The Nome nugget., 1902-02-01
RUN DOWN WHALES.
In the Roadway of the Leviathaus
 Of the California Coast.
Dangerous Ocean Pathway Where Vessels Are often Injured by Collidtng with the Marine
 NOusters.

protected, 10 certain extent, by the
 islands of shore. The group begins
 at santa Barbara with san Miguel:
 then come santa Rosa. santa Cruz.
 Anacapa. and farther ont to sea. 20
 miles. san Nicolas. The next follow
 ing south are santa Barbara. santa
 Catalina. San Clement. and then with
 break of 10 miles the Cornnadocs. These islands are almost parallel To the coast range and constitute Nir fually an out-tu-Sea coast range of
 mountains which. in all probability.
 were thrust up al the time the coast
 was formed. leaving Il deep dcpreS-
 sion between them and the mainland
 writes Charles Frederick Holder. in
 scientific American.
 This region of extremely deep wa
 ter k a famous roadway for whales,
 several kinds bein" found here feed
 ing upon the vast schools of jelly
 fishes which are nearly always pres
 ent. The whale most common is the
 California gray. which goes every
 year ta the shadows of the Gulf of
 California to give birth to its yol,np.
 then moving north along the CalifOr-
 nia coast in what is virt ually great
 proce sSion. At this time the chan
 nel is the sporting ground for the
 huge animals, and nearly every steamer that crosses sights n school the scene forming one of the attrac- tions of the trip, as the whales, far from being wild or timid, sometimes evince d playful mood, or, melted by curiosity, come near the steamer, af-
 tording the passengers a near view of the largest of living animals.
 This sociablc disposition has re- suited in several encounters between the whales and vessels in which the former have always come off second best. Some years ago q steamer on the trip from San Pedro to san Fran cisco struck some body, supposed at first to be q log. Several of the men were thrown to the deck; the wheel tu. ned over so violently that the helm man was also thrown down, and the steamer for the moment came to a standstill, All hands were called. the pumps sounded. and as the mate ran aft he saw q large whale flashing the water astcrn. The vessel had struck it directly back of the right paddle and evidently crushed it down, rising over it. This whale drifted into Santa Catalina some days later and was lowed into one of the little up by the fishermen.
 During the suulneT of 1900 the steamer Hermosa killed whale off San Pedro, which was at least. so feet in length. The steamer was blowing along at rate of l2 miles an hour, when suddenly large whale rose di- rectly in front of her. placing itself inadvertently across her bows, so that the blow was struck fairly. The shock created n sensation on board, and the blow was so violent that sev- eral people were thrown from their feet. It was supposed that the vessel had struck a sunken rock; she stopped for q few seconds, trembled, then rose about three feet. hceling slightly, hen resumed her course, passing through a mass of blood which colored the WdttE, SuoNILS tudt SIlc udb pIuHStu into some large animal A dead whale was sighted two days later, and | tor several days, on account of it's size. it drif.ed up aud down the coast with l the tide, defying the efforts of specu- lative fishermen to secure 1t. Finally | a heavy sea tossed ii on the coast at | the resort of Redondo, where it was | arlo loI in, ioh Nt-hp ha latter went out left a marvellous spec tacle of the remains of the largest of | living animals. Hundreds of people | visited the spot before it was dismem- | bersd. A long wound told the story l of it's contact with the steamer, that | was wholly uninjured.
 Doubtless if he records of shipping | disasters were examined many in- stances would be found where vessels had crashed into whales with results l fatal to the animal and more or less | injurious to the vessel. In this con nection a curious incident may be re- I lated regarding the actions of school | of whales at the island of Santa Rosa. Cal. The channel between this island II is narrow and often extremely rough ' and during q storm it was believed by |, those on the island that the whales be- \ came demoralized, as they deliberate ! iy ran ashore, and the remarkable i sight of five or six large whales was observed helpless on the sands. Their r bones remained for long time on what became known as the whales graveyard.
 If < on VOur way to ('ap1le ('huruE