The first of these was
the adventure of Ponting and the Killer whales.
"I was a little late on the scene this morning, and thereby witnessed a
most extraordinary scene. Some six or seven killer whales, old and young,
were skirting the fast floe edge ahead of the ship; they seemed excited
and dived rapidly, almost touching the floe. As we watched, they suddenly
appeared astern, raising their snouts out of water. I had heard weird
stories of these beasts, but had never associated serious danger with
them. Close to the water's edge lay the wire stern rope of the ship, and
our two Esquimaux dogs were tethered to this. I did not think of
connecting the movement of the whales with this fact, and seeing them so
close I shouted to Ponting, who was standing abreast of the ship. He
seized his camera and ran towards the floe edge to get a close picture of
the beasts, which had momentarily disappeared. The next moment the whole
floe under him and the dogs heaved up and split into fragments. One could
hear the booming noise as the whales rose under the ice and struck it
with their backs. Whale after whale rose under the ice, setting it
rocking fiercely; luckily Ponting kept his feet and was able to fly to
security. By an extraordinary chance also, the splits had been made
around and between the dogs, so that neither of them fell into the water.
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