Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 November 1880 — Combats of the Ocean. [ARTICLE]

Combats of the Ocean.

Among the extraordinary spectacles sometimes witnessed by those who “go down to the sea iu ships,” none are more impressive than a combat for the supremacy’ between the monsters of the deep. The battles of the sword-fish and the whale are described as Homeric in grandeur. The sword-fish go in schools, like whales, and the attacks are regular seafights. When the two troops meet, as soon as the sword-fish have betrayed their presence by a few bounds in the air, the whales draw together and close up their ranks. The sword-fish always endeavors to take the whale in the flank, either because its cruel instinct lias revealed to it the defect in the carcases—for there exists near the brachial fins of the whale a spot where wounds are mortal—or because the flank presents a wider surface to its blow. The sword-fish recoils to secure a greater impetus. If the movement escapes the keen eye of his adversary, the whale is lost, for it receives the blow of the enemy and dies instantly. But, if the whale perceives the sword-fish at the instant of the rush, by a spontaneous bound, it springs clear of the water its entire length, and falls on its flank with a crash that resounds for many leagues, and whitens the sea with boiling foam. The gigantic animal has only its tail for its defence. It tries to strike its enemy, and finishes him at a single blow. But, if the active sword-fish avoid the fatal tail, the battle becomes more terrible. The aggressor springs from the water in his turn, falls upon the whale, and attempts, not to pierce, but to saw it with the teeth and garnish its weapon. The sea is stained with blood; the fury of the whale is boundless. The sword-fish harrasses him, strikes him on every side, kills him, and flies to other victories. Often the sword-fish has not time to avoid the fall of the whale, and contents itself with presenting its sharp saw to the flank of the gigantic animal which is about to crush it. It then dies like Maccaieus, smothered beneath the weight of the elephant of the ocean. Finally the whale give a few last bounds into the air, dragging its assassin in its flight, and perishes as it kills the monster Of which it was tne victim.