PUSHED ASHORE BY PORPOISES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22712, 26 October 1935, Page 24

PUSHED ASHORE BY PORPOISES

The old seafaring man’s story that a porpoise will push a floating body ashore if it possibly can came true for Paul Bates, 22-year-old fisherman, in the Guif of Mexico. Bates was out fishing for shrimp on a broiling hot day in Galveston Bay. After an hour of trawling in the blistering sun, during which time he netted not one shrimp, he decided to drop overboard to cool off. He donned a lifepreserver over his bathing suit, and jumped in, letting himself float tranquilly near the boat. A sudden upheaval in the water disturbed his reveries. A porpoise swam up beside him and began nosing him towards the shore. Remembering the old story. Paul pretended to be dead, and thought himself lucky to get a free trip, but when two other porpoises swam up he decided the joke had gone far enough. The fish nosed against his body, pushing him through the water away from his boat, and he found he could not make any headway against them. The three porpoises pushed him right into shallow water, whence he waded towards the shore, considerably bruised by their attentions. A crowd of witnesses gathered when they saw his predicament. They helned him ashore and dressed his injuries for Mm