The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1904-09-08
SEEING THE FAIR
In DETAIL

Tools Of Once Great lndustry-WhaI-
ers' Outfit From North Carolina That
Has Seen Years OF use-The Killing
Of Whale-The Kind of FowIins
Piece George Washington Carried
Birds of North carcIina--Two That
Tennyson Mentions Fisher Birds
and Robbers--How the Demands Of
MilIiners Nearly Exterminated the
Snowy Heron - Shore and Marsh
Birds.
ESPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE BY
MARK BENNETT
Perhaps because a near neighbor Of
mine followed the sea in his youth and
used to regale me iii after dinner hours
with narratives Of life aboard whaler
l was more interested than you may be
in the old whaling outfit which hangs
in the North Carolina exhibit. What
exciting scenes must hive accompanied
their usel The picture In the old geog-
raphy labeled Whaling In the Are
tics represented a whale breaking a
boat in two with a flip OF his tail. while
men were flying in the dir like SO many
pairs Of open shears in the hands Of a
| juggler. That picture gave me per.
petual distaste for whaling in its rigor-
Gus reality, but the narratives have
never lost favor
| You may not know that whaling Is
still an industry Of no small Importance
along the Atlantic coast, for we still
must have whalebone Whales are, in
fact, more abundant than at the time
whaling lost it's greatest Importance
! following the discovery Of petroleum
/ The whaling of North Carolina IS shore
whaling but the whaler's outfit is the
/ same as used aboard ship when tbs
| whales are dashed to the sides to be cui
up and the blnbber tried out on board
the vessel This outfit was in use as
late as last spring of Beaufort On one
OF the lances we may read upon labe
in the whaler's own language, Bin II
43 Whales"
When a whale was sighted in the
| old days the first act was to harpoon
him. This act was usually attended
with great peril. / suspect that the
men In the geography picture had just
harpooned whale and the whale hae
resented it, Then came the lanclng
with the long sharp spear to reach the
lungs and cause death. Between the
happening and lancing a considerable
interval usually occurred. The whals
would sound after happening, go
ing below and taking with him boat
load Of rope attached to the harpoon
The harpoon has cruel barbs, Its frs
purpose being to fasten line to the
whale. Sometimes the line would mo-
run smoothly as the whale went down
Now and then it would loop aroune
some object in the perhaps ons
, OF the crew and many whaler has
gone to Davy Jones locker by tina
swift route.
The drag, which you may see here
: Is wooden block twelve to ffteel
inches square, with hole through tn
center. Through this hole the harpooI
rope runs. and when the drag may b.
safely launched the rope is knottes
to hold the drag, which is intended Z
retard the progress Of the whale aii'
i, tire him.
! The lancing Of the whale Is searcel.
less dangerous than the harpooning
/. for the victim may still have muel
strength and worse temper thai
! when the big barbed Earpoon enteref
his side
The toggle iron Is another form Q
harpoon. with point ana barb on
hinge. SO that Il backward pull whe
|. it ID once in the whale spreads the toe
in the animals flesh and holds it NOR
4 securely
The whale gun was invented durin
: the later period Of the whaling indus
: try, and the harpooner became the ma
! behind the gun The whale gun has
! bore Of nearly an inch and carries
I ten inch bomb with rubber feathers
= guide the explosive missile, The CUR
-