DRINK FOR PELORUS JACK.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVII, Issue 1003, 27 May 1909, Page 21

DRINK FOR PELORUS JACK.

It is fairly well known that the reason Pelorus Jack meets almost every vessel which goes through the French Pass is that he may rub off some of the sea parasites which usually infect all large fish, and which eventually causes death. It is possible (says the Dominion) that Jack has the fragment of an idea that every vessel he can brush his silver side against will put years on to his life, and from the manner in which he swims and gambols by the bows of the vessels in the French Pass, it appears that his self-constituted position as pilot is an immense delight to him. The other day, when he was guiding the Te Anau through the channel, he gave such an extraordinary display that a Maori, who had been an interested spectator of the scene, rushed below for a glass of beer, which he offered as a libation to the sportive grampus. Passengers do not state positively that “Jack” assuaged his thirst, but they declare that afterwards, when he left the vessel, he appeared to wave a fin with the jocular benevolence which otherwise would not have been demonstrated had he been a fish possessed of real teetotal principles.