LINER ATTACKED BY A WHALE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13661, 27 March 1908, Page 2

LINER ATTACKED BY A WHALE.

Passengers who disembarked on Feb> ruary Ist from the Hamburg-Amerv can Company's steamer, Fuerst Bis; marck, at Plymouth, related an extraordinary story of an encounter between ihe liner and a whale. ' '? On the previoua^Tuesday, as thojiner was approaching Ctorunna,*tlw* wefttaar was hazy, but away in the distance was seen what was first thought to ,be a waterspout. 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. T • , „ The appearance on the scene ol ttte 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, quiver from, stem sto .stern. The big steamship, however, was proof, against a shock which would have sunk a small ' v&ssol* * 1 The* whale disappeared, and its fate is probably explained in the report of the captain of the steamer Peggio, which arrived at Plymouth on Monday with Government stores'from ,Cardiff. He reported that wheit a mile west from Hartland point the carcase 'of a large dead whale was passed. 1 It was 140 feet in length, and rode 9ft out of the water, and was seriously dangerous to navigation.