Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-06-24
Whaling Still a Red-Blood Sport
JOHN LEO COONTZ.

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man there, he was at the
masthead, and raised a whale. We
ran with the ship convenient. and low
cred four boats Capt. Davis was real
hungry and cantankerous for a whale,
for he hadn't been in fight for nearly
six months; howsoever. the whale soon
turned fiukeS and stayed down so that
l thought he'd never come UP ag'in.
The captain was mounted on the gun
wales. and Lishy was on the box and
We was a-lookin', each man over the
blade Of his own oar, to catch the first
spout. when suddenly Lish uttered q
cry that almost made ones marrow
creep.
Look out for the breakers. captain;
take your oars, all of you. and don't
speak for your livesl Lish grabbed
his iron. when. quick as white sQuall,
there was whales head on the clean
breach, not two irons length from the
head of the boat We couldn't stir hand
nor foot for the life of us. Up, up,
not fast. the whale kept going. 1t
seemed there was no end to him. The
old man was CALLED little. I think,
but he let Lish have his own way. 1
don't think one of us breathed, or
even winked, as we watched that awful
black mass shootin' into the sky.
And there stood that Chapman, his
back to us, and at that minute, / guess,
to all the world. with his iron and
a-waitn and waitin' till the hump
showed itself, and fun so feet of black
skin was in the air! 1t looked as if
it hung right over our heads. when,
Holy Moses! Lisha clapped the iron
in right UP to the socket. and yelled
out so they heard him aboard the ship.
'Starn for your lives! Starn all, I tell
you'll"
This yarn. on the lips of an old
whaler, in the rear of Kelly's watch
shop in New Bedford, Mass that his
toric hangout of whaling captains of
half century ago, smacks Of the tang
of the northern seas and the thrill of
an occupation that once drew many an
adventuresome heart. 1t was recalled
when there warped into Staten Island
pier the other day the Sir James Clark
Ross, Norwegian whaler, freighted down
with $4,000 barrels of whale oil from
the Antarctic seas. an amount that
would have made the eyes Of the old
timers bulge out of their sockets.
Capt. Thustersen and his crew of 100
men will share in the profits OF the
voyage. each man according to the
duty performed by him. The gross
value today stands at something like
S2,500 900. This division is. perhaps,
the only point of identity which this
twentieth century expedition holds with
the ancient ones. Unless. Of course,
it be the whale.
The cargo is consigned to big COM
pany. After all. people do use more
soap than they ever did. even If the
advent of steam and gasoline gas and
and corsetless ladies has
served to knock some of the other
products.
DR.. Waldo L. Schmitt scientist of the
National Museum, interested in whales,
and particularly irr the fauna on which
they feed, recently returned from the
South Shetland Islands, close to the
Antarctic Circle, has a world OF inter-
eSting lore concerning whales and
picked up on his sojourn
there, where he studied the whaling
industry, and watched the handling Of
a catch" and the rendering OF 1t into
commercial products by one Of the
mother ships"
THE sport today" says DR.. Schmitt.
'neceSsitates hardy, robust men. and
furnishes thrills hard to find elsewhere.
As the hunter stalks the lion in the
big forest, so the whale is Stalked In
the sea by small boats sent out by the
mother ship, which lies close inshore
on the whaling ground.
YNay,,tJa Nf ha A,ta
arises from the fact that II is
a real whale feeding ground The
whales go there each Spring, which Is
cur Winter. to feed upon shrimp The
shrimp gather there to feed upon dia-
toms, microscopic plants. washed down
into the sea from the Antarctic con-
tlnent by melting ice. Those feeding
grounds are called by whalers, meadows
OF the sea- They are immensely rich
in small sea life, and there, undis-
turbed where they can fiaunt their
fiukes and blow the air from their
lungs in fountain streams
OF rainbow hue. come the whales in
vast numbers and sport their idle life
away
The humpback, thin back and blue
whales are the ones chiefly to be found |
IN these waters or course, the blue |
whale runs the largest In size, some |
times attaining a length of 100 feet. |
Ten TO fifteen barrels of oil are the !
usual blubber yield from a single whale. |
but instances have been known of a |
single yield running as high as 81 to
30 barrels.
The oil is used by soap concerns |
largely, many Of these firms running |
down into the Antarctic mother ships. |
hoating mandatory plants, for the |
rendering up of whale products, at the |
beginning of the whaling season."
The story OF whaling Is linked up
with the very earliest sea explorations |
In fact, the first commercial whale |
spouted back In the days of King Alfred |
OF blessed memory" in England, who |
listening 10 the wonderful tales of |
whaling by Ohther. the Norwegian. But |
the average Englishman, not being i'm !
pulsive, slept over the good Alfred's |
suggestion for 8o3 years. 1t was not |
until 1893 that the first English ships |
went a-whaling to Cape Breton for |
whales and morse" Such was the |
beginning of this brave and adventurous |
business by the people who speak the |
mother tongue"
The same adventurous spirit, trans |
planted In America. while this land was |
3 Colonial dependency Of the English |
.rown, struck deep root. and brought |
'orth a rich harvest from the sea. So |
much fixture was whaling in the life |
If the New England Colonies that Burke |
adverts TO 1t In his speech "On Con-
siliation of the American Colonies"
AS to the wealth which the Colonies !
nave drawn from the seas by their |
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