The Great Puget Sound Whale Hunt
An unexpected visitor in the waters between Olympia and Shelton leads to a high-pressure pursuit by a local steamer.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Col. S. Cosgrove was in the city today. He was among a number of passengers on the steamer Willie yesterday en route from Olympia to Shelton who saw a forty-foot whale in the water about 100 feet ahead of the boat. There was no doubt among the passengers but that it was a genuine whale. While the whale was swimming near the boat fear was entertained lest it would do the craft some damage. After arriving at Shelton another steamer was sent out to capture the whale. This pursuing steamer got up 200 pounds pressure of steam, but when several shots were fired at the whale he rushed away towards Olympia. It is said a large whale was successfully beached this way about eight years ago.
“There was no doubt among the passengers but that it was a genuine whale.”
While whale sightings in Puget Sound are now rare, celebrated, and protected events, this story captures an era when the presence of large marine mammals was treated as an industrial or predatory nuisance to be hunted or cleared from commercial shipping lanes.
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