The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1925-11-18

EGAll(CYa New Bedford. Eighty-fou
rs Il 9H years old, she's In he
IN Il home port to stay. Bu
E@H h she's no dlsmantled hulk
EkxzSS5Sazr4 with which the element
will have their way. She
spick and span with fresh paint an'
a new suit of canvas and she lies II
q concrete cradle on the waterfront o
the estate of Col. z. II. K. Green a
Round Hills. Henceforth her mission
is that of object lesson Of one of the
country's greatest industries, of which
she saw the rise, decline and fall. New
Bedford sent out her first whaler ir
1866. For many years she was the
! great whaling port Of the world. Now
the Morgan Is as much a curiosity
to most of her people as to the lands
man visitor from the Middle West
who thinks of whale as 1.-THE big
fish that swallowed Jonah"
Here's how Col Edward Rowland
Robinson Green comes to be inter-
ested in the old whaler. She was
named for Charles w. Morgan, her
first owner. Her second owner was
Edward Mott Robinson, father Of
Colonel Green's mother. the famous
Hetty Green.
Capt. George Fred Tilton Is the
browning touch. He's a veteran New
Bedford whaling skipper who looks
T the part. And when he spins whaling
yarns-why, the old days seem to live
again.
Visitors1 Well, rather. The old
whaler has been alive with visitors
all summer from all parts of the
country. Most Of them frankly admit
complete ignorance on the subjects of
whales and whaling and listen round
eyed. But lots Of them have read
"Moby Dick" or the Cruise of the
Cachalot" or STRAY Leaves from a
Whaler's Log"-or all three. So they
take on airs.
The Morgan's the real thing, all
right. Old as she Is, she was built
to last. Jethro and Zachariah Hill
man of New Bedford built her of live
oak, with copper fastenings and
sheathing. She has cruised over every
whaling ground from the Arctic 70
the Antarctic. For twenty years or SO
she sailed out of San Francisco, until
the steam whalers put her out of bust
ness. These steam whalers use modern
methods and there's no adventure or
romance in the business any more-It's
Just slaughter.
Here'S about the way whale was
captured and handled on the MORGAN
In the Gid days: When the lookout at
inc masthead halls the deck with
There she blows" the whaleboats
are lowered. There are five or sir
Doats, each requiring at least s,x
men. The boats race for the wba,o
The first boat runs almost IN against
Inc huge bulk. The harpooner in the
DOW hurls the barbed weapon. Tho
'owers back the boat frantically Tho
whale plunges down, sometimes to
1epth of 200 fathoms. Tho In
smokes out of the tubs. FINALLY tho
"hale comes up to breathe. usuallv
n twenty minutes or so. Other boots
TX narpoons. Again the whale COOS
'owh ana so on. Finally the whaIo
k'led by lances The boats tben
y" 'ne carcass to the ship, where r.
niue fast to the chains So tbot u
WI not SINK. Unless there are othor
,'a'es IN sight, the men then cut m
ne outer layer with "blubber-snadas /"
treat cubical chunks are ho,stoa
ne ueck TO be tried OUT in bpoo
cites strained and stored in castS
But sometimes 1t doesn't boa ls'
ust exactly this way. Suppose tb.l
A se.s around a man-that's tho ,
no OF him. Suppose the wbaIo ~, sne
Ut all the line. The axman cn unS
no mats the last of a. tbonsan
eel OF line. Suppose In tba l a''.
~, usr'es tne great tail-25 feet by Is
i.s ooat-thats the end of Tho,
oat and maybe several OF bor o .na'
o oppose a toothed whale bites ths
' ln'o splinters-thats one boa.
'ss: suppose big sperm whale D uo .
'ao and rams the whaler itsetr t se.s