THE ROCK ISLAND ARGUS — JANUARY 09, 1904
MONSTERS IN BATTLE ♢ Thrilling Spectacle Witnessed on the Coast of Alaska ♢ How a Thresher Shark and a Swordfish Killed a Whale In
Bloody Combat—A Mighty Struggle.
One of the rarest spectacles ever beheld by a human being was witnessed to the waters of the Alaskan coast by, Dr. L. W. Fox of Philadelphia, who recently returned from the Klondike. He saw a thresher shark and a swordfish attack a whale and kill the huge cetacean. Not Dr. Fox alone, but a ship load of passengers, saw the combat.
“The fight took place on a Saturday afternoon, Aug. 29, shortly before we entered Juneau,” said Dr. Fox. “We were on the steamer Cottage City, Captain Wallace.
“At 2 o’clock we were leaving Admiralty island. The sheltered sound at this point is the play and feeding grounds for countless whales, and on this memorable afternoon we had been running through a school scattered off either hand, blowing and diving and sleeping on the surface.
“This in itself was a wonderful spectacle, and I was watching it with keen delight when I was startled by an exclamation from my wife.
“ I followed the direction of her outstretched arm, and as I looked a huge black form rose swiftly through the water and then fell back with as tremendous splash. It was it whale, and as it spouted and took fresh air a long, black, shiny, snaky something hurled itself over the huge form and, poising an instant, descended with a flash and a crack like that from a hull hide whip.
