The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1907-07-25
NATURE STORY
FROM THE OCEAN
TRAVELLERS IN LAUNCH SEE
FIGHT BETWEEN A WHALE AND
A THRASHER.

JUNEAU, Alaska, June 26-Four Sc
attic men, w. L. Lindsey, T. p Slaney
John s. and Charley Burnall, arrived
here today on their way from Seattle 70
Vaudez in a forty-two-foot auxiliary
schooner with a ten-horse power gaso-
line engine. They took the INSIDE
passage" and report no mishap. Mr..
Lindsey says:
I'VE left Seattle June and have had
no trouble, excepting with our gasoline
engine. 1t will begin bucking like a
bronco without any apparent cause and
will then start off again ana run fine.
We will all be expert engineers when
we finish this trip
There is no DOUBT that this is the
grandest body of water in the world
From Seattle to Cape Spencer is about
1000 miles and only thirty of it exposed
to the ocean. The scenery is splendid
from the broad Strait of Georgia
through the narrow channels where
you can almost throw biscuit ashore
from either side of a steamer.
One day we saw a battle royal be-
tween a thrasher and humpbacK
whale. The former is species Of
swordfish and is about twenty feet long
and about ten feet in diameter and
during the scrap they would come clear
out of the water and churn it into
foam. There are often schools of por-
poises darting around the bow of our
boat and it is great sport to shoot
them.
I'm making this trip we have follow
ed the regular route of the Skagway
boats except some short cuts where a
large steamer can not go. In going
into the Strait of Georgia we went III
Rosario strait instead of Haro strait.
when we reached the Seymour mar
rows we were pretty nervous, as WI
had heard and read so much about thi
dangerous passage. On the chart wa
l a note over a reef OF rocks, Man,
5 small craft have been wrecked here
= We lay at anchor several hours in Oys
e ter bay waiting for the proper state o
the tide before entering, as the char
1 showed current of from six to twelv
= miles an hour at certain stages of tn
water. The current begins to flow
p north at the beginning Of ebb tide ant
q we hit it about thirty minutes earl,
p and went through like scared wolf.
johnson strait is a beautiful bod,
+ of water and very narrow. We strucl
Queen Charlotte's sound with a heav
wind blowing in from the sea and GU
, bowsprit dipped water with every com
. Der we encountered. After getting int
Fitz Hugh sound we felt that we wer
able to tackle the ocean or anythin
that came along as our boat has prove
herself a good seaworthy craft.
4 1--WE ran into a bank of herring tina
y covered a mile square. Here we say
hundreds Of bald eagles. shot on
that measured seven feet from tip [
tip of wings, and his body was thre
feet long We saw no game in tn
woods, as the timber is very heavy an
underbrush very thick. There are
] great many porcupines and in no
low three l found some of their quill
sticking into a piece Of bark, some
them going clear through, and locke
D as though they were put there for thei
use as toothpicks.
1--WE leave Johnson today, June 2
for Valdez, where we hace an open sc
voyage of over 300 miles, with onl
/ one harbor to run into, Yakutat ba
1928 miles from Cape Spencer