WHALE CHARGES LINER.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 70, 21 March 1908, Page 13

WHALE CHARGES LINER.

LETIATHAtN--ENGAGES' IN; FATAL ENCOUNTER" WITH THE FUERST BIS- --- — "U-AJtCK. --^__~ Passengers whq; dis'enlbafEea on "February Ist from .Company's steamer, Fuerst Bismarck.; Tit Plymouth, related an extraordinary- story -of an eacounter betweeu the liner-and a-whale. On the previous Tuesday, as . the liner was approaching Coruana, the';."weatheit was hazy, but irway in the distance was seen what was first thought to bjj."a jivaterspout. A little later it was realised .that it was a whale disporting itself, and shooting up immense volumes of water into the air at frequent intervals. The appearance on tie scene of the Fuerst Bismarck was evidently resented by the whale, which was between forty and fifty feet in length. Suddenly ceasing its antics, the huge creature swung round and headed straight for the starboard side of the vessel. Before the captain could manoeuvre to foil the whale, it charged the liner with terrific force, making the ship shiver from stem to stern. The big steamship, however, was proof against a shock which would have sunk a small vessel. The whale disappeared, and its fate is probably explained in the report of tha captain of the steamer Peggio,' which" arrived at Plymouth on Monday with Government stores from Cardiff. He reported that when about a mile west from Hartland Point the carcase of a large dead whale was passed. It was 140 ft in length, and rode 9ft ont of the water, and was seriously dangerous to navigation.