The New York herald., 1921-12-22
THAR SHE BLOWS!
STARTS SEA CHASE,
BUT WHALE IS Wise
Bull. at Least Is Feet in
Length, Dodges Amagan-
sett's Old Timers.
TAKE BOMBS IN BOAT
Visiting Monster Blows 3
Times Instead of 4, and
Deceives Pursuers.
FLIPS FLUKES AND DIVES
Comes Up Again When Fisher
men Are Not Looking
Squall Halts Operations.

The ancient rallying cry, "Thar she
blows!" unheard off Southampton,
l.. L., for nine years, shook the South
Shore from it's winter sleep yesterday
and sent the farmer whalers of ANA
gansett on to the deep with whale
boat, harpoon gun and bombs. A bull
whale (the largest, of course, that
ever preached this side the Antarctic)
was spouting and plunging a quarter
of mile off shore. He was trapped
between the outer and inner bars. but
had plenty of deep water in which to
swish his tail and defy the hunters.
Coast Guards of Southampton
sighted him first and shot the news
east and west along the beach. To the
highest dunes the veterans of former
cam paigns against such visitors
mounted, there to flap their coats and
shout against the wind, whale Off"
This ceremony is called waiting"
Nobody who ever hunted whale for
gets the etiquette or terminology
thereof.
The day was blowing up cold. but the
residents of Southampton and neighbor-
ing villages, young and old, hurried to
the beach to watch the whale. Binocu-
lars and spyglasses were trained upon
him, the result being that the most con-
servltive of spectators estimated the
length of the monster to be no less than
seventy-five feet, although 1t was con-
ceded he might shrink some when he
was larded.
Old Timers Get Busy.
That he would be landed was, of
course, not in doubt Southampton has
no whaleboat, and as a whale cannot
be hunted with propriety in any other
sort of craft 4. had to call upon ANA
gansett, fifteen miles away. But Anna
gansett is nest of retired whalers or
descendants of the same, and 1t already
knew by instinct as well as by grape
vine from the coast guards that there
was something needing its attention.
nybody can see whale, but only ANA
gansett can catch one.
Those mighty whale hunters of ANA
gansett Cap'n Josh and Cap'n Gabe Ed
wards, who gave up their regular trips
to the Arctic when they were around
10 years old. have sunk their last har-
poon. But their whale craft has de-
scended to their sons, Cap'n Everett and
Cap'n Sam Edwards, and no sooner did
they have the news of the apparition off
Southampton than they had crew to-
gethcr and pushing the old boat into the
surf
They started from Amagansett about
IL 80 clock and in less than two hours
were in the longitude of Southampton
and of the whale. It was $3.50 when
they got their first glimpse or him. He
came up quarter of a mile away and
spouted derisively. The power boat.
pulling the whaleboat and its load of
| capns, took after him full speed. The
whale blew three times, flipped his
flukes and dived. The tarnation critters
usually blow four times before they
go under, but all the cap'ns say this one
beats anything they ever saw. because
he varies the number of his geysers, so
that the pursuer can never tell how
long it's going to stay in one place.
Whale Plays n Trick.
Both boats of the expedition were
equipped with the bomb lance gun, which
has replaced the old hand flung har-
poon even along the Long Island shore.
1t fires a bomb three inches in diameter.
The bomb explodes when it hits the
whale, thus virtually wrecking the ami
NAL.
All the hunters could do when the
whale disappeared was 10 circle around
! in the hope of being near him (but not
lust above him) when he again emerged.
| But he chose q spot half a mile from
! the boats for his next appearance. once
more the boats sprinted toward him.
| and he ducked before they got within
range.
Cap'n Ev Edwards darned the whale
up and down and told the boys that IL
was indecent for a whale 10 come UP
| and not blow four times SOS man
could have time to take q shot at him.
| But" he said. well keep right arter
him and git him. too
| BY subaqueous radio the whale got
this message. and to show his disdain he
came up and blowcd (the wind blew but
whale never does anything but blow In
any tense) within. so the Capns figure.
| five hundred yards OF the boats. But
the boats. such was their devlish luck.
were at that moment headed In the op-
| poste direction. They had 20 circle
and when they reached the vicinity OF
the whale, there wasn't any whale The
Cap'ns cruiscd fifteen minutes more.
Then. as a dangerous squal was coming
en- they ran to shore and back TO Anna
gansett for the night.
The only unhappy persons on the
! beach yesterday we're the owners Of
summer hotels and boarding houscs. One
OF them said he'd have given a million
\ dollars out OF his own pocket II that
whale had had sense enough to appre-
ciate the fact that n whale offshore in
August is a commercial proposition.
while whale in December is merely a
whale.
HOUSE CONCURs IN RECESS.