Rocky Ford enterprise., 1903-08-28


him! He's u big sperm hull. and too
good prize to lose." shouted the cap
tain as he ran on deck with his glass.
The men of the Gloucester fishing
schooner Mary l.. Belts sprans to the
1oats ard down they went into the
water. The Mary l.. Belts Is fishing
boat pure and simple. but ON her
last cruise had an experience which
Thomas Marrow of Boston. y long
shoremnn. Will never forget.
I'VE were about one hundred miles
OF 81. Johns headed nor'nor~est
wh IN the man In the lookout shouted:
There she blows! he said. ! had
been an old New Bedford sailor and
'shaleman myself and the familiar
cali from above stirred my blood like
the call to battle.
Il was In the for'ard of one OF the
whalcboats. and II came natural for
mo TO pick mp the long harpoon and
stand ready for the deadly work that
had so often done In the fights with
whales CT Hattcrus when ! was
seaman goirE out Of New Bedford.
Our boat had the lead by long
distance. and In half an hour We had
oycr,aken the school and were draw
ins up to the monsters. ! picked out
the biggest of the whales and ordered
.ihc boat put over toward him. when
all OF n sudden right In front of us
one Of them rose to the top and lay
waiiowing In the swell We were
headed right for his tail. and II was
necessary to back water with NIL our
might to prevent striking him across
a,.tr. - In
my day. and had seen the boats
.sHiashed to kindling wood In the
twinkl!rs of nm eye ard the men all
Killed.
. ''Thc monster did not seem to no
,icc us. but lay there. opening his
great mouth and squirting the water
In ard out among his teeth as they do
chen they are after n school of her.
ring Ordering the boat about.
headed toward his nose. fully sixty.
rinc feet away. As drew mp to him
had the spear poised aloft. In
minute the creature turned over In
the hollow of the sea and exposed his
great soft belly. In the twinklins Of
In eye had hurled the spear for n
point I picked out just back Of the fin
'and under the heart.
II do no, know whether 1t was be-
cause ] was long ont of practice. or
that the spear was dull, but II only
pierced mis- flesh n little way. and
hung there quivcrins. The smart of
= pain thoroughly awokc the creature.
though. and he went down like n shot.
Aiis great flukc went high In the air
and his head down. kiting up u torrent
of water and splnshins the great tail
down upon the fiat surface within ten
fect OF the boat. II nearly swampcd
us. II filled the boat half full OF water
and upset every man In her.
These men were not professional
whalesmen, but were Gloucester fish
ermen. They did not know what to do
and for minute all was confusion,
while the line was rccling out with a
sharp twanging hum that told of n
mighty power at the other end OF the
line. My first thought was to get the
ax in my hand and stand by to cut
4he line when 1t reached the end of
the reel.
Suddenly the whale stopped and
rose to the surface little way OF.
. We could see the white OF his foamy
wake glisten with red blood as he
iolled for a minute in the sunshine.
Half the men were wildly bailins
ont the water with their hands. hats
-and with one or two wooden buckets.
The rest were pulling toward the
whale and still others were shouting
orders. / think I was the quietest
-,ne among them. All of sudden the
whale seemed to see us for the first
time. He came plowing his way
through the water straight for us.
..Pull. Pull for your life!' | shout
ed. If he strikes us there won't be
=. man alive to tell the story And
they did pull. 1t is wonderful what
force men can put into the oars when
their life depends upon It, 1t was a
matter of life and death. and they
knew It. We pulled out of his path.
but the old sinner stopped and turned
around toward us with a mighty swirl.
st was such swirl as the leap OF a
i. trout might seem to fly in willow
leaf floating upon the surface of a
poud. Again he came straight for us,
hut when he would have hit us with
his great junk he went down suddenly
and up on the other side of us. Then
he Law still. We edged up with an
other harpoon.
He seemed to be waiting for some.
thing to happen.
'.I hurled the great spear with bet.
Ter workmanship this time. He tore
,way to the south, dragging the boat
after him at fearful speed. The prov
went down to the dead level of the
waves. and on either side the green
waters rose three inches above the
punwa.e as it rushed past. l reached
for the AK to cut loose. when / found
that It was not there. In the excite
ment 1t had gone overheard.
what were we to do? The line
was playing out and would soon reach
the end and we should have to let the
boat be wrecked. My knife seemed
like a toothpick in the emergency.
"suddenly the great animal stopped
md began to go slower But he held
away to the south in straight line.
We could see the ship now about
three miles away. making frantic sig