrom the New York SUM-
Down on the Jersey coast, where I
spent the summer last year" said Wis
itor at the Aquarium to an attendant with
erman who told me 9. story about q. whale
IA humDback whale. This fisherman had
a bound net planted off the beach. The
nef was MANY hundred feet long and cost
hundreds I don't know but thousands. of
dollars. One day after be hau got the net net
shore a humpback whale, sort of tdl1ng
around IN the water, but gradually work
whales on the coast and the fisherman
wasn't very particularly struck by this
edginey in toward the land and toward his
pound net, because he expected really
every minute to see him sheer on ana go
.s;rhe idea OF the whales troubling his
pound net never occurred to him, but the
first thing he knew the whale was right
alongside Of it. The next minute the fish
and sides against It; rubbing the barna-
Giles off his back on his pound net4
THE hard, tarred rope, tied up in dia-
mond rneshes, was just the thing for this
or would have been If the net and the
stakes had been little stronger; but ap-
parently It pleased the whale greatly as
It was. He rubbed along on it slowly, the
barnac1es catching in the angles Of the
bunch OF them, or the surge Of the whale,
or both together, tearing the net IN some
places. the whale crowding in harder all
he rubbed against a stake, but making
the stake bend and crack And stili a.
scrubbing along. the whale finally pushed
the whole blessed pound net clean over
and wrecked and half destroyed it, Then
he up helm and put to sea-
Wen. you know. I was inclined to
doubt this story; just a little. anyhow
but another fisherman / saw down there
said while this happened before he came.
he didn't question that it was the simple
truth He said he'd seen a whale rub
and roll on q sandy beach to rub barnd-
cies Off and he didn't see Why g. whale
shouldn't use q pound net for that If Il
found one handy. he said the whales
often got great numbers Of baTnacles on
them not on the under part of the body
hut on the sides OF back, and that the
they would. for instance, on a turtle or
as they do in enormous numbers on ships.
These barnac1es may not actually irri-
tate the whale, but they impede Its prog
make the whale want to get rid Of them.
The whale can't very well rub the bar
nacies off on the bottom because 1t would
be likely to find only soft 3oze and mud,
too at the mouths of rivers and such
places. but If he strikes a sandy beach
there he'll rub himself. And he might
clean himself on rocky coast but #
on some little beach where there was a
place for It, made by the weathering of
the rocks and grinding up of the frag-
uents by the sea. The whale this man
"a Ia rarfasTIv does come into ga.ch nIares
to rub the barnacles of; and he thought
the pound net story was no fish story, but
just plain statement of the facts
Il met down there another fisherman
still who told me about a humpback
whale he once met OF Sandy Hook, when
he was going into New York on a Ash
ing smack. This whale was lying on top
Of the water, dead To- all appearances
and from what showed of 1t above the
water It appeared to be about forty-fve
feet long. They headed the aEnack Up fer