THRILLING FIGHT

Taranaki Daily News, 12 November 1934, Page 5

THRILLING FIGHT

WHALE ATTACKS LAUNCH. MOTHER TRIES TO SAVE CALF, i By Telegraph—Press Association. Blenheim, Nov. 10. Behind the mishap to the whaling launch Cachalot in Tory Channel yesterday lies perhaps the most thrilling story in the adventurous history of the Te Awaiti whalers. A right whale cow with a calf entered Tory Channel, was harpooned and bombed ... by the launch party-and turned on its attackers. The whale repeatedly charged the launch, smashing several planks in the hull with blows from its great tail, and finally lifted the boat on its back and all but capsized it. It was an explosion on the Cachalot at this juncture that Injured the owner of the launch and sank the craft. After harpooning the whale the whalers went in to dispatch their catch with the deadly loaded lance, but the charge failed to explode through a disconnection of the battery. The whale was already blowing blood, so evidently the harpobn had inflicted a bad injury, but she was full of fight, and deliberately charged the boat. The right whale is just about as agile as an eel, and as the launch swept away the whale caught the hull with her massive tail, staving in two planks above the water-line. The calf in the meantime was lying nearby, seemingly heedless of its mother’s desperate plight, when to the amazement of the occupants of the launch the cow dived under the youngster and threw its 30 tons of offspring clean into the air. It appeared as if the grown whale was bent upon driving the calf out ci danger’s reach. SECOND LANCE THRUST. The launch was again brought within bombing range and his time the missile was placed, but 'failed to kill or stem the whale, which leapt and thrashed the water, swinging her tail twenty feet into the air. It caught the boat a glancing blow, further damaging the timbers. Turning again upon its attackers the cow rushed the Cachalot desperately, only to receive another charged • lance as she came in. She made a shallow dive, and the launch was caught up, lifted out of the water, and rolled to its beam ends. As the launch listed the rack of charged harpoons emptied its contents across the sloping deck, and the bump against , the side of the launch exploded one, bad- ' ly wounding Mr. Perano, sent. The head flew into pieces like shrapnel and fragments tore the calf of one leg and wounded both legs in several places. The explosion holed the deck and the hull of the boat, and the wonder is that the concussion did not discharge a quantity of other explosives carried on board. The launch was headed for shore and beached. Help for the injured man was obtained, and he was taken in a fast launch direct to Picton, where he was admitted to hospital. < *. So far as is known the whale escaped. The wrecked launch is under water, hut it should be possible to salvage her.