The Scranton chronicle. (Scranton, Miss.) 1897-19??, 1901-02-23
SOME NEW JERSEY WHALES.
Extensive Damage Done 20 Fisher
mans Net by One NaLing
Ills Toilet.

"Down on the Jersey coast whtre
| spent The summer last year" said
a landSman, relates the New York
sun, 4 mel a fisherman who told me
a story about whale-a hunchback
whale. This fisherman bad a pound
net planted of the beach. The net
WIS many hundred feet long and cost
hundreds. don't know but thousands,
OF dollars. One DAY after he had got
the net set the fisherman saw little
farther Off shore humpback whale,
sort Of idling around IN the water,
but gradually working inshere. IL
was not ueusual TO see whales of tho
coast. aud the fisherman wasn't very
particularly struck by this whale,
even when he saw that he was edg-
Fng in toward the land and toward
his pound net. because he expected
eeally every minute To see him sheer
of aud go to sea agnin.
"The idea of the whales troubling his
pound net never occurred 10 him, but
the first thing he knew the whale was
right alongside Of II. The next min
ute the fisherman saw he whale rub
binr his back and sides against IL,
rubbing the barnaeles oil bis back on
his pound net,
"The hard. tarred rope, tied up in
diamond meshes. was just the thing
for this, or would have been II tho
net and the stakes had been little
stronger; but apparently u pleased
the whale greatly as 1t was He
rubbed along II slowly, the barnaeles
catching in the angles Of the meshes
aud being yanked of. or else bunch
of them, or the surge Of the whale,
or both together, tearing the net in
some places. the whale crowding in
harder all The time and being eKpc-
cially iiekled when he rubbed against
stake but making the stake bend
and crack And still a-erowding
harder and harder, rubbing aud scrub
bing along. the wnale finally pushed
the whole blessed pound net clean
over and wrecked and half destroyed
e. Then be up helm aud put to sea.
"Weli. now, you know, ! was in.
cllned to doubt this story; just a lit
| tie. anyhow; but another fisherman
| saw down there said, while this
| happened before he came. he didn't
| question TINT IL was the simple truth.
| lie said he'd seen whales rub and roll
on sandy beach TO rub barnaelcs of.
and he didn't see Why whale should
| nj use n pound net for that II II
found one handy. He said whales
often got great numbers Of barnaelcs
on them, not on the under part OF
the body, but on the sides or baek,
and that the barnaeles grew and
thrived there just as they would. for
instance, on q turtle, or as they do in
enormous numbers on ships These
barnaelcs may not actually irritate
the whale, but they impede lis prog.
ress just MS they would n ships. and
make the whale want to get rid Of
them.
"The whale can't very well rub the
barnacles of on the bottom, because
II would be likely TO find only soft
ooze and mud, and that's about what
he'd find inshore. too. at the mouth
of rivers and such places; but If he
strikes sandy beach. there he'll rub
himself And he might clean himself
on n rocky coast; but II he did, II
wouldn't be on the rocks. but on some
little beach whore there was place
for IL. made by the weathering OF the
rocks and grinding mp of the frag-
ments by the SEA. The whale, this
man said. certainly does come into
such places TO rub the barnaeles on;
and be thought the pound net story
was no fish story. but just plain
statement Of the facts.
81 met down there another fisher.
man still who told me about hump
back whale he once met of Sandy
Hook, when he was going into New
York on fishing smack This whale
was lying on top Of the water, dead
to all appearances; and from what
showed Of II above the water II ap-
peared TO be about As feet long. They
headed the smack up for it, and had
got within about 20 feet of II. when
one OF the crew dropped sweep on
the smack's deck. II struck the deck
with loud bang. and
"swish slap. went the whales tail
as he threw II up and then slammed
IT down on the water; and, zoo-opl
down and away he went in q grand
crush and slather cf foam and waves
They saw him again about quarter
OF mile Off, and then they didn't see
him again al all.
"The whale. you see, had just beer
lying there on the water asleep. And
, they were glad the man dropped the
oar as he did and walked bin, be-
canse the smack was a small sloop
and the whale would have made il
warm for them II they'd been over
t;,, az they might have been. when