Omaha daily bee., 1903-01-11

that day Is stamped with a picture of
the particular kind of whale that II was.
II moro than one whale was caught there
are as many pictures as there are whales.
Each picture has written across II tho
number Of barrels OF oil that were OBJ
tanned from the fish.
When a vessel lowers ana chascs and
finally loses the whale for any reason the
margin Of the log for that date is orna-
mcntcd with the stamp Of the whales tail
sticking up, just as II he were diving.
That denotes that the result of the chase
was a 'hukc." Sometimes n half dozen
%"flukcs" will ornament one entry.
This system of keeping the log saves
the ship owners the trouble of reading
through all the entries. They need merely
glance through the book to find the num-
Der of whales, how many barrels of oil and
what kind were taken by the ship.
The logs are locked up and guarded
carefully. Ship owners and captains make
a great secret of where the whales were
found, The writer was permitted to read
through the log of one famous whaling
bark only after he had promised the own
Crs solcmnly that he would not divulge the
latitude and longitude of any places where
big whales were taken.
The crews have as much interest In
keeping the secret, for they share in tho
proceeds as crews did in the old days.
Most of the new New Bedford whalers
sail in the same vessel voyage after
voyage. when they retire at last from
the sea many of them buy farms in
Massachusetts These Portuguese, who
prove themselves such good whalers. also
are proving themselves to be excellent
farmers. Some of the handsomcst and
,ng n,,,t,lt.- p.-.. -
ford are owned by retired Portuguese
whaling men.
There is a form of whaling that is fol
lowed a great deal more from New Bedford
now than deep water whaling. 1t is whal-
ing in schooners off shore, especially of
Cape Hatteras. II is referred to, somewhat
sarcastically by the deep water men, as
plum pudd'n' whaling" because the crews
are rarely out more than two or three
months and they are always within runninl
distance OF harbor.
plum pudd'n' whaling may strike tn,
deep water whale catcher as tame. But tt
the landsman who secs the ridiculousl,
small schooners with scarcely more free,
board than the brick schooncrs that on,
sees in peaceful inland waters, it docsn'
seem the height of luxury. And cortainI,
no less peaceful and idyllic scene could b,
selected in all the ocean than that particu
lar locality off Hatteras.
The plum pudd'n' whalcr" isn't n bit be.
hind his brother Of the big ships in daring
He lowers in what steamship passenger,
would call a living gale. The writer saw
the boats from two of these New BcdforC
schooncrs fast to small whales one winter
day off Hatteras when the steamship on
which he was, rolled so in the storm anc
sea that the water swept its bridge.
Whales of the small species known a!
tlackfsh were blowing the sea that da,
wherever one looked. Far away TOWARD
the horizon two plum pudd'n'" whaIinl
schOoners were rolling and pitching con,
vulsively, as If each roll and pitch woulC
be the last. And driving like madmcr
through the great shouldering green sea
were the crews of two small boats fast tC
one whale, while a mile away a third boat
discernible only as a wallowing blacI
streak, was dashing along behind another
1t seemed to be a most peculiar kind o.
plum pudd'n'."