A DEEP-SEA BATTLE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3904, 7 February 1929, Page 4

A DEEP-SEA BATTLE.

TO THE DEATH. OCTOPUS VERSUS WHALE. One of 'tre most remarkable stories of adventure afloat published for many years is “Deep-sea Bubbles,” by Mr. Henry H. Bootes, a resident of Auckland. For reasons which will ibe apparent to the reader Mr. Bootes disguises the name of the ship in which he sailed as the Anna Lombard, and leaves t'he date of his adventures somewhat indefinitely in the ’eighties. The cruise of the Anna Lombard was unusual for many reasons. The ship .was owned by a syndicate of wealthy scientists, who carried out the cruise with the object of obtaining a special product of the sperm whale for medical (purposes. The ship was fitted out at an immense cost, and her specially-picked crew was housed and fed in lavish comfort. Forward there were some extraordinary characters. The sail-maker was a philosopher, and a Maltese sailor, who because of his wild appearance was known as “the pirate,” turned out to be a finished and enthusiastic classical scholar. The saloon steward was a Chinese prince in exile, and ,the first mate was the morganatic son of a Ger-

man prince. Mi-. Bootes, the New Zealander,

has some stirring tales of whaling to tell, one of which is an adventure with a giant octopus. He was in (charge of one of the boats which had killed a large sperm whale. The Anna Lombard was five miles to windward, and they were standing by waiting for a tow. “Here we were,” he writes, “mounting guard over a sperm, the most dainty morsel —except the (cuttle-fish—-of all fish life. In those still waters we were in a position calculated to .cause the student of marine natural history to turn green with envy. Presently I saw a rorqual (a Whale with a dorsal fin), which I estimated to be about 35 feet long. It .circled round |us many times, as if uncertain where to attack. It was the strange formation of its extended dorsal fin—if it can ibe called a fin —that claimed my attention and its massive head and jaws. This fin is a hard, very sharp bone formation, with Which the whale disemibowels its victim, so said Casey, who had spent many years in an American whaler in water's where these creatures are plentiful. “Every fish .vanished at the coming of this razor-back. Even the nimble pilot fish cleared off. Casey remarked sorrowfully as Ihe followed the movements of the stranger: ‘Sure, sir, we’ll lose our catch, as sure as Father Peter landed in Quid Ireland!’ His (remark passed unnoticed, for we were all puzzled to know the reason for the disappearance of all the other fish. Presently the reason became apparent. One particular spot of the impenetrable depths assumed a silver whitish appearance, which at times became quite luminous, and very gradually we made out the waving arm of a giant cuttle-fish. It gathered speed as it rose, and I saw the awful eyes, which seemed to fix their gaze on

me, holding me speechless arid perfectly spellbound. I was unable to take my eyes off it. The waving tentacles and long snake-like arms, each with its rows of suckers, claimed any attention. As they waved upward I could see them opening and shutting in anticipation of a feast. The; body would be about 20ft. across the middle, but great portions of heaving flesh seemed to encase the joints, or sockets of the arms, or tentacles, giving it greater massiveness. For ugliness nothing that the morbid

imagination of man has ever invented could compare with this pulsating" horror. I speculated in my mind which would fall a victim to the tentacles —our whaleboat, the floating carcass, or the razor-hack; and although these thoughts hashed through my. brain I made no attempt to order my men to pull out of the danger zone. Wo were all more or less hypnotised and helpless. “We had made several attempts to beat off the razor-back, and each time it dived under the carcass, tearing large mouthfuls of .blubber from the stomach, and evading our harpoon as if accustomed to the sport. But as the cuttle-fish came closer it, too, came under the spell of the waving" arms, or was it the •fixed gaze of the eyes and the rows of teeth that protruded from .the strange-loo'king" jaws, resembling in appearance a collection of parrots’ beaks or cralbs’' claws. Presently with one mighty spring the cuttlefish seized the razor-hack, pot anywhere near the dorsal formation, but round the small of the neck and tail. The water became impregnated _with the sepia which this vile things ejects, and the rorqual was carried to the depths, below. When the water cleared all sign of the tragedy had vanished, but w-e still gazed into the silence until the toot of the pinnace broke the spell. ,