Battle of he Mosquito Fleet
By FRANK I. MORTIMER.
This battle between the erew of the S. S. Tan, Caytom George Green
<* Commander, and ahe Mosquito Fleet from McGrath, Alaska, eras fought t<
a finish .at beeautiful Bethel Island, Bethel, Alaska, on that yroaderfu
morning, June 3, 1932. A most bloody affair, paralleled tor no other bat
tie in the annals of history. The entire crew of twenty ana, including th<
ship’s purser, were wiped out of existence in less than thirty minutes
’ The enemy casualty in dead and wounded by actual count ana.four billion
i. two million and thirteen trained mosquitoes.
You have the mosquito, out there on the Sound,
And you think them an awful pest;
The bites swell you up when they’re around,
Even sting you on face and your chest.
The clothing you wear is just what they like,
It’s a plain invitation to dine;
' One lights on your neck, cries “Love of Mike,”
“Come on in, the water is fine!”
But, folks, the mosquito that inhabits your sphere
Is an infant, just learning the game;
'■ Yo uought to meet the profession up here,
Then yoa’d know that Sound skeeters are tame.
First of all, they are organized believe it or not,
Have a general as smart as a trap,
Have a Mayor and Council, and, yes, they have gat
Our Secret Servce backed off the map.
' Their outpost is Bethel, about five hundred mile*
Down the Kuskokwim river from here.
There they have agents, all waiting with smiles
For victims from outside to appear;
In the meantime the Council gets busy,
On learning the boats are in sight,
Every mother’s son in the city
.Shoulders arms, and gets ready to fight.
’ Their shops .and their foundries now spill,
Smoke from their foundries, sky high;
Every skeeter sharpens his bill,
For the glorious harvest is igh.
Waiting all winter for this very .day,
Nothing to eat since last spring,
~ "“Forward, boys,” came the order—Hurrah!
“To Bethel!” Every lad on the wing.
Old ones .-and young ones, grandfathers and babies,
Lea nones and fat ones, cripples and all,
Women and children, and I don’t mean maybe,
The whole hundred billion answered that call;
Swift as an arrow o’er the route they flew,
Each trying to outdistance his peer.
Tis said that the first had Bethel in view
. Long before the last brigade had left here.
Now the crew of the “Tana,” good men and true.
Transferring cargo from the “Tuppter” that) dajy.
Were working and cursing, as steamship men do;
A happy bunch those—care -free and gay.
'.'Came a shout from Ed Ralston, the ship’s Irish mate.
"Going to storm, boys,” he said; “getting black overhead.”
’ Then a prayer from Ed Stevenson, “God, please don't, wait—
Show us mercy now, before we’re all dead.”
“Man the guns!” cries Captain Green. “We’ll face these gu>s!
Mosquitoes can’t take command here!
•V Shoot when you see the whites of their eyes!
We’ll rip out their guts, never!”
< Closer and closer, and then with a swoop
Down they descended—millions and moral
Alas—they had no chance! Our little group—
One moment, and the deck ran with gore!
' They fought from the top, right down ,to the water,
And then they fought right back again.
Engineer Langley said, “We’ll give them no quarter;
They surrender, or we die like menl”
’ The words hardly spoken, hrave Howard got his—
Ten thousand lit on his frame.
’ The way they ate "him was nobody’s biz;
•Came word to his wife, “He died game.”
• Jack Morris, whose dream was to go digging gold.
Was the next his Maker to meet.
Poor little fellow, God rest his soul—
He was drilled from his head to hia feet.
• One by one this brave crew went down to the deck,
Blood dripping from every pore.
Ike Hayes hollared out, “Boys, I’m a wreck,
I’ll see dear old England no more!”
Pinky was weak, .and' his race was run;
Said; “Skeeters, help yourself, and no fussing;
' I’s the fim time in history under the sun
You' dined on a healthy young Russian.”
Charlie' Cowan was brave, and game to the core;
Bustin' bronchos was easy aside of this peat.
’! He' fought till he finally fell an the floor—
Anbthei aldtimer had gone to his rest.
- Jack Melberg and Walker, both did their best;
Both had fought skeeters before,
i Both had come North to feather their nest;
..Now..'they sleep oh the Kuskokwim shore.
This whole story is sad, but the saddest, mayhap,
Was the passing of “Old Bill the chef;”
He survived to the last. With a smile on his map
These words he -whispered under his-breath:
'"Place a rose beneath my bead,
Bury me deep, and don’t forget
To bind me up before I’m dead
With puncture-proof mosquito net;
Tell my -wife I -wish her luck,
That the battle I forgot was risky;
But tell her: the: truth, mosquitoes did surk
The life blood fro .mOld Bill Lisky.”
Thus runs. the tale of the Tana’s defeat,
The strangest, battle . of all.
Wdvo twer. heard. of a “Mosquito” fleet
Eating a. ship, the crew and all?
To you, Stranger Outside, take warning in time.
Heed this advice, before it’s too late—
If you lgure ,on heading into this clime,
GET A SUIT' OF STEEL ARMOR PLATE!
WHALE FISHING ADDS
GRETTLY TO EXPORTS
The Bureau of Fisheries reports
that 356 whales were taken in Alaska
water sin.-1930 by two .whaling: sta
tions, yielding products worth $470,
000, making the value of each whale
more than $1,300. Whale oil, sperm
oil, fertilizer, pickled meat and
whalebone were the commodities se
cured from the animals, says the re
port.
The whaling stations referred to
were the Port Hobron -and the Aku
tan plants of the American Pacific
Whaling Company. Seven steam
whalers were, used, .and employment
- wag given to 190 whites, 14 natives
. and 2 Japanese, a total of 206.
The .whales take nconsisted of 50
finbacks, 191 humpbacks, 76 sulphur
, bottoms, and 36 sperm whales. This
is a decrease of 30 from the number
taken by the same company, in 1929.
..The products of the whale, fishery
, consisted of 816,700 gallons of whale
oil valued at $37.1,271 •, 121,150 gallons
..of sperm oil, valued at $45,750;; 355
. tons of bone fertilizer, valued at $10,
>650; 815 tons, of meat fertilizer, val
ued. at $40,750; 37,000 pounds of
pickled meat, valued at $1,850; .and
. 5,650 pounds, of whalebone, valued at
$308, a total value of products of
$470,265.
The work of catching and killing
, the whales is roost interesting. Steam
vessels are. used of heavy, structhre, a
swivel gun being mounted..on the
bow, shooting a huge harpoon, with
.a toggle point and explosive bullet
into th eanimala as they rise to blow.
The whale puts ujx a desperate fight
and often draws the vessel .many
miles, with the engines. reversed.
When a whale is dead a sharprpainted
pipe is run into its body and t is
pumped full of air, so it will oat. A
flag is then placed on its back so it
may be seen and easily picked up for
towing to the cannery. In the mean
time the tug casts off and searches
for other members of the pod.
Uun being towed to the station the
animal is chained to a huge buoy un
til its turn comes to he cut up for the
rendering pots.
It is drawn upon a large platform
by steam winches resembling a log
ging donkey. Acrew of men then
swarm over the carcass and the blub
ber is quickly stripped off, cut into
large chunks and slid into conveyors,
where they drop nto the retorts. The
blubber s slit lengthwise of the whale
by means of a long-handuled “spade,”
a cutting instrument with a razor
edge. The bottom of the whale’s body
is full of these ridees or flutings, and
a man with a spade follows along
these flutings from head to tail, a
long piece of blubber being fastened
by hooks to a cable leading to the
donkey engine and stripped off in
.pieces 50 or 60 feet long.
In the meantime another crew is at
work on the head. The oil is saved
and the long strips of whalebone,
looking like fronded palms, are re
moved The tongue and bones of the
Read are slid nto the conveyor.
The blood and slimy oil are run
into conveyors and are used for fer
tilizer .
Other crews .have cut up the differ
ent parts of the huge animal, and
some of the finer parts of the meat
are cut out and saved for table use.
Other huge chunks go to the pickling
vats to be shipped to the ^Orient for!
j food.
The oil is run into huge tanks re
sembling oil tanks in an Oklahoma
oil field, from which it is in turn
drawn into .barrels for shipment to
uses.
the big soap factories and for other
In much less time than it has taken
i to write this article the whale has!
enttirely disappeared—blood, oil, j
| bone and meat going to their separate i
; conveyors. Within a few minutes the !
60-foot whale, a mountain of mus
cular energy, has.-been .conquered by
the puny efforts, of man and modern i
machinery.
Looks Suspicions
Seaside Lady: “Going ihome, so
soon, Mrs. Svenssdn?”
“Yes. I can’f rest any » longer.’
“What is', the .matter?"
“Whenever I wrte to my husband,
he sends it by return or post.”—Vart
Hem.
mi—L-lBgB .. I
NOTICE OF FORFEITURE.
Notice Hi hereby given to F. W
Carter,. A. B. Ferguaou, George C
’Friend, and a. Coke Hill, and their
heirs and assign*, that their portion*
of the assessment work for the year®
1924 to 1931, inclusive, done on the
Bonanza Association placer mining
claim, situated oh Flat creek, tribu
tary of Otter creek, in the Otter Ke»
cording Precinct,' Fourth Division,
Territory of Alaska, must be pale!
within ninety (90) days from date
hereof, or forfeit all right and title
to 9aid placer mining claim.
PATRICK SAVAGE.
Dated Flat, Alaska, Jan. 16, 1982.
First publication, March 6, 15*82.
•ROSICRUCIAN MYSTERIES — Ai
sincere seekers for the great truths
and power known to the ancients,
write for the free book, “Light of
Egypt”; mailed without ohligatioo
to occult students. Librarian 117,
Amorc Temple, San Jose, Calif.
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