Almost with the sound of the shutter, and before I had lifted my eyes from the focusing hood, I was deafened by the roar of the gun and enveloped in a great cloud of white smoke. It was impossible to see, but the line could be heard singing over the roller at the bow and, as the smoke blew away, I caught sight of the high back-fin of the whale cutting the water like a knife.
“I pressed the button of the camera as the broad back came into view.”
“Bur-r-r, whip!” went the heavy rope and in a few seconds a hundred fathoms had gone out. Never had I seen a whale run as that one did. The Engineer at the winch was just visible through the haze of smoke which streamed from the brake, and the smell of powder and burning wood hung thick in the air.
The sei whale. From a drawing by J. Henry Blake under the direction of the author.
Suddenly with a swish, up from the hold, fast to the rope, came a wad of brown fishing net that had become entangled in the coil below. I jumped to one side just in time to miss it as it swept by and to see it pass safely over the roller at the bow. It was a narrow escape, for if it had jammed, the line would surely have snapped and the whale been lost.
“The winch was then started and the whale drawn slowly toward the ship.”
The burst of speed was soon ended and the whale sounded for ten minutes, giving us all a chance to breathe and wonder what had happened. When the animal came up again, far ahead, the spout was high and full, with no trace of blood, so we knew that he would need a second harpoon to finish him. I was delighted, for I had long wished for a chance to get a roll of motion-picture film showing the killing of a whale, and now the conditions were ideal—good light, little wind, and no sea.