BATTLE TO DEATH

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20069, 16 October 1939, Page 5

BATTLE TO DEATH

SHARK AND WHALE VICTORY FOR THRESHER VIEW FROM CAPE MARIA The lighthouse keeper at Cape Maria Van Diemen .and his wife were spectators of a battle to the death between a thresher shark and a small whale. The scene of the combat was approximately a mile out to sea from the lighthouse, and it lasted over half an hour. What first drew the attention of the lighthouse keeper to the scene was the appearance of a dark body on the surface of the water. He thought at first that it might be a submarine, but with the commencement of a violent disturbance of the water he came to the conclusion that a whale was defending itself against its hereditary enemy, the thresher shark. As the fight grew fiercer, the combatants came closer in, and the onlookers had a good view of the proceedings. Witli the shark doubling its fierce, quick attacks, the whale was definitely getting the worse of the duel, although it managed to get in hard blows with its flukes when the shark was in range. According to Mrs. Budd, wife of the keeper, the blows struck by the combatants sounded as loud as a cannon exploding, and the water was churned up into a gigantic whirlpool, from which the whale emerged at intervals to blow. (The sjeek body of the shark appeared in pursuit and took advantage of the whale’s respites to deal blows with its tail. Mrs. Budd. who witnessed the fight from start to finish, stated that after half nn hour’s struggle the whale did not break the surface to spout and she surmised that the death blow had been delivered.