{"id":130,"date":"2014-08-06T17:21:31","date_gmt":"2014-08-06T17:21:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/macyplace.com\/tom\/blog\/?p=130"},"modified":"2014-08-06T17:21:31","modified_gmt":"2014-08-06T17:21:31","slug":"to-hunt-a-whale-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tom.macyplace.com\/Blog\/index.php\/2014\/08\/06\/to-hunt-a-whale-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"To Hunt a Whale – Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finally! The boat slows till its movement could be due just to the breeze, or the current. But you know what keeps the line taut. The Mate loosens the rope from the loggerhead and orders you and the other 4 crewmen to begin pulling it in. Pull after pull, one draw at a time, your boat advances\u2026toward that 50 ton monster that you pricked with a harpoon. The rope disappears in the sea in front of you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Suddenly, shivers rise up your back; and your arms want to cease in place; not a hundred feet in front of you the line ends\u2026attached to a black form just below the surface. It dwarfs your little whaleboat; and its tail moves slowly, powerfully up and down tugging constantly on the rope. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPull on, men!\u201d The Mate bounces up and down with excitement. <\/span><\/p>\n

You don\u2019t want to bring yourself any closer. It can\u2019t be safe! But you do. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat whale is ours!\u201d screams the Mate. \u201cTake your oars.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The boat is maneuvered square on to the beast\u2019s side. With a sweep of the steering oar, the harpooner brings the boat in close and the Mate sticks the lance into the whale\u2019s side. When the long, sharp weapon enters his flesh, the whale\u2019s head turns to bite. But the harpooner uses the steering oar to pull the boat to safety just in time. The whale\u2019s massive jaws follow the boat but can\u2019t quite reach it. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShhushhh!\u201d The whale is struggling to breathe. You hear his fear. He moves his head back forward and his tale splashes trying to escape. But he\u2019s tired. Suddenly, in a frenzy, it strikes out wildly in all directions, then settles down again.<\/span><\/p>\n

The harpooner sweeps the boat in and the mate churns the lance down\u2026up\u2026down\u2026 The whale raises its tail toward the boat like club over a pest. The boat is swept away just as the tail crashes down.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFire in the chimney!\u201d yells one of the men.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finally! The boat slows till its movement could be due just to the breeze, or the current. But you know what keeps the line taut. The Mate loosens the rope from the loggerhead and orders you and the other 4 crewmen to begin pulling it in. Pull after pull, one draw at a time, your … Continue reading “To Hunt a Whale – Part 3”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[26,65,88,93,111],"class_list":["post-130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-firstfury","tag-ann","tag-johnson","tag-rebecca","tag-sailing","tag-whaling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/tom.macyplace.com\/Blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/tom.macyplace.com\/Blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/tom.macyplace.com\/Blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tom.macyplace.com\/Blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tom.macyplace.com\/Blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/tom.macyplace.com\/Blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/tom.macyplace.com\/Blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tom.macyplace.com\/Blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tom.macyplace.com\/Blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}