Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1903-03-27
OLYMPIA WASHINGTON: FRIDAY EVENING" MARCH q 1909

oShooi VI "Hdies. 1ucy WeIc spOTtlLe Z
all around our ship, like boys at play
One old bull played peek-a-boo with
|, our ship. l got permission from the
captain to 60 aloft and watch the
whales playing around our vessel.
After got aloft, saw the large bull
whale 60 down in the clear blue water
ntil he was no larger than my hand /;
then he disappeared under the ship
finally / saw him coming up on the
other side of the vessel; when l first
saw him he was no larger than my
hat; he got larger and larger until
out of the water he popped his giant
head; it was covered with barnacles
as large as beer kegs. He also had a
marine garden on his back, which
looked like caulifower growing. This
whale must have been hundreds of
years old. The old fellow had lots of
room to dive in, as the water where
we were then was about 4I miles deep
(or nearly as deep as Tacoma harbor).
We were now getting into a region
where man-eating sharks were plenty.
These great tigers of the water Of the
vasty deep followed our ship for days
at time, in anticipation of getting
fnnA ha
afternoon the mate went down into
the hold and got three Gueer-looking
bricks. These bricks he took to the
cook and ordered him to heat them
red-hot. When the cook announced
to the mate that the bricks were OF a
fiery hue, the mate took pair of tongs
and placed one in heavy canvas sack
and closed the end and tieing line to
it lowered it right over big sharks
head. The shark turned over and
gulped the sack down; he swan along
for a moment, then he began to act
like some one who had left his cellar.
door open. He gasped, ran around in
circles and thrashed the water into q
white foam. Finally he concluded he
was about done, so he turned over on
his back and gave up his life-c heck.
That was one way that we captured
sharks. The other way was q big hook
baited with with any old thing, as
these sharks would eat anything from
a Greek sailor to a Steinway piano, if
it came their way. One big fellow
that was caught with hook and line
yielded the following from his COM
missary department: Four corn-beef
cans, six baking-powder cans partly
digested, one pair of gum.boots,
marked &C. o. d." and amongst an
assortment of other stuff, included a
lot of ankle bracelets, worn by the
little niger girls At some summer re-
sort where this tiger Of the deep had
visited.
The shark has big, dull eyes, but
they are very keen. One Sunday morn.
ing we made dummy representing a
tough.looking sailor, then we made .
noise and yelled "Man overheard"
as we threw the dummy into the water.
1t was caught by three sharks before
it had fairly touched the water. 1t
10 sale to say that l did not care
about falling overheard in that place.
The spotted porpoise swan just un-
der the cut-water Of our ship for days
at time. One day the second mate
got harpoou and placed it into big
spotted porpoise and it was hauled on
deck. 1t squealed and gruntcd like .
hog, and resembled one without legs
and ears. There also was a big bird,
called albatross, which we caught
with hook and line, and painted him
red, white and blue, and turned him
loose (you will notice that all the fish
and birds We encountered, call him) /;
am like the Frenchman who called
everything he had him, except an old
bull and a double-barreled shotgun
these he called her. When the bird
started of, he was surrounded by sew.
eral others, who we're pulling the
pretty feathers from him in a cloud,
, and they probably skinned him be-
fore he got far.
The mate up to this time, had
treated me pretty fairly. He had not
given me the glad foot or the bending
ropes end 200 times, more or less.
used to kill the mate, in my dreams,
every night, and l guess I killed him
200 different ways up to this time, on
dreamland's happy shores. By this
time Bully Chase thought he had me
on the run. One morning he (the
mate) was in terrible temper. had
gotten out Of bed that morning wrong
end too, so was not feeling extra good
myself. When went to the galley
to get the mates morning coffee he
gave me a kick that made this life
look sad for boy, as l was then. !
determined to kill that mate in reality.
In the galley was q fine collection oil
knives of all sorts. l picked out one
with blade about twenty inches long
and hid it under my coat. When
handed the Bully the coffee he threw
it into my face. There was flash oi
steel and the mates clothes from the
armpit to his hip parted company; in
fact if he had not done some tall
lodging, there would have been q
pair of mates instead of one. He
would have been divided at the waist
line. After that memorable morning
the mate always gave me plenty oI