The Daily Herald

Capture of a Whale.—The following extract of
a letter from a gentleman in Southampton, L. I. to
his friend in this city, giving an account of the cap-
ture of a 'right' whale at that place, we think will
be interesting to many of our readers.—Courant.

SOUTHAMPTON, L. I. July 31, 1839.

My Dear Sir—When I told you at parting that I
would make up a fish story, I did not expect to per-
form my promise; but some circumstances have oc-
curred since you left, which make the performance
as pleasant to me as it will be interesting to you.—
To begin then, with the history of the world since 9
o'clock A. M. of the day of the date hereof.

1st. I went up stairs and took a snooze for near-
ly half an hour—woke up and thought it was after
dinner—and while I was rubbing my eyes, and de-
bating the matter, I heard my name called—went
to the stairs, and James said, come quick, there is a
whale off the beach—(now don't say 'this is just
like him'—for it is all as true as that the whale
swallowed Jonah.) I came down, thinking he was
quizzing me—but when I saw his eye I was satisfied
that if it was not a whale, it was a great fish. We
started forth for the beach on a good jog, and strain-
ed our eyes to see a whale; when, lo! to bless my
longing vision, up rose the head of a 'right' whale
some fifteen feet above the water, then settled down
again; then threw up her tail about the same dis-
tance, and after flourishing it for a few minutes, dis-
appeared. My first thought after the surprise was
over, was for you—and I said, 'Oh, if he was only
here!' But to proceed. A boat was soon launched,
though the surf was running much higher than we
have ever seen it, and soon another was off after it:
as they had but one line, the second boat was rather
to be present in case of accident, than for any assist-
ace. They were both soon in the vicinity of the
noble animal, who occasionally protruded her head
from the deep, and anon flourished with her tail,
utterly unconscious of the designs of her enemies.—
It was interesting to me to watch the manoeuvers at
sea, (a distance of two or three miles) and it was
also interesting to notice the feeling manifested on
the land. The beach by this time had become pop-
ulous—for, on the signal being given, viz. a man on
the top of the pole where I was perched on Monday,
waving his coat,—both men and women left their
work, and all crowded to see the whale. As soon
as a fluke or a fin appeared, or when she stuck out
her head, or spouted, every man would spring clear
from the ground, and shout 'there she is,' 'there
she spouts,' &c.—every man of them apparently
feeling the same interest that was felt by the persons
in the boats. The latter cruised around for half or
three quarters of an hour, and at last she rose just
ahead of one of them; on the instant she shot forward
like an arrow from a bow, and I saw the iron thrust
into her huge side. Then the way she flourished
with her tail was a caution! She stood on her head
for intervals of ten or fifteen minutes, and though she
was at this time about two miles out, the sea was
white with the lashings of her tail. She did not run
as they are said to do, though she would work out
to sea. At the time the harpoon struck the seat of
life, she was not more than a mile off; the surf ran
very high all this time, and as she became quiet, I
went into the house for a few minutes, and by so
doing lost the sight of her 'flurry.' When I came
out she was dead, and 'in tow'; and in a short
time she was landed at the head of the pond.

I then went home to dinner like a good Dutchman,
and after the meal was finished, the almost entire
population of the place started in carts, wagons,
horse back and on foot, for the beach. The captors
began to cut her up, the tools being a kind of chisel
in a pole. A space was cut round, say two feet by
eight, a rope inserted, and the blubber hauled off in
such pieces. While at work near the tail, one of
the flukes of it was thrown round by the sea, and
struck the leg of Capt. Pearson, who was much in-
jured. After one quarter or one fifth of the carcass
was stripped of its blubber, and in consequence of
the very heavy surf, proceedings were suspended
till to morrow morning. The animal is 40 feet in
length, and will make 40 barrels of oil—some say 50.

Aug. 1st. As the mail does not leave till to day,
I have deferred closing this till I could give you the
winding up of this business. We have been to the
beach again this morning, and have seen the head
and tail cut off and the residue of the blubber taken
off. The length of the whale, on admeasurement,
is 36 feet, instead of 40. From the end of one fluke
of the tail to the other end, is 12 1-2 feet. The
bone in the head is 3 1-2 feet long, and the whale is
supposed to be from one to three years old. It is said
that there were 350 pieces of bone in the mouth,
standing like the teeth of a comb, and arching up-
wards; the roof of the arch, or the edges of the bones
are covered with coarse hair, to protect the tongue,
as is supposed, from being hurt against the bone
when it takes its food.