The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-01-24

South Atlantic in a narrow, fimsy boat
behind a whale who was in a mighty
hurry to go somewhere far away.
The Portuguese, white and black,
mostly white, are the whaling men of
New Bedford today. The owners like
them. They consider them more re-
liable than the American in point of
sticking to the ship, and equally good
as whalers.
Most of them are young men in
years., and most of them are impress
lively old in experience. There is
Capt. Nicholas Vierra, master of the
Canton, the oldest whaling bark in the
business. He seems to be little past
thlrty-fve. But with his last cruise
he had completed a course of thirty
years of whaling.
Capt. Vierra views the seeker for
tales of whaling adventure with mild
wonder.
he, after his arrival with his last big
catch of oil and bone. why, folk in
New Bedford get hurt and killed ev-
cry day ashore with cars and things.
Now I've been whaling thirty years
and | never saw a man killed except
ing only one, and then he didn't need
to be. The boat made fast to a whale
and he capsized it. All the men Just
made a few strokes and climbed up
on the whales back and waited there
till the other boat came and took them
Off. The one fellow slid off too soon
and was drowned before he reached
the boat because he couldn't swim.
Though I've been whaling thirtya
years." continued the captain, Il never
saw a fighting whale till this last voy-
age, when a sperm whale struck one
Of h boats with his f1uke and broke
the boat steerers' arm. Whales aren't
fierce as a general thing, and they
aren't very shy. To be sure, one must
not run at them so that the boat is
in range with their eyes. But gener-
ally there is no trouble in bringing the
boats close alongside of them. Most
of them, big and little, take the iron
as quietly as if they were cows. When
they are stuck all they want to do is
to get away.
of course, the Whaler must look out
for f1ukes, and, in the case Of sperm
whales, for their jaws. You take an
ordinary whale and you want to re-
member that his luk is as big as that
barn door. And our boats are made
Of light scantling-haIf-inch stuff. We
have 'em light so that we can easily
patch them together again when they
get broken by a fish.
We'll, when a fuke like that comes
down on such a boat there isn't much
left. But the men don't get hurt often.
When they see it coming they know
that the only thing to do is to spill
themselves out Of the opposite side
and swim for it.
When a boat is smashed the men
grab for h oars and put them cross
wise over what is left of the boat. Then
they are safe until they are picked up
DO you find that men ever lose
their nerve after their boats are
smashed or they have some other wild
experience with a big whale?'
VIII as to that said Cant Viarro
bordering. Il never heard of such a
thing. Whalers don't think any more of
than they would Of driving a cow home.
In fact" and he laughed as something
struck him. I asked a boat ~steerer a
th> e and he was afraid to go near"
Comparing whales with cows is a COM
mon Simile with New Bedford men. And
unimaginative listener cannot help think
ing of that wonderful scOW-herding of the
ocean. A mighty COW indeed is a seven
ty-foot right whale-a cow whose mouth
alone would furnish a comfortable stable
for. ten Jerseys, whose tongue alone
weighs as much as ten oxen and whose
lips, throat and jawboneS weigh as much
as twenty-five 1~,000-pound steers. Il
"A hundred-barrel fish" says the cap
tain, lis about seventy feet long. Some
times you see bigger fish, but not often.
No, a whale as big as that doesn't stick
out of the water very much. Whales float
so that only just a small part of their
~ 0-@N $1,000 49, III AANA OOA
ing them. of course, the main idea is to
get the iron in deep so that it will hold
and stop the fighting as much as posi-
BILE. A man has to take mighty good
care not to strike the white horse. That's
the part Of the whale that's all bone and
gristle and the harpoon will simply slide
off if it hits there. 1t eans> good deal
of ridicule for a harpooner if he makes a
mistake like that.
When a whale is struck the first
thing that he does generally is to roll over
into the sore. Now and then a whale
will roll over till he has the line wrapped
around his whole body. We don't let a
whale run away farther than we have to,
of course.
MANY a time a whale will hardly move
away from the spot where he has been
struck. Sometimes one will lie still and
take two and even three irons without
trying to run. AS soon as the boat IS fast
we try to work VI on him and get along
side so that the mate can use the killing
lance and reach his life.
The life of a whale is as big as q
house, and there isn't any trouble to find
1t. The lance is driven in with all the
mGn's-mignt right behind his f1uke and
from the shoulder downward. When the
LARGE reaches his life the blood comes up
thick as tar. Then we lay off and wait. A
good quick man will often brace himself
right on the haft of the harpoon that is
sticking in the whale and lance him half
a dozen times before the boat backs
away.