Captain Crow, in a work published a short time since, relates the
following as having occurred on a voyage to Memel:--"One morning during
a cairn, when near the Hebrides, all hands were called up at three
o'clock, to witness a battle between several of the fish called
thrashers and some sword-fish on one side, and an enormous whale on the
other. It was in the middle of summer, and the weather being clear, and
the fish close to the vessel, we had a fine opportunity of witnessing
the contest. As soon as the whale's back appeared above the water, the
thrashers, springing several yards into the air, descended with great
violence upon the object of their rancour, and inflicted upon him the
most severe slaps with their tails, the sound of which resembled the
reports of muskets fired at a distance. The sword-fish, in their turn,
attacked the distressed whale, stabbing him from below;--and thus beset
on all sides, and wounded, when the poor creature appeared, the water
around him was dyed with blood. In this manner they continued tormenting
and wounding him for many hours, until we lost sight of him; and I have
no doubt they, in the end, accomplished his destruction."