The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-12-10

| crushed one boat in his jaws, and de-
mohShed the other with the sweep OF
| his fukes, causing the loss of both
| boats and eight men. The whale then
ran for the ship, head high out of the
water and all steam on, and struck her
d SlancinS blow on the quarter. She
was shaken as if she had struck a
rock, and at once began leaking. The
whale ran on without giving her
further attention. 1t was seen that he
was blind in the right eye. or rather,
! that his right eye was gouged out,
and he had scar on his head in the
shape of the letter "O.'
About four weeks after our talk
with the Yankee we were cutting in
/ a whale, and were about two hundred
and fifty miles to the south of NADIA
gascar when sudden cry of alarm
was raised on the fo'cas'le. The ship
was lying head toward the north and
making a slow drift as we worked
away at our capture, which was a six
ty-barrel whale. All work was sus-
pended at the cry, and such of US as
ran forward were paralyzed to see a
monster whale coming for us and
only a quarter of a mile away. His
head was held so high that he looked
like an island moving along the
surface. We were perfectly helpless
in the matter, and not an order was
given. The big fellow came at rail-
road speed and passed US on the star
board side We had our dead whale
on the other He came SO close as to
rub US all the way along, and twenty
of us took notice that his right eye
was gone and that he had the "O''
scar on his head. He ran for a quar-
ter of a mile aStern and then sounded,
and as he went down he stood on his
head while you could count forty. The
swell ne kicked up sent half a dozen
seas aboard and was a quarter of an
hour subsiding. We got our boats
ready and kept sharp lookout for
! Jim but did not see him again for
several months. - Eight days after the
adventure he was seen by an English
whaler more than three hundred miles
away and when lowered for he smash
ed a boat and caused the loss of four
! lives He had a run of about four
years. and when finally killed by a
Bristol whaler he had five harpoons
in him.
The Brazilian was known by sew
eral names, but the Scotch and Eng
/ lish whalers called him the BLACK
Death" That whale had been known
for five years, when we first fell in
with him. and he ran a career of four
or five more and then disappeared,
no one getting the prize. We fell m
with him about 100 miles off Bahia
one morning just after daylight. We
were running to the south under a
light breeze and the big fellow
preached on our port quarter, and not
over a quarter of a mile away. [ hap
pened to have my eyes on the SPOT
and saw him come up. H came out
of the water as if forced by hydraulic
pressure, and I believe there was all
of thirty feet of him in the air be-
fore he fell with such a tremendous
splash as to make half a dozen of the
crew cry out in alarm. While he was
in the air 1 plainly saw that he had
two or three whaling lines wrapped
around him, and one of them was at
least fast to a harpoon. The ship
was brought to the wind at once and
down went three or four boats in a
breath. Some of the watch below
tumbled up and into the boats with
out dressing. The whale lay broad
side on to us, forging ahead and then
backing as If to get rid of the lines.
He was a good ninety feet long and
the blacklist whale I ever saw. My
boat had a few feet the start and we
had to run softly so as not to dis
turb him. The last few yards were
made with the paddles alone. We
came on him at an angle so as to be