The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-02-08

as much as possible. A man has 10 take
mighty good careenot TO strike the white
horse That's the part OF the whale lhal ats
all bone and srfstle. and the harpoon VIII
simply slide of IL IL hits there. IL means
a good deal of ridicule for harpooner III
he makes mistake like that
that he does generally Is TO roll over into
the sore. Now and then a whale Will roll
over and over till he has the line wrapped
around his whole body. We don't let
whale run any further than we have TO, OF
course.
Many times a whale will hardly move
away from the spot where he mas peen
struck. Sometimes one will lie sun ana
take two and even three irons without try
ing 10 run. As soon as the boat Is fast we
try TO work up on him and get alongside
so that the mate can use the killing lance
and reach his life. The life OF whale Is
as big as a house, and there isn't any
trouble 10 find Il. The lance is driven In
with all the mans might right behind ms
fiuke and from the shoulder downward.
When the lance reaches his life the blood
comes up thick as tar. Then we lay on
and wait. A good quick man will often
brace himself right on the half OF the har-
pooh that Is sticking in the whale and
lance him half a dozen times before the
boat backs away Then It's merely case
Of keeping out of the way TIL the fish DIES;
Sometimes a whale will die as easily as IL
he was asleep. There won't be furry or
anything. He takes the harpoon and the
lance and just dies.
is nothing for Ii except to cut away.
Whalers don't generally hold fast long
enough to permit fish to tow them out
of sight of the ship. That makes the usual
limit of hanging on in clear weather about
eight miles. If they can come up with a
whale in that distance they heave in on
the line until they have as much as they
can get and then they cut OF course they
don't cut till they have to.
I'VE CANNED the Ellen Swift one day.
She had just lost six lines of $50 fathoms
wAal2 IIA fn1lr all Wi
stopping a minute, and at last. when they
were towing behind him with more than
three miles of line out, they lost the whole
business. That's pretty expensive work,
IN ANCIENT FASHION.
whalers still recount In their logs that
they CANNED a ship. meaning that they
stopped and had q talk, just as the logs of
fifty years ago put IT. Comparison between
these old logs and a log Of last year shows
q difference only In dates. They still use
all the log terms just as they still use the
old weapons. Each ship 10 supplied with a
set Of rubber stamps, one depicting q
sperm, another a right whale and 30 on.
When a whale is taken and saved the
entry for that day is stamped with picture
of the particular kind OF whale that II
was. II more than one whale was caugnt
there are as many pictures there are
whales. Each picture has written across
1t the number Of barrels OF OIL that were
obtained from the fish,.
When a vessel lowers and chases and
finally loses the whale for any reason the
margin of the log for that date Is orna-
mented with the stamp of the whales tail
sticking up just he were diving. That
denotes that the result Of the chase was a
"huke.' Sometimes a half dozen "fukes
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 number of whales, how many
barrels of oil and what kind were taken
by the ship.
The logs are locked up and guarded care
fully. 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 owners
solemnly that he would not divulge the
latitude and longitude of any places where
big whales were taken.
The crews have as much interest in keep
ing the secret for they share in the pro.
ceeds as crews did in the old days. Most
of the new New Bedford whalers sail ir
the same vessel voyage after voyage
When they retire at last from the sea
many of them buy farms in Massachu'
sets. These Portuguese. who prove them
selves such good whalers, also are proving
themselves to be excellent farmers. Some
of the handsomest and most f1ourishins
/ farms around New Bedford owned by
retired Portuguese whaling men.