Evening star., 1902-01-18

Nto1A AZ haturfi history III order TO decide
Feeling certain that our game is near az
hand We make ready. The canvas cover
is removed from the gun. showing a stumpy
and shoulder piece or butt somewhat
shorter The rope. or, more technically
speaking, the line. nearly two inches II,
diameter. is laid out In q coil that easily
lets Itself out, and the murderous harpoon
Is close at hand Keep your powder dry"
Is the caution, and the half pound that
makes the charge is not put In until close
quarters are reached.
The first whale actually sighted seemed
to be sportively inclined, for every now
and then he Jumped well above the waves.
making the water dash and foam as he
came down. But the great leviathan OF the
deep had no thought OF play in his mind.
He was striving to shake of his worst
enemy, the killer" This vicious fish,
alone and with nothing but its powerful
Jaws set with murderous teeth as it's wea-
pom, will attack the whale. and II suf-
nciently hungry, will not rest until Il has
brought about the death OF fits booty. Its
nam advantage Les in its agility, while the
whaIes only escape is to rise out OF the
water. which the killer cannot endure.
This. however, is fatiguing and IN time
completely exhausting. II becomes Ques-
tlon or endurance, and IL the assailants are
numerous. the Issue is not uncertain, and
the victors satisfy themselves by taking the
tongue-the only part of the great carcass
that tempts their appetite.
interruplng a Meal.
Our purpose is to come upon a whale
that is feeding. for at this time they are
apparently Indifferent to sights and sounds,
so that IL the first shot should miss there
is a chance to load up and fire again. At
other times he is rather timid, and is liable
to drop out Of sight at the wrong time and
under no inducement would await a second
shot. Finally we come up 70 one bow on:
on bell is given. the powder is rammed IN.
the harpoon is put in place, decorating cap
fixed and Capt. Ingebritsen, putting his
shoulder to the gun, swings It about and
keeps the great fish under aim We Qui-
etly glide up within striking distance. We
stop talking for a while. and one OF us has
apparently forgotten to breathe, when
bangi goes the gun. the line springs out
with whiz, then whir, and all hands
look for the telltale fecks of blood amongst
the foam that marks the place where the
whale went down. There's the bloodi
Hit!' some one shouts, and then a certain
person again loses sight OF the necessity
for breathing in his uncertainty as to what
would come next. The suspense was not
long. The whale, like all prey when struck,
seeks to get out of sight as, well as out Of
danger, and down, down, down, he goes,
until he takes UP the six or seven hundred
yards of line, and then, goaded and angered
by the iron which seems to be burning into
his vitals, he rises TO a point where the
density of the water permits faster SWIM
ming, and off he goes. We go, too. AS no
one could foretell which way his whaleship
would see fit to rush the steam was cut OF
when the gun was fired, and the man at
the wheel simply strove to keep his feet and
see to it that whenever possible the whale
and his tow were going in the same direc-
ton.
1t rarely happens that death is Immediate.
Before the harpoon is fired the barbs at it's
point are tied down with a rope; this IS
stripped off entering by the flesh and
springs throw the released barbs out, thus
anchoring the harpoon in the monstrous
body. In the end Of the spear-head there
-f.I ,f,1.
exploded by impact with the harder tissues.
This is expected to shock the whale, and
that before recovering he will drown.
Die Hard Sometimes.
Our harpoon was firmly anchored, and
the shock had not been eficacieus in bring
ing about an early death, that we could
see by the way in which we were being
pulled through the water. However we
did not run any risks by reversing the en-
gines. but waited, simply taking in the
SACK IN our line whenever any was avail
able. This was not often for our fish was
gamey, and he kept too far below the sur
face to receive a second shot.
There Is no desire to fire more than once
Into whale II 1t can be avoided, for a
vessel does not carry an unlimited supply
of harpoons. They are quite expensive
and are dead capital until the whale IL
beached and cut up and the harpoon itself
Strengthened out on the blacksmith's anvil.
Therefore. we waited for the death that
must come. Unconscious Of direction, he
took us round and round, more feebly at
each circuit, and with less and less line be-
tween us. AS we slackened speed a boat
was made ready, and sharp lances on long
handles and heavy sword-like knives were
gotten out for an attack at closer quarters.
The cue for this act in the drama was the
changing position Of the monstrous body,
as II occasionally came to the surface.
Each time 1t showed more and more white,
indicating that little by little he was turn
ing on his back to die. We could not wait
for the death that came 80 slowly, so tho
boat was lowered with its murderous
lances. and the men cautiously approach
showed himself. several vigorous thrusts
and quickly backed out of the reach of the
lashing tail. second and a third attack
had to be made before the bubbles from
the filling lungs rising to the surface told
US that the game was ours.
1t had been long combat, four hours,
In the "old times when men assailed the
whale in an open boat, he might break
away from the slender harpoon thrown by
the power Of a single arm or even send
to the bottom with his lashing tail the en-
tire attacking force. But here we threw
a weapon weighing as much as the former
weapon and man combined, and the power
we used was greater than that of the ola
ship and crew as we'll. We could advance
or retreat, propelled by steam, and keep
out Of his range while he was well within
ours.
On the String at Last.
and might be said to belong to US, he was
not completely ours. He was resting below
the surface of the water, too heavy to be
hauled up or pulled along without too great
an expenditure Of power. We must simply
wait a few hours for decomposition to set
in. then the initiating gases will make the
body light enough to float.
While waiting for the carcass to blow It
self up We conjectured as to its value. OF
course It could be only guess, for the
yield OF oil depends upon the thickness OF
the blubber as well as the size. The larg-
est whale we left at Troldfjord was the
least valuable; she was thin, for she was
nursing an infant-an overgrown baby
about thirty feet long. One thing is Gers
tain, the entire body is utilized. Besides
the blubber from which the oil is extract-
ed by steam. there is the flesh that is dried
and converted into strong food for cattle,
and jaws from which the whale bone Ia
taken, the skeleton is ground into bones
dust, and whatever is left is made into
fertilizer. In the aggregate from 500 10
$500 is obtained from each whale.
In due time the buoyance was enough TO
enable US to take in our line, so we signaied
to the towboat to come alongside and
make fast. The men soon cut off the great