The Jennings daily record., 1902-10-23
WHALE HUNTING
BY MARX SULLIVAN.

TIE wac Norwegian, but his sea
English was as good as the kings.
lie was big and muscular. with . rare
Of weight and wiriness.
His face and eyes were stern enough |
when he shouted orders from the
bridge, but. when playing the host in
his cabin, as merry as Santa Claus
without the vhiskers. His skin was
tanned by the salt spray and burned BY
the sun OF every degree Of latitude
where ships have ever been. He had
caught whales in every sea, from the
Persian gulf TO Baffin's bay; and few
years ago he aband ored the old way
Of New Bedford and all romance-the
round the world
cruise in q sailing vessel-'to try the
adaptation Of steam to whaling. For
the big brick oven on the deck to boil
the blubber (Which all remember who
know The Cruise Of the Cachalot) he
substituted permanent factory Tor
refining the oil. located on the north
ern shore Of Newfoundland. From this
he steam med out to the whaling grounds
each morning and back at night. rare
" with out prize For the old method
Of throwing harpoon by hand from
small boat he substituted a harpoon
gun from the bow Of his whaler; and
with these improvements conducted
business that will soon make the few
surviving New Bedford sailing whalers
as obsolete as wooden ploy*s.
I lay in his spare bunk, across the
narrow cabin from his own. and
dropped to sleep as he finished tale.
strangely like Kipling's "Three Seal
ers," Of fight between rival crews for
a dead whale in the Okhotsk sea. Only
a minute later, it seemed. bumped
nv head against the top Of the bunk
to the quick awakening OF an excited
Norwegian craft cry from the top OF
the companionway. Thecaptain leaped
from his bunk. He waited not Tor
shoes nor for other clothes than those
he selpt in, but bounded up the steps,
shouting orders as he ran. While I
dressed c:,uld feel the qt..ick stopping,
the short advances and retreats of the
engines. and knew we were stalking
game. When I reached the deck the
captain had one hand on the gun,
swinging it about on it's pivot. With
the other he was making signals to the
engineer to stop. to 60 toward little.
or to 60 back. Following his eyes, I
caught sight of our game. 1t looked
like a huge, cigar-shaped piece OF
smooth. shiny slate-colored India rub
ber, rising at regular intervals so that
four or flvs feet Of his diameter And 40
feet of his length showed like m ound
on the smooth water. With alternate
rising and dipping he was gliding
smoothly forward, without apparent
exertion, but with tremerd GUS speed.
and in q perfectly straight line. We
were approaching him from behind at
an angle, 30 that his course and ours
were the sides Of q Y.
The captain on the raised platform
in the bow, following with the mouth
of his cannon the course of the whale.
was the personifca:ion of alertness.
The crew were grouped behind him as
eager and expectant as II they had
never caught q whale before. One of
them touched me on the shoulder and
rointed silently mile sway. where a
dozen other whales were spouting fine
columns Of vapor. When I turne j.
again to our whale he had risen once
more, and we were within 80 feet of
him. Every person on the ship was in
a state Of tiptoe a1ertness. Suddenly
! came the crash of the gun. 1sawa a hid
eous red zigzag cash on the broad side
OF the whale: heard the umbling
roar of the time bomb at the point OF
the harpoon exploding in the whales
vitals. On deck there was convulsive
pandem onium. The captain. in the de-
Iirium Of the hunter at the death of his
quarry, was shrieking shri'l staccato
orders. The crew were leaping to their
poets. Suddenly felt the bow OF the
vessel give a jerk beneath me, then
tremble moment. and slowly dip.
The whale had gone straight down
ward. The rope attached to the har
noon shot over the bow so fast that the
eve could not follow; where it touched
the wood a curling column OF smoke
arose. The windlass spun round like
a boys top. 1t hummed and buzzet
with the noise Of flying locom otive
Coil after coil of rope leaped into moth
inqness like magician's flower pots
IGrad1aily the windlass ceasedto spin
The whale had touched bottom. Th1
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