"PELORUS JACK."

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19643, 12 June 1929, Page 6

"PELORUS JACK."

A FAMOUS FISH. SEA PURSER'S RECOLLECTIONS. fn Thx Press of Thursday last was printed ft communication from our London correspondent containing a report ot' a discussion by the members of the Linnean society, London, concerning that celebrated fish "'Pelorus Jack." The article was read with particular interest ly Mr V . ! Manscy, a resident of Christehureh, who.. I in former years, was engaged on ships i trading to the Sounds, and who, so I he> say?, jrave I'olortis Jack his name. ! "I. was interested and pleased to in The Press last Thursday. Slid .Ml- Massoy to a representative or 'J lit; Pre«s. vesterday, "some of the history of the world J run ous fish, which i.ventnaily v,-as protected !■>' a special net ot' tiie New Zealand Goverrunent, the only fish in the world to hold that distinction. "Some 45 years ago L was purser of the old Wanaka, Takapuna, .Penguin, and other steamers at different periods, and in their trade runs we went from Lyttelton and ellington to Pieten and Nelson. On entering Pelorus Sound I made it a practice of going en the 'to'e'sle' to view the interesting sight, and I continually noticed that this large fish always appeared suddenly about a mile inside the entrance and escorted us at the stem ot the steamer. He rose, spouted, and dived continuously for several miles towards Picton, and when he thought lie had piloted us safely so far he would dive to the side of the port stem and reappear on the starboard stem side, and finish off heading the steamer by a few extra evolutions, swaying from side to side, and on his back, and with a few quick spurts h© would spring out or the water, dive and disappear. Inis interesting display occurred each time steamers went through Pelorus Sound. The fish was never known to appear on our departure, strange to sav. "I called the attention of the respective captains and officers of those early times to the habits of the big fish and I named him 'Pelorus Jack, by which name he became well known the world over. He was an extra large fish, about 20 feet long, with a big girth, and was apparently a dolphin of a dark blue colour on the back and li'yit grey on the belly, with one fin on the shoulder and one fin on each side. The faster we steamed the better he liked it, and he could sprint anything up to 30 miles an hour. I was sorry to hear of his disappearance some few years ago. "I remember an inoidsnt once when the fish was famous an 4 passengers and crew would be on the look-out for him and cheers would be given as he suddenly appeared to take his place at the stem and pilot the steamer, and the captains would say as long as good old 'Ptelorus Jack' was at tho stem the steamer was quite safe. Some riflemen were travelling on board on one occasion, and one of them suddenly appeared on the 'fo c el© head with ' a rifle loaded to shoot 'Pelorus Jack.' He got the hottest time of his life from the captain, officers, and all ship's hands. Ho retreated to his cabin and did not appear again until arrival. "Pelorus Jack always appeared alone, and itj would seem that hj« objected to any other fish sharing in the piloting duty. "'The suggestion that dolphins have barnacles attached to them is not ®° r * rect; the only deep sea fish which does i« th« whale, which gets rid of them by rubbing against rocks. A dolphin is about, three times the size of a porpoise and similarity built, and has the same swimming actions, and is fond of ships' company."