UNUSUAL SIGHT.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 40, 26 November 1937, Page 8

UNUSUAL SIGHT.

SHARKS AND BIRDS ATTACK A WHALE. (Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, November 25. Attacked by at least six twelve-foot sharks and many albatrosses and other sea birds, a huge whale carcase was forming a feast for sea and bird life off the northern New Zealand coast when the Union Company’s cargo steamer Gabriella passed on Tuesday [injormng. The Gabriella, which arrived at Auckland to-day .from Newcastle, steamed to within 30 feet of the whale. Members of the crew described the sight as remarkable. When passed by the Gabriella, the men on which at first took it to be a large launch, the whale was 26 miles in an easterly direction from North Cape, and was drifting slowly in-shore. The master of the ship, Captain Burgess, who said he regarded the whale as one of the largest he had ever seen, estimated that it. would come ashore in Rangaunu Bay, possibly between Henderson Bay and Ohora Bay. The attacks of voracious sharks and birds had resulted in the sea for a considerable distanco round the whale being covered thickly with oil. The backs and fins of large fish stood high out of the water as the sharks attacked the whale, and it was apparent that the feast had been in progress for some time. Although the Gabriella passed close by at full speed to windward, the birds and sharks showed no sign of moving from the whale, and gave the steamer scant attention.