FOWL.
Geese and ducks are abundant, besides a great variety of other water-fowl.
The country bordering on the Ochotsk Sea, a place visited by hundreds of whalemen, presents a scenery in some respects quite different from that of the arctic.
While the surface of the country is uneven, interspersed with hills, valleys, and mountains, yet it is quite well wooded, especially on the seaboard.
As far north as 60° we have found patches of potatoes, turnips, barley, &c. As soon as the snow leaves the earth, numberless wild flowers of every hue and color, and some of them very odorous, immediately start into life and beauty, and adorn both the valley and hill side. And what is most remarkable in the multitude of flowers which follow the line of retreating frost and snow, we find in nature, as in opposite and antagonistical views and principles, that extremes meet.
Vegetation here in this region thrives with the greatest possible rapidity. It seems sometimes to put on the air even of romance, or fiction. One season we were in the Ochotsk Sea, which was the 15th of June, and then we found the country covered with snow; but in less than ten days from that time, the forests were leaved out, and every thing wore the dress of summer.
On the shores of the sea in different localities, we found growing in great profusion, berries of various sorts, such as whortleberry, cranberry, blackberry, mossberry, &c.
We found in the Ochotsk Sea, besides the whale, salmon, trout, cod, eels, butts, and flounders.
In addition to large sea fowl, which were very numerous, an immense number of little birds swarmed the air, some of them of beautiful plumage, and excelling in melodious notes. Many of them were so tame that they would light upon the ship's rigging and yards, and even descend to the deck to pick up crumbs, or little particles of food.
[CHAPTER XI.]
The Ocean still frozen over on the 22d of June.—On the 24th the Ice began to break up.—Whales appear.—Walrus follow the Ice.—Daily looking for Ships.—Report of our Wreck five hundred Miles below East Cape.—Method of sending News by the Natives.—Ships notified of our Condition.—How.—The Resolution of Captains Jernegan and Goosman.—Arrival of two Ships off East Cape.—Natives first spy them.—Stir in the Settlement.—Happy Day of Deliverance.—Words feeble to express our Joy.—A fit Occasion for Gratitude and Thanks to God.—Preparations to go on board.—The Welcome of Captain Goosman.—Captain Norton with Captain Jernegan.—Crew collected.—Changed our native for sailor Dress.—Liberality of the Officers and Crews in furnishing Clothes.—A Review of the Past.—The Settlement visited.—Dinner.—Arrival at the Islands.—A Card.
On the 22d of June, every thing, so far as the eye could reach, remained the same upon the ocean as in midwinter; and, to appearance, there was no immediate prospect that the ice would break up for some time to come.
On the 24th, however, only two days afterwards, vast masses of ice had left the ocean, water appeared in every direction, though the shore along the coast was piled up with immense blocks and sheets of ice; and in the distance we could clearly perceive varied elevations of icebergs, differing in dimensions and form, scattered here and there upon the surface of the water. The scene presented to our view was that of an awful wreck or convulsion in nature, while those stupendous fragments exhibited the force and energy which had been displayed.
The next day, the 25th, we saw whales close in to the edge of the ice on shore; they remained in the vicinity several days, and then went south again, or to some other part of the ocean, as we supposed, for their food.
The ice having left this region more suddenly than common, greatly disappointed the usual expectations of the natives in taking a large number of walrus, which are highly prized among them. They serve about the same purpose with them as the reindeer does to the Laplander.
The walrus follow the ice; and they are usually found in great abundance among it, and especially upon the edges of extensive tracts both of floating and field ice.
After the ice had passed away, and the ocean was once more free from the embargo which winter had laid upon it, we anxiously and daily looked for some approaching sail. We knew that arctic whalemen would soon be along, and pressing their way up towards higher latitudes, an open sea would invite them to secure a profitable season's work.
We afterwards ascertained that intelligence of our condition had been carried down the coast full five hundred miles below or south of East Cape, and that the ships which first touched upon the coast were made acquainted with the fact of the Citizen's wreck, and that her officers and crew were among the natives.
Captain Newal, of the ship Copia, was the first one who heard of the fate of the Citizen.
The method by which the news of the ship's disaster, and the condition of her crew, was conveyed down the coast, is at once striking and significant.
Tracts, those little messengers of truth, become oftentimes the appointed vehicles both of temporal and spiritual blessings. Tracts were found in several huts of the natives, carried thither, we suppose, by seamen; and with the exception of pieces of copper, they were all that could be written upon, and thus the only reliable means of communication. From the first, therefore, the captain and his officers availed themselves of this instrumentality; and, whenever they found a leaf of a book or a tract, or a piece of copper, if opportunity occurred, they would send it down the coast by the natives, carefully enclosed in a piece of walrus or deer skin, giving some account of the shipwreck, officers, and crew, and where they could be found.
We hoped by this means that the news of our condition would, sooner or later, reach the ear of some navigator early on the coast, and thus bring to pass a more speedy deliverance.
In this, as the sequel will show, we were not disappointed. The natives had no idea of written language; and, believing that something of great importance was marked upon either the paper or copper, or both, they preserved it with the greatest care, and almost with superstitious reverence.
They had an impression that we could converse with our countrymen and absent friends in this way, which was true; but what they supposed was, that we could talk to them at any time by those mysterious marks. And hence they frequently urged us to speak to them, and obtain some assistance from them, or that they might send some aid to us.
Mr. Reoy, one of our company, was the first to get on board of a ship,—the Bartholomew Gosnold,—he being down some two hundred miles below East Cape. He therefore gave immediate information as to the locality of the officers and crew of the Citizen.
About this time there were five ships at or near Indian Point, working their way towards the north through the floating ice. The news of the shipwreck was brought to these ships by the natives, bearing in their hands tracts and pieces of copper, written upon by the captain and his officers, stating the wreck, where the company could be found, and their earnest desire to be taken off. The natives approached the ships, lying off a short distance from the shore, holding up in their hands those mysterious parchments, in order to attract the attention of those on board. The story was soon told. The tracts and pieces of copper at once removed all uncertainty which had for months surrounded the fate of the Citizen and the condition of her officers and crew.
The announcement that so many fellow-seamen were still in the land of the living; that they had survived the rigors of an arctic winter; that they were not far up the coast,—less than a day's sail,—and that they were anxiously and hourly looking and waiting for approaching ships, was enough to stir the deepest sympathies of every mariner's heart.
With the least possible delay, being impelled not only by a sense of duty, but actuated by the most generous and philanthropic sentiments and emotions, Captain Jernegan, of the ship Niger, and Captain Goosman, of the ship Joseph Hayden, left immediately to secure the unfortunate ones on East Cape, firmly resolving, like true sons of the ocean, "We will have them on board before to-morrow night." This was early in the morning. They were distant from East Cape more than fifty miles. With a favoring wind, and success attending their efforts in getting through the drifting ice, they reached the cape next day, about two o'clock in the morning, only a few miles in the offing, and in sight of the settlement.
The natives were the first to spy the ships, and one immediately rushed in and informed Captain Norton they had come.
Though it was an event which we all had long looked for and earnestly desired, and time indeed had rolled heavily on its wheels in bringing the happy day of deliverance, yet when it was announced to us, we could hardly believe it. Somehow or other, having been so long inured to disappointment, we felt for the moment it was too much and too good news to credit.
The native who informed the captain at this time had several times before told him that ships were coming, but which proved false. He was therefore inclined to give but partial credit to his statement now. The native came again and again to the captain with the same report, and manifested so much earnestness and interest that the captain said to Mr. Osborn, who was near him, "There must be something in this fellow's statement; get up, and see if it is so." Besides, there was increasing stir, loud talk, and running hither and thither in the settlement—all of which convinced the doubtful that the ships were indeed in sight, and that the joyous day of deliverance had surely arrived.
Well, we went out of the settlement to see, and it was too true to doubt any longer; the ships were in sight, and standing in towards the land. By this time every man in our company had been aroused, and was on the lookout; and the natives also seemed to partake of the common joy in anticipation of our deliverance being so near.
How feeble are words to express the emotions of gratitude and joy that thrilled through every mind! If tears of sorrow had been shed in months past over prolonged disappointment and subsequent suffering,—if our spirits had become hardened by repeated misfortunes and deprivations, which no language can depict,—tears now fell, prompted by far different feelings; our hearts were no longer indurate, but dissolved like water; and every countenance gave expressions of joyous and exhilarating hope.
What a fit occasion was this for a most hearty and unanimous recognition from all our company of profound gratitude to God that so many of us had been thus far preserved, and were now indulging in the animating prospect of seeing our native homes, relatives, and friends once more! The God of heaven and earth should in this manner be honored and glorified in the presence of pagans, and thus put to silence their vain and imaginary superstitions.
Indeed, one of our number was so deeply affected and overcome with the sight before him, and prompted by a sense of the deliverance which a merciful Providence was working out for him and his companions, that he fell upon his knees and blessed the Lord that he was permitted "to see once more another ship under sail."
Two Ships near Shore.
The two ships that were in sight, and approaching land, were the Niger, Captain Jernegan, and the Joseph Hayden, Captain Goosman. Preparations were now made, in the most expeditious manner possible, to go on board. The canoes of the natives were got ready; but before any thing could be done towards carrying us to the ships, they first made a fire in the boats in order to drive out the Evil One; and then, that we might not pollute their boats, some "ice cream"—deer fat and snow—must be given to them to eat, as they supposed. Thus reasoned the natives.
Soon, however, we were on our way to the ships. Most gladly we turned away our eyes from the shore, and turned them towards our better home on the deep.
The ship which was the nearer of the two to the shore, and on board of which Captain Norton and his officers first went, was the Joseph Hayden. When Captain Norton landed on deck, dressed in native costume, unshorn, and uncouth in appearance, as all were, Captain Goosman asked, as well he might, and as any other one would, "Is this Norton, captain of the Citizen?" He replied, "He used to be, and probably was now." Captain Goosman then embraced him in true sailor fashion, and cordially welcomed him and his officers to the hospitalities of his ship. In a few days, nearly all of our number were collected from the different settlements, and divided between the two ships.
Captain Norton, being a fellow-townsman and formerly a schoolmate with Captain Jernegan, felt disposed, from this previous acquaintance, to take up his abode on board of the Niger. Every facility and comfort the ship afforded was most cheerfully offered by Captain Jernegan to Captain Norton and those of his officers on board with him.
We soon exchanged the burdensome and unwieldy deer-skin clothes, which had so long identified us with arctic natives and arctic life, for the lighter and more agreeable dress of the sailor.
In supplying our company with such articles of clothing as we needed, (indeed, we were absolutely destitute, having nothing but what we stood in,) the officers and sailors of the respective ships most generously contributed to relieve our present necessities. They rejoiced in the opportunity of effecting the deliverance of their fellow shipwrecked mariners, and considered it one of the most joyous events in their lives that they had done something towards augmenting the sum of human happiness, and thus becoming the means of kindling anew, in many minds, aspirations and hopes which had well nigh become extinguished.
Thus, after a series of sufferings and painful reminiscences,—the loss of our ship, with five of our number at the time of the wreck, and one frozen to death while traveling,—having experienced the dreadful rigors of a northern winter and life among the natives, amid untold filthiness and degradation,—shut out from the hearing and company of friends and the whole civilized world,—after nine months and eight days, on the 4th of July, 1853, we found ourselves safe and happy on the decks of friendly vessels, with excellent accommodations, and all that fellow-seamen could do to make us comfortable and contented.
*****
Four or five days after, the two ships above mentioned, with some others, put into East Cape. The natives came off in their canoes, as usual, to trade.
Captain Norton, with several masters of ships, went ashore, and visited the settlement where he and his men had lived, and called for dinner at one of the huts. His object was that his friends might have some idea of the manner of cooking, as well as the articles of food, among the natives, and how they prepared dinner.
The sight was enough for Captain Jernegan, who left the hut as soon as possible, while his stomach sought to relieve itself by several involuntary throws!
Captain Norton made some little presents to the natives in consideration of their interest in him and his men during their abode with them. He collected various articles from the ships,—such as needles, combs, tobacco, pipes, &c.,—and distributed them among the boys, girls, fathers, and mothers. They were delighted with these unexpected gifts, and expressed their joy in a great many fantastic ways.
The next morning, a violent blow came on, and the Niger was obliged to take her anchor, and go to sea. Several ships parted their chains. The captain remained on board of the Niger most of the season, when an opportunity occurred for him to take passage in the ship Helen Augusta, Captain Fales, bound to the islands. This he did, and arrived at Honolulu on the 5th of October, 1853.
The officers and crew of the Citizen were distributed among the ships in the fleet as their services were needed.
The report of the disaster of the Citizen, and the rescue of her crew, preceded him, and had already reached the islands before Captain Norton's arrival.
The news was brought by a ship which left the Arctic about the middle of the whale season, and touched at San Francisco, and from thence was sent to the islands and to the Atlantic states, to New Bedford, and Edgartown.
A few weeks after the captain's arrival, eighteen of his former crew had come along in different ships, and were well cared for, as shipwrecked seamen, by the American consul at Honolulu. Not long after, the officers, and all the crew with the exception of two, had arrived at the islands.
It is proper here to state the readiness with which aid was proffered in supplying the necessary wants of the destitute among our number. The shipwreck and nine months in the Arctic had left some of our companions absolutely destitute; and when they arrived at the islands, after more than a year's absence at the north, they had but little, if any thing more than in what they stood, or what they had on.
There were not wanting, however, kind friends, willing minds, and generous hearts at the islands, both among the citizens of the place and officers of ships in port, who cheerfully rendered immediate aid to the needy and destitute.
The following Card was published in The Polynesian November 19, 1853:—
"Captain Thomas H. Norton, late of the whaleship Citizen, of New Bedford, wrecked in the Arctic Ocean September 25, 1852, returns his thanks to Captain Goosman, of the ship Joseph Hayden, for relief afforded himself and men, in taking them off East Cape, and providing them with necessaries when they were destitute.
"Captain N. would also return his thanks to Captain Fales, of the Helen Augusta, Captains Jernegan, Tilton, Pierce, and Gardner, for many acts of kindness and relief afforded himself and crew.
Thos. H. Norton.
Nov. 17, 1853."
Having disposed of some oil and provisions which were stored at Hilo, Captain Norton now turned his face towards home, and engaged a passage in the ship Harriet Hoxie, Captain M. Passages, however, were freely and cordially offered to him in other ships.
Before the sailing of the ship, Captain Stott, of the ship Northern Light, proposed to Captain Norton to take his ship for another season, as he himself did not wish to go in her the third season to the north.
Captain Norton had made up his mind, and felt anxious to return home to his family and friends, and reluctant to remain away any longer, since his life had been spared amid so many scenes of trial and suffering through which he had passed.
Upon further reflection, however, Captain Norton changed his purpose; and the terms which he named to Captain Stott being accepted, he concluded he would try his success in the Northern Light, and, if possible, retrieve his past misfortune.
[CHAPTER XII.]
A Whaling Community.—Interest felt for absent Ones.—The first Intelligence from the Whaling Fleet.—California Mail.—Further News from the Islands.—"Missing Ships."—No Report of the Citizen.—No Letters.—Fears as to her Safety.—When last spoken with.—Either lost or frozen up in the Arctic.—Supposed Fate of Officers and Crew.—Distressing Suspense.—Hoping against Hope.—Prayer answered.—The first Intelligence from the Citizen.—Joy in Families.—Captain Norton's Arrival at Home, and subsequently the Arrival of his Officers, belonging to this Place.
In a community like ours, in which the chief and principal occupation of the male portion of it is in the whale fishery, there is scarcely a family, and perhaps not one, but has some near or more remote relative absent at sea. It is, therefore, by no means surprising that more than ordinary interest should be felt and manifested in behalf of those who "do business upon the great waters."
In some towns upon the seaboard, the inhabitants are engaged in other kinds of fishery, such as the cod and mackerel fishery; but from the port of Edgartown not a solitary vessel of this description sails. It is wholly whaling, with but few exceptions in case of those who are engaged in the merchant or freighting service, and they sail from other ports.
As a general thing, the boys and young men contemplate whaling as chiefly worthy of their emulation and pursuit. It is identified with their first impressions; and subsequent years only tend to deepen those impressions, and ripen them into irrepressible desire and relish for the whaling business.
A very large proportion of captains and officers belonging to this place and other parts of the island sail in ships owned principally both in New Bedford and Fairhaven. Indeed, they have contributed in no small degree to the commercial prosperity of those places. It is worthy of remark, however, in passing, just to state that the number of vessels connected with the business of whaling, belonging to this place, has doubled within four years. This shows an active spirit of enterprise which we trust will be largely increased in coming years.
The first partial intelligence from the northern whaling fleet usually arrives at home ports some time in the month of October. The early arrival of a ship at the islands, or at some port on the Pacific, from the whale ground, furnishes this report as to the general success of whalemen about the middle of the season—whether the "catch" has been good or moderate, very good or deficient. A few scattering letters are also brought by this early means of conveyance, which, being deposited in the mail, soon find their way across the isthmus, into the hands of relatives and friends at home.
About this time, solicitude begins to be apparent in the inquiries made respecting absent husbands, sons, relatives, and townsmen, as to the probable results of the "whale season," how the ships have done, and the health and lives of those who are abroad.
Every California mail will, therefore, for months to come, be looked for with increasing interest, because it may be the bearer either of joy or sorrow to many hearts and family circles.
In the month of November, still further intelligence is received from the whaling fleet; previous reports are corrected, and additional ones are given. The first section of the fleet has already arrived at the islands.
In the months of December and January, the mail brings still additional news, and more correct than hitherto. The great majority of the ships that intended to touch at the islands on their return from the north are reported at this time. The ordinary vehicles of public intelligence—newspapers and letters, both from the islands and from the Pacific coast—unite in announcing the grand rendezvous or arrival of northern whalemen.
If, now, there should be ships not included in the late report, and from which no recent letters have been received either by owners or relatives, and those ships not having been spoken with by others, they are specially marked as "missing ships," and serious apprehensions begin to be entertained lest some disaster may have befallen them.
The mail in February or March is supposed to bring from the islands and intermediate ports all the reliable information respecting those ships that have arrived during the last four months. Therefore a ship not reported now must have either gone to some other port, or never left the northern seas, or been wrecked and lost.
This was the case with the ship Citizen. There was no account of her arrival at the islands, agreeably to the intention of Captain Norton on his return from the Arctic; his friends at home, therefore, looked for the report of his arrival, if not among the first, certainly among the last.
Besides, there were neither letters from him or his officers, none to relatives, none to the owners of the ship. Other families had heard from absent ones, and were made to rejoice; those interested in the fate of the Citizen, however, were filled with sadness and sorrow.
The absence of letters was ominous of something fearful and distressing. Captain Clough spoke with Captain Norton on the 23d of September, in the Arctic Ocean, lat. 68° or 69° N.; and this was the last and only intelligence from the missing ship. This occurred, as it appeared, only two days before the wreck of the Citizen. Not having arrived at the islands, nor reported from any other place, the conclusion to which all came was at once reasonable and just—either that the ship was frozen up in the Arctic, or cast away on the coast, and her officers and crew, if living, among the natives.
Reflections of this sort gave confirmation to the worst of fears, and wrought in the minds of relatives and friends, and the community at large, an alternation of some slight hope, on the one hand, that they might after all be safe, and, on the other, the distressing fear that they had completed their last voyage on earth, or perhaps were lingering out a miserable existence amid the rigors of an arctic winter.
How little there was upon which to build a favorable hope! How weak and superficial the foundation which engrossing and prevailing apprehensions would not instantly sweep away and scatter to the winds! Indeed, whatever conclusions might have been drawn respecting the fate of the Citizen, her officers, and crew, how small encouragement there was in the whole field of imaginary probabilities in their favor, to relieve the minds of those at home from the constantly pressing weight of corroding anxiety and distressing solicitude respecting them!
Uncertainty and suspense with regard to an important event is one of the most trying states of mind in which an individual can be placed. How true this is when the life of some friend appears to be suspended upon the slightest possible contingency! Now indications seem auspicious and hopeful; then, again, adverse and threatening symptoms dissipate every cherished anticipation.
Instances have been recorded in which those who were shipwrecked and threatened with instant death on every side, while the prospect of deliverance was exceedingly small or absolutely cut off, have even desired the approaching crisis, however decisive it might be, whether of life or death, as far less distressing than the dreadful suspense which for hours, and even days, hung over them.
For years, until all hope has at length been abandoned, the civilized world, and especially the commercial part of it, was in a state of profound suspense respecting the fate of Sir John Franklin and his companions, entombed in the Arctic. How much sympathy there was felt and expressed for the distinguished lady of the explorer, who was unwilling to withhold any reasonable and even extraordinary efforts for his deliverance while the faintest color of encouragement existed in his favor! Wealth was poured out like water; and strong, self-denying, adventurous men started up and volunteered their services to traverse again the inhospitable regions of the north; peradventure they might find some traces of the explorers, whether living or dead. Through scores of months of hope and fear, distracting anxiety and painful apprehensions, she suffered for her husband a thousand times more than the certainty which his death would have caused.
It was precisely this state of mind which excited and agitated many families in Edgartown in relation to the uncertainty which surrounded the fate of the Citizen and those who sailed in her.
There was a remote, and yet very slender clinging to a bare possibility that they might be among the living; but at the same time, as if to extinguish every spark of hope, the imagination could hardly picture or conceive a condition in which they could live in the arctic regions. While "hoping against hope," and even beyond it, because hope is the only preservative against despair, yet it seemed as if forlornness stood ready to mock the fugitive idea that it could be well with them.
Thus more than twelve months rolled their rounds, and no ray of light was shed upon this dark event of Providence.
How many times the relatives met to talk over this common affliction and calamity! to mingle together their sympathies, for adversity binds kindred hearts! to send up united desires to God that deliverance in some way which they knew not, but which Infinite Wisdom only knew, might be wrought out for the husband, and sons, and brothers, if still in being!
If meetings and partings, however, brought no outward, substantial relief, nor removed in the least degree the same appalling uncertainty which enshrouded the future, this great truth they learned in many sleepless nights, and tedious days, weeks, and months—that they should "trust in God," and stay themselves upon his mighty hand.
Not only was private prayer offered to Him whose ear is ever attentive, who knows and records the pleadings of every humble worshipper, who marks the beatings of every burdened heart, but the spirit of supplication was manifested in the house of God, and one general desire pervaded the community that He who can "bring light out of darkness," and sustain when all human helpers fail, would grant a great deliverance, and return the absent ones once more to their families and friends.
Prayer was heard; and tidings of good, of hope, and safety were already being borne over the ocean wave, and hastening homewards upon the wings of the wind.
In October, by an early arrival at San Francisco from the Arctic, it was reported that the ship Citizen had been wrecked the year before, in September; that a number of her crew were lost at the time of the wreck; that the captain, officers, and remaining part of the men had wintered among the natives; that they were now on board of several ships in that ocean, and, at the close of the whaling season, they would be at the islands.
This was the first intelligence from the ship, for more than twelve months, which imparted the least reasonable hope to the friends at home. It was indeed hailed with joyous emotions, and profound gratitude to God. It at once lifted off a ponderous load of anxiety, solicitude, and sorrow from many hearts.
Spring and summer, with their singing birds, radiant suns, balmy air, refreshing showers, verdant landscapes, and placid waters, had come and gone; Nature had put off the freshness and beauty of a renewed creation, and once more dressed in her autumnal robes, yet this single item of news, brought from a distant ocean, was the dawn of a brighter day, and the precursor of higher happiness than all the outward world could furnish! It chased away the sorrows of the mind; it breathed new life into the spirits; it taught the hitherto disconsolate ones that the hand of a delivering God should now be recognized and adored. Public sympathy flowed in the same channel with those who could now rejoice, as it was heretofore expressed with those who wept.
November news from the islands confirmed the report of the preceding month, cleared away every doubt which distrust might venture to create, and reassured the wife that her husband was safe, and parents and members of the respective families that their sons and brothers had survived the untold severities of an arctic winter.
About one year from this time,—November 5, 1854,—Captain Norton had arrived at Lahaina, from a cruise in the Ochotsk, in the ship Northern Light, of Fairhaven. He left that port in December for home; and, after a passage of one hundred and ten days, the ship was anchored in the harbor of New Bedford, on the 10th of April, 1855. A day or two after, he reached his native place, to greet relatives, friends, and townsmen, whose apprehensions for a long time had been that they should see his face no more.
The results of his three and a half years' absence from home are briefly these: the first season in the Arctic, in the Citizen, he obtained twenty-six hundred barrels of oil, which were wholly lost when the ship was cast away; seventy barrels of sperm were left at the islands, which he took on his outward-bound passage—this was saved; nine months and eight days among the natives, and taken off in July; the second season on board of other ships, in the capacity of guest and passenger; the third season in the Northern Light, in the Ochotsk Sea, where he obtained twenty-four hundred barrels of oil.
Thus, in misfortune, there was still a good share of prosperity. Not only was one cargo lost, but it was nearly replaced again by another in the ordinary time for which ships are fitted out.
But the greatest and crowning mercy of all was, in returning once more, with such good health, from so many dangers, exposures, and perils which have attended the present voyage.
Mr. John W. Norton arrived home in October, 1855; Mr. John P. Fisher, and Mr. Abram Osborn, Jr., arrived home in April, 1856;—making the time since they sailed from New Bedford, October, 1851, four years for the first, and four and a half years for the last two.
[CHAPTER XIII.]
The Ocean.—The Seaman's Home.—Confidence of the Mariner in his Ship.—Shipwreck.—Moral and religious Claims of Seamen.—The Spirit of the Age.—Interest in the Mariners' Meeting.—Seaport Places.—Sudden Intelligence.—Seamen remembered elsewhere.—Ships supplied with Books.—Bible and Tract Societies.—Good seed sown.—Field for Usefulness.—The American Seaman.—Concert of Prayer.—All interested.—The most important Reform for Seamen.
Whatever pertains to seamen in their adventures, explorations, privations, and disasters, never fails to be of interest to all classes in the community.
The ocean is a vast and mysterious world in itself; a world of mighty waters, grand, sublime; an image of eternity, a scene of wonders and terrors, which no mortal tongue can adequately describe. Man, with his frail bark, borne on its ever restless and heaving bosom, is but a mere particle on the surface of the boundless expanse.
Those, however, whose "home is on the deep," inured both to its smiles and frowns, are familiar with this mode of life, and thus become daily conversant with its varied phases around them.
With a good ship, firm deck beneath his feet, well manned, plenty of sea room, the experienced mariner fears but little the rising wind or the surging main.
"A storm at sea" which would appall perhaps the heart of a landsman, and lead him to abandon all hope of safety, and that the noble vessel would be utterly incapable of contending with the frightful odds against her, is, to the seaman, who looks calmly on the same scene, only as an ordinary episode in ocean experience; indeed, in some respects, a gale of wind is far preferable to a calm. With what confidence and energy the navigator gives his orders, and is quickly obeyed; soon the faithful ship is trimmed to meet the storm; and true to her native instinct, former antecedents, and original design, she parts the crested billow, and bounds over the waves as a "thing of life"!
The destruction of a dwelling, either by fire or by a tornado, and the inmates flying from threatened death, is a sad calamity; and the occurrence of such an event enlists the sympathies of all who hear of it. But sadder by far is the wreck of a ship at sea, or when cast away upon some remote or hostile shore.
Alas! how frequently it is true, that with the foundering ship, the breaking up of the sailor's home, his house, his refuge, his all, upon the deep, a number of the crew, and sometimes all on board, find a watery grave!
The sufferings incident, in many cases, to shipwrecked mariners, both upon the sea and upon the land, have furnished the most affecting themes of prose and poetry; and their recital uniformly touches an answering chord in every sensitive heart.
We feel that it is due to all classes of seamen, to whom we are so much indebted as the carriers of the products of all climes upon the world's great highway, and by whom we are provided both with the necessaries, and even luxuries, of life,—it is due to them, that their religious wants especially, should claim a share of our attention and interest.
The time was when this class of our fellowmen were thought but little of, and cared less about, in so far as it concerned their religious welfare; but with the progressive spirit of the age in which we now live, the lover of his country, the philanthropist and Christian, cherish a generous solicitude in their behalf. During the meetings of our religious anniversaries, there is no gathering, perhaps, that awakens more general interest than that pertaining to seamen. This fact, in connection with what is being done in the cause of seamen, both at home and abroad, is sufficient to prove that there is a growing, and, we trust, an increasing desire to promote the religious good of the sons of the ocean.
In seaport places, it would be natural to suppose that both the temporal and spiritual welfare of seamen would occupy a prominent place in the minds of the people generally. This is to some extent true. In such localities, especially, one discovers that the trains of thought, general conversation, domestic arrangements, family anxieties, prospects for years to come, all, or nearly all, are shaped and controlled by the leading idea of "business in great waters."
This presiding spirit, as it may be justly termed, pervades every department of life. We meet it at every turn, and are reminded, wherever we go, that we live in a seafaring community. We find this fact verified in public resorts for trade, in the family circle, in the prayer and conference meeting, in the sanctuary, in the chamber of sickness, in the house of mourning, and we read the memorials of it upon the tombstone in the silent repositories of the dead.
There is another feature to a seaport place, and especially to a whaling community, which it would be proper just to mention, and that is, the suddenness with which sad intelligence from absent friends falls upon the ears of those at home.
Many have had painful experience in these particulars. Wives, parents, and relatives have been as suddenly reminded of the decease of those near and dear to them, as would be the change of noonday into the darkness of midnight.
How many hearts have been made to bleed in anguish! how many earthly prospects, hitherto bright, have suddenly become shaded and overcast at such an announcement! Indeed, they shortly expected to hear that those abroad were in health and prosperity; or soon to embrace them on the homeward arrival of the ship; but alas! some mysterious contingency in providence supervened, and terminated their earthly voyage.
Broad oceans, remote seas, distant islands, and foreign ports are consecrated to the memory of seamen, as their last resting places on earth. Indeed, such localities are of impressive and affecting significance, illustrating at once both the nature of the employment and daring adventures of whalemen. But interest for the sailor may not be wholly confined to seaport places. Nor is it. Wherever intelligence reaches, or the public print finds its way through the various avenues of society, or wherever works pertaining to seamen are scattered abroad, even to the farthest limits of civilization, there the sailor will be remembered, and the recorded experience of his ocean life will be read again and again with thrilling emotions. But this is not all. There are hundreds of young men, from inland country towns, and from every part of the United States, whose home is now on the ocean wave, and exposed to the dangers and perils of the deep. It is, therefore, reasonable to suppose, that many a father's and mother's heart follows in affection, hope, and imagination, the absent son upon the unknown waste of waters, or into distant lands; or the wife, anxiously looking for favorable intelligence, offers daily prayer for the successful and speedy return of her husband. Thus, in these respects, those living in the country share in a mutual sympathy with those on the seaboard.
In those places, especially, where large numbers of seamen usually congregate, Bethel services on the Sabbath are means of securing to them a great amount of moral and religious instruction. Besides, colporteur seamen become an efficient instrumentality in directing many a weather-beaten mariner to the house of God, and to the Saviour of sinners.
When whale ships are about to leave our port for a cruise of two, three, or four years, it is the purpose of the friends of seamen connected with the several religious denominations in seaport towns, to place on board of such vessels copies of the Word of God, moral and religious books, the Family Library, tracts, &c. We believe this is the usual practice in other whaling ports;[E] but to what extent this arrangement is generally carried out we are unable to say.
We acknowledge with gratitude the repeated donations of Bibles and Testaments both from the American and Foreign Bible Society, and the American Bible Society, for gratuitous distribution among the sons of the ocean. Nor would we forget to mention our obligations to the American Tract Society for thousands and tens of thousands of pages of tracts, generously given to be placed on shipboard or put into the hands of seamen. We believe that the good seed of divine truth, thus sown broadcast from year to year, will not wholly fall on unpropitious soil. We are encouraged and strengthened in this benevolent work by the express and significant promises of inspiration: "Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days;" and, again, "Sow beside all waters."
More, however, should and ought to be done for seamen. The benevolent and the religious, if so disposed, may find here an ample field for the exercise of their liberality. While something is being done for seamen with reference to their moral and spiritual improvement, yet, when we take into consideration the scores of thousands that yearly leave seaport places in our country, the thousands that are now traversing seas and oceans both near and remote, and visiting almost every part of the earth's surface, how limited are the means employed in behalf of their religious welfare, that Christ may become the pole star of hope to the wandering and tempest-tossed!
The American seaman, in a certain sense, is our representative abroad; and, wherever the stars and stripes are given to the wind and fly from the mast head, there he leaves the impress of his influence. How important it is, then, as he departs from the land of his birth and from the scenes of his early associations, and goes out upon the ocean to meet its dangers and perils, as he is assailed by temptations, or mingles with foreigners in other ports, how immensely important it is, that he should be a true representative of Christian institutions and principles at home, and bear about in his own bosom, amid the vicissitudes of ocean life, the "witness of the Spirit" as his true and lasting treasure!
It is true, there are religious captains, officers, and seamen; but what we earnestly desire is, that the number may be increased a thousand fold. Under the benign influence of the spirit of religion and the fear of God, neither Sabbath breaking, nor profane language, nor vice, nor disorder, nor cruelty, nor mutiny would find a place on shipboard. "Thus officered, manned, and conducted, does any man who believes there is a God, who rules the winds and waves and the monsters of the deep, doubt the success of such a ship?" By no means.
There is another instrumentality fitted to promote the religious interests of seamen, which we would not fail to mention, and that is, the concert of prayer. We are taught to "pray for all men;" therefore seamen may be included in the devout supplications of the people of God—not only that they may be mercifully shielded in the hour of danger, and meet with success in all lawful undertakings, but that spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus may be their enduring portion.
The concert of prayer for seamen is one of the most interesting and profitable meetings held in a seaport place, and which the month brings around.
In such a gathering all are interested. Some of the members of congregations and churches are upon the ocean, and have been gone for months and years; others, perhaps, have just left for long voyages, and others still on their homeward-bound passages. At such a meeting as this, the absent ones are brought vividly before the mind. The bare mention of the words husband, son, brother, endeared friend, finds at once a response in many hearts. It is, therefore, alike the dictate of nature as well as the great law of grace to look to Him "whose way is in the sea, and whose path is in the great waters," that he would be with the mariner in the storm and tempest, and at the appointed time return him to his native port and to the bosom of his family.
Temperance and other reforms have wrought, and still are working, gradual and essential changes and improvements among all classes of seamen; but the most important, and that which stands higher than all others, is, that those who behold the wonders of God in the deep may become the friends and followers of the Saviour.
The following hymn, which, with others of like character, is frequently sung, shows at once the sentiments and spirit of the seamen's concert of prayer.
O, pray for the sailor, now far on the billow;
O, think of his hardships, temptations, and pain.
His home is the ocean; his hammock his pillow;
He toils for our pleasure; his loss is our gain.
While we are securely and peacefully sleeping,
He stands at the helm and his duty performs;
Now walking the deck and his painful watch keeping,
Or sits at the mast head 'mid perils and storms.
O, pray for the sailor, to banishment driven,
Enduring privation, oppression, and care,—
Shut out from the gospel, a stranger to Heaven,
The victim to vice and a prey to despair.
And, while we thus pray for the sons of the ocean,
A kind, peaceful Home to him must be given;
The Mariners' Bethel allures to devotion;
The Bible and preacher direct him to Heaven.
Seamen, of all classes, you are remembered by thousands and tens of thousands, throughout the land and world, who are deeply interested in your welfare. Day and night you are thought of and prayed for by those whom you have left behind; and many a desire is breathed out in the presence of Him who alone can save, that you may be protected in your absence, shielded from temptations, and returned again to your friends.
May the "Star of Bethlehem, which alone can "fix the sinner's wandering eye," guide many a son of the ocean, and lead him to say,—
It was my guide, my light, my all;
It bade my dark forebodings cease;
And, through the storm and danger's thrall,
It led me to the port of peace.
Now, safely moored, my perils o'er,
I'll sing, first in night's diadem,
Forever, and forevermore,
The Star—the Star of Bethlehem!
Perilous Situation of Whalemen.
[A BRIEF]
HISTORY OF WHALING,
WITH SOME OF ITS INTERESTING DETAILS.
[CHAPTER I.]
Whale Fishery.—Its Origin.—Where first carried on.—By whom.—Whaling in the Northern Ocean by the Dutch and English.—Contentions between them.—The Success of the Dutch.—Its Commencement in New England.—"London Documents."—The first Whale Scene in Nantucket.—Boat Whaling.—The Number of Whales taken in one Day.—The first Spermaceti Whale.—The Interest it excited.—Its supposed Value.—The first Sperm Whale captured.—New Life to the Business.—Whaling in Massachusetts in 1771–75.—Burke's Eulogy on New England Whalers.—Sperm Whaling in Great Britain.—Revived in France.—The American and French Revolutions nearly destroyed the Business.—Loss to Nantucket.—Its Commencement in New Bedford.—Tabular View of the Number of Vessels engaged in Whaling, and Places to which they belong.
"No species of fishery, prosecuted any where on the surface of the ocean, can compare in intensity of interest with the whale fishery. The magnitude of the object of the chase, and the perilous character of the seas which it frequents in all climates and latitudes, are features which prominently distinguish the whale fishery from all similar pursuits, and which invest the details of its history with the strong charm inseparable from pictures and verities of stirring exertion, privation, adventure, daring, and danger." In a word, it is fishery upon a gigantic scale, in which romance and reality are strangely blended.
"The whale fishery is a practice of long standing in the world. It is supposed that the Norwegians began to prosecute this hazardous and arduous enterprise as early as the closing part of the ninth century. From rather vague statements, on this subject, which have come down to us, it would seem that they confined themselves to the capturing of a few whales in their bays and harbors.
"The shores of the Bay of Biscay, where the Normans formed early settlements, became famous through them for the whale fishery there earned on. In the same region, it was first made a regular commercial pursuit; and as the whales visited the bay in large numbers, the traffic was convenient and easy.
"The Biscayans maintained it with great vigor and success in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries.
"We find from a work of Noel, 'Upon the Antiquity of Whale Fishing,' that, in 1261, a tithe was laid upon the tongues of whales imported into Bayonne, they being then a highly esteemed species of food. In 1338, Edward III. relinquished to Peter de Puyanne a duty of six pounds sterling laid on each whale brought into the port of Biarritz, to indemnify him for the extraordinary expenses he had incurred in fitting out a fleet for the service of his majesty.
"The Biscayans, however, soon gave up the whale fishery for the want of fish, which ceased to come southward, no longer leaving the icy seas.
"In process of time, voyages both of the Dutch and English were undertaken to discover a passage through the Northern Ocean to India; and though they entirely failed in their primary object, yet they laid open the remote haunts of the whale, and immediately began to prosecute the enterprise of their capture. Even then, it was said, they employed the Biscayans as their harpooners, and for a considerable part of their crew. The Dutch and English prosecuted the business with varied success, each claiming the ground for whale fishery in the seas around Spitzbergen. Large companies were formed, and many ships were sent to those northern regions, each armed and prepared to maintain his right and supremacy over the seas. Thus one party would obtain a charter from its own government, to the exclusion of the other and all others—at the same time, each claiming the prior right of possession by discovery.
"At length, in 1618, a general engagement took place, in which the English were defeated. Hitherto the two governments had allowed the fishing adventurers and companies to fight out their own battles; but in consequence of this event, it was considered prudent by each party to divide the Spitzbergen bay and seas into fishing stations, where the companies might fish and not trouble each other.
"After this period, the Dutch quickly gained a superiority over their rivals. While the English prosecuted the trade sluggishly and with incompetent means, the Dutch turned their fisheries to great account, and, in 1680, had about two hundred and sixty ships and fourteen thousand seamen employed in them."[F]
"From the year 1660, or forty years after the landing of our pilgrim fathers on the shores of New England, down to the end of the seventeenth century, there seem to have been various, and, as far as now can be ascertained, nearly simultaneous and independent attempts to prosecute this business by the inhabitants of Cape Cod, those of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, and some of the British subjects in the bays around the Bermuda Islands."
The following interesting facts respecting the early history of whaling in this country were obtained from manuscripts in the New York State Library, by R. L. Pease, Esq., of Edgartown. They were copied from the originals in London, by Mr. Brodhead, under the authority of the State of New York, and called "London Documents."
Vol. iv. pp. 9–12. In the instructions of the Duke of York to his agent, John Lewen, he is directed to "inquire what number of whales have been killed near ye place within six years last past, and what quantities of whale bone and oyle have been made or brought in there, and how much my share hath amounted to in that time.... And you are also to informe yourself how many whales are taken and brought in there, commibus annis. Given May 24th, 1680."
Ibid. p. 71. In his answer, Lewen says "that the number of whales killed is never observed by any person, nor the oil or bone."
Ibid. p. 84. General Andros, on this point, states, December 31, 1681, that "very few whales have been driven on ashore but what have been killed and claymed by the whalers; and, if not proved theirs, then claymed by the Indian natives, or Christians clayming the shores in said Indian's right. And tho I have not been wanting in my endeavors, I never could recover any part thereof for his Royal Highness."
Vol. ii. p. 277. "On ye east of Long Island there were 12 or 13 whales taken before ye end of March, and what since wee heare not; here are some dayly seen in the very harbour, sometimes within Nutt Island. Out of the pinnace, the other week, they struck two, but lost both; the irons broke in one, the other broke the warpe.
Samuel Maverick.
July 5, 1669."
"The first whaling expedition from Nantucket was undertaken by some of the original purchasers of the island, the circumstances of which are handed down to us by tradition, and are as follows: A whale of the kind called the 'scragg' came into the harbor, and continued there three days. This excited the curiosity of the people, and led them to devise measures to prevent his return out of the harbor. They accordingly invented, and caused to be wrought for them, a harpoon, with which they attacked and killed the whale. This first success encouraged them to undertake whaling as a permanent business, whales being at that time numerous in the vicinity of the shores.
Finding, however, that the people of Cape Cod had made greater proficiency in the art of whale catching than themselves, the inhabitants, in 1690, sent thither and employed a man by the name of Ichabod Paddock to instruct them in the best manner of killing whales and extracting their oil.
The pursuit of whales was commenced in boats, and was carried on from year to year until it became a principal branch of business to the islanders. The Indians readily joined the whites in this new enterprise; and the most active among them soon became boat steerers and experienced whalemen, and were capable of conducting any part of the business.
Boat whaling from the shore continued until about the year 1760, when the whales became so scarce that it was wholly laid aside.
The greatest number of whales ever killed and brought to the shore in one day was eleven. In 1726, they were very plenty; forty-six were taken during that year—a greater number than ever was obtained in one year either before or since this date.
It is a remarkable fact that, notwithstanding the people had to learn the business and carry it on under many hazardous circumstances, yet not a single white person was known to be killed or drowned in the pursuit of whales in the course of seventy years preceding 1760. The whales hitherto caught near the shores in boats were of the 'right' species.
The first spermaceti whale known to the inhabitants was found dead and ashore on the west end of the island. It caused great excitement—some demanding a part of the prize under one pretence and some under another, and all were anxious to behold so strange an animal.
The natives claimed the whole because they found it; the whites, to whom the natives made known the discovery, claimed it by a right comprehended, as they affirmed, in the purchase of the island by the original patent. An officer of the crown made his claim to it, and pretended to seize the fish in the name of his majesty, as being property without any particular owner.
After considerable discussion between the contending parties, it was finally settled that the white inhabitants who first found the whale should share the prize equally among themselves.
The teeth, however, which were considered very valuable, had been extracted by a white man and an Indian before any others had any knowledge of the whale.
All difficulty having been settled, a company was then formed that commenced cutting the whale in pieces convenient for transportation to the try works. The sperm procured from the head was thought to be of great value for medicinal purposes. It was used both as an internal and external application; and such was the credulity of the people that they considered it a certain cure for all diseases; it was sought with avidity, and for a while was esteemed to be worth its weight in silver."
"The first sperm whale taken by the Nantucket whalers was killed by Christopher Hussey. He was cruising near the shore for 'right' whales, and was blown off some distance from the land by a strong northerly wind, when he fell in with a school of that species of whale, and killed one, and brought it home.
"At what date this adventure took place is not fully ascertained, but it is supposed that it was not far from 1712. This event imparted new life to the business, for they immediately began to build vessels, of about forty tons, to whale out in the 'deep,' as it was then called, to distinguish it from 'shore whaling.' They fitted three vessels for six weeks, carried a few hogsheads, sufficient to contain the blubber of one whale, and tried out the oil after they returned home.
"In 1715, there were six vessels engaged in the whaling business, (all sloops, from thirty to forty tons burden each,) and which produced an income of nearly five thousand dollars."[G]
As the enterprise increased, more capital was invested, larger vessels were built, longer voyages were undertaken, and new localities or grounds for whales were discovered.
Fifty years later,—viz., from 1771 to 1775,—Massachusetts alone employed annually one hundred and eighty-three vessels in the North Atlantic Ocean, and one hundred and twenty-one vessels of larger burden in the South Atlantic Ocean.
"Look at the manner," says Burke, (1774,) "in which the New England people carry on the whale fishery. While we follow them among the tumbling mountains of ice, and behold them penetrating into the deepest frozen recesses of Hudson's Bay and Davis's Straits; while we are looking for them beneath the arctic circle, we hear that they have pierced into the opposite region of polar cold—that they are at the antipodes, and engaged under the frozen serpent of the south. Falkland Island, which seems too remote and too romantic an object for the grasp of national ambition, is but a stage and resting place to their victorious industry. Nor is the equinoctial heat more discouraging to them than the accumulated winter of both the poles. We learn that, while some draw the line and strike the harpoon on the coast of Africa, others run the longitude, and pursue their gigantic game, along the coast of Brazil."
Such was the eloquent commendation given to the energy and perseverance of New England whalers by one of the most distinguished of British statesmen.
"The first attempt to establish the sperm whale fishery from Great Britain was made in 1775. Nine years later, the French undertook to revive the prosecution of this business. The king, Louis XVI., fitted out six ships himself from Dunkirk, and procured his experienced harpooners from Nantucket; others emulated the example of that monarch; so that, before the French revolution, that nation had forty ships in the service.
"The revolutionary war of the American colonies, and the wars of the French revolution, nearly destroyed this flourishing branch of marine enterprise in both countries. Just previous to the war, Massachusetts employed in this service three hundred vessels and four thousand seamen, about half of whom were from Nantucket alone. During that war, fifteen vessels belonging to this island were lost at sea, and one hundred and thirty-four were captured by the enemy. The loss of life in prison ships and elsewhere, and the immense loss of property, show that Nantucket paid as dearly in the struggle for liberty as any portion of our country.
"It was not until the year 1792, many years after the commencement of the enterprise in Nantucket, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and other places on the sound, that the attention of the people of New Bedford was turned towards the whale fishery."[H]
From this date until the present time, no permanent obstruction, with the exception of the war of 1812–1815, has occurred to impede the gradual and increasing interest given to this enterprise, and which now assumes commanding commercial importance, and develops unrivaled energy in its prosecution.
The number of vessels in this country employed in the whale fishery far exceeds that of all others engaged in the same pursuit.
The following tabular view will present to the reader the number and class of vessels engaged in the whale fishery, belonging to their respective places in the United States, as reported in the "Whaleman's Shipping List and Merchant's Transcript" for October, 1856:—
| Places. | Ships. | Barks. | Brigs. | Sch'rs. | Total. | Tonn. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Bedford | 209[*] | 128[*] | 337 | 122,000 | ||
| Dartmouth | 4 | 6 | 10 | 2,698 | ||
| Sippican | 3 | 3 | 319 | |||
| Westport | 17 | 17 | 3,989 | |||
| Wareham | 1 | 1 | 347 | |||
| Sandwich | 1 | 1 | 2 | 292 | ||
| Fairhaven | 36 | 12 | 1 | 49 | 15,927 | |
| Mattapoisett | 1 | 10 | 1 | 12 | 3,281 | |
| Nantucket | 32 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 39 | 12,860 |
| Edgartown | 10 | 4 | 3 | 17 | 4,986 | |
| Holmes's Hole | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1,349 |
| Falmouth | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1,111 | ||
| Provincetown | 1 | 4 | 1 | 16 | 22 | 2,792 |
| Orleans | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 638 | |
| Beverly | 3 | 3 | 616 | |||
| Salem | 1 | 1 | 323 | |||
| Lynn | 1 | 1 | 216 | |||
| Fall River | 3 | 3 | 814 | |||
| Warren, R.I. | 5 | 10 | 15 | 5,025 | ||
| Newport | 4 | 4 | 1,206 | |||
| Providence | 1 | 1 | 298 | |||
| New London | 32 | 14 | 5 | 12 | 63 | 19,176 |
| Stonington | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1,949 | ||
| Greenport | 3 | 7 | 10 | 2,958 | ||
| Mystic | 4 | 2 | 6 | 1,840 | ||
| Sag Harbor | 5 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 5,252 |
| Cold Spring | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2,129 | ||
| San Francisco | 4 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 2,500 |
| [*]Ships reckoned at 400 tons, and barks at 300. | ||||||
| The whole number of vessels employed in the whale fishery in this country, as before reported, is | 670 |
| Number of ships, | 358 |
| Number of barks, | 259 |
| Number of brigs | 17 |
| Number of schooners | 46 |
| The tonnage may be put down at 220,000. | |
| Value of property, at $100 per ton, $20,000,000. |
The number of seamen engaged in this business, allowing 30 for each ship, 24 for a bark, 20 for a brig, and 18 for a schooner, would be more than 20,000.
Importations of sperm and whale oil and whalebone into the United States in 1856 are as follows:—
| Sperm oil, | 80,941 bbls. |
| Right whale oil, | 197,890 bbls. |
| Whalebone, | 2,592,700 lbs. |
[CHAPTER II.]
The Whale.—Its Zoölogy.—The largest known Animal.—Sperm Whale.—Right Whale.—Finback.—Bowhead.
The Whale is the general name of an order of animals inhabiting the ocean, arranged in zoölogy under the name of Cete, or Cetacæ, and belonging to the class Mammalia in the Linnæan system. This animal is named whale from roundness, or from rolling.
"While living in part or wholly in the ocean, it differs in many important respects from the fish tribes, and it is these peculiarities which render it a link between the creature of the land and of the sea. While it has the power of locomotion in the water, like other fishes, yet in other particulars it has no affinity with them; it is as much a mammal as the ox, or the elephant, or the horse—having warm blood, breathing air, bringing forth living young, and suckling them with true milk."
The whale is the largest of all known animals. Some remarks upon the whale and its varieties will form the subject of the present chapter.
1. The Sperm Whale. The Cachalot, or Physeter Macrocephalus. The principal species are the black-headed, with a dorsal fin, and the round-headed, without a fin on the back, and with fistula in the snout. This whale is known at a distance by the peculiarity of his "spoutings" or "blows." He can be easily detected by whalemen, if he happens to be in company with other species of whales. He blows the water or vapor from his nostrils in a single column, to the height, perhaps, of twelve feet, inclining in a forward direction in an angle of forty-five degrees with the horizon, and visible for several miles. There is also a wonderful regularity as to time in which he "blows"—perhaps once in ten minutes. He remains on the surface of the water from forty-five to sixty minutes, and under water about the same time. Unless the whale is frightened, whalemen make quite correct calculation as to the chances of overtaking him, or meeting him, or when he will rise to the surface after he has "turned flukes."
When the sperm whale is near, he can be easily distinguished by the form of his head, unlike any other variety of whale. Its head is enormous in bulk, being fully more than one third of the whole length of its body; and it ends like an abrupt and steep promontory, and is so hard for several feet from its front that it is quite difficult, if not impossible, for an iron to enter it—as impervious, indeed, to a harpoon as a bale of cotton.
Besides, the sperm whale has a hump on his back, which distinguishes him from others. This hump is farther forward than the fin on the finback whale.
Sperm whales have been captured from seventy to ninety feet in length, and from thirty to forty-five feet in circumference round the largest part of their bodies. It is supposed by whalemen, from their appearance, that they live, or some of them at least, to a great age. One writer on this subject thought that the sperm whale would attain the age of many hundred years, and even to a thousand years. This, however, is mere conjecture, because there are no dates or facts upon which to found a correct opinion.
Some whales have been taken having their teeth worn off level with the gums; and then, again, in other instances, part of their teeth have been broken off, or torn out by some violent effort.
The whole number of teeth in a sperm whale is about forty-two; they are wholly in the lower jaw, which alone is movable, with the exception of a natural movement of the entire head of the fish.
The teeth admirably fit into sockets in the upper jaw. When the whale is in search for his food, or contending with his foes, he drops his lower jaw, if he sees fit, nearly to a right angle with the under part of his body, and then brings his jaws together with incredible energy and quickness.
Sperm whales engage in fearful and dreadful struggles and conflicts with each other. One was captured, a few years since, having his lower jaw, which was more than fifteen feet long, and studded with sharp-pointed teeth, twisted entirely around at a right angle with his body; he was swimming in that manner when he was harpooned. This was an instance of a most desperate encounter. Another whale was captured having a part of his enormous jaw broken entirely off. The front and sides of their heads, as well as their bodies, not unfrequently exhibit deep lines or furrows produced by the teeth of some powerful antagonist.
It is supposed that, as the sperm whale advances in age, his head not only retains its ordinary proportions, and to appearance becomes enlarged, but the truth is, the other parts of his body, especially his extremities, do actually diminish in bulk and circumference.
In some instances, more oil has been taken out of the head of a sperm whale than from the other part of his body.
The principal food of the sperm whale is "squid," a molluscous animal. "This is an animal of so curious an order as to merit a word of special notice. The principal peculiarity of this molluscous tribe is the possession of powerful tentacula or arms, ranged round the mouth, and provided with suckers, which give them the power of adhering to rocks or any other substances with surprising tenacity. Some of this tribe attain to a great size, and, as large as the whale is, will furnish it with no contemptible mouthful. In the gullet of one sperm whale, an arm or tentaculum of a sea-squid was found measuring nearly twenty-seven feet long."
Whalemen frequently discover large masses or junks of squid floating about, probably torn in pieces by whales in their search after food. The flesh of the squid is soft, without bones, and somewhat transparent, like the common sunfish seen on our shores. It is said that squid have been seen as large as an ordinary whale. This food for the sperm whale is found in great abundance in the Pacific seas.
2. The Right Whale. The whale having this general cognomen belongs to the species of Balæna Mysticetus. There are several varieties included in this species, as we shall hereafter observe, and which are distinguished by whalemen both in regard to some external peculiarity as well as the different localities where they are usually found.
The right whale differs from the sperm in the following particulars: his head is sharper, more pointed; he has no "hump" on his back; the column of water which he throws up when he "blows" is divided like the tines of a fork; and it rises from his breathing holes in a perpendicular direction from eight to twenty feet.
The right whale furnishes the bone (baleen) so much in common use, and called "whalebone." This bone is taken from the mouth and upper jaw of the whale, and is set along laterally, in the most exact order, several inches apart, decreasing in length from the centre of his mouth, or the arch of his palate, and becoming shorter farther back, while towards the lips the bone tapers away into mere bristles, forming a loose hanging fringe or border.
At the bottom of this row of bone, where it penetrates the gum, and from eighteen to thirty inches downward, we find a material that resembles coarse hair, entwining and interlacing the bone, and thus forming a sort of network, and so thick that, when the whale closes his lips to press out the water, the smallest kind of fish are caught in the meshes, and are unable to escape.
Indeed, the edges of the bones, or slabs, as they might be termed, are fringed with this coarse hair, and it extends to their extremities, as may be seen in the rough state when landed from whale ships.
The length of the bones or slabs[I] vary in a great measure according to the size of the fish, though some varieties of this species have larger and better bone than others. The value of the bone is enhanced, as a general thing, in proportion to its length.
The principal food of the right whale is a very small, red fish, called "brit." Immense shoals of these fish are seen on whale grounds; and the water to a great distance, even for miles, becomes colored with them.
When the whale takes his food, he throws open his lips, or lets them fall, and, swimming with great velocity, he scoops up an infinite number of these small fish and others that accompany them, some of them scarcely larger than half of an ordinary sized pea; he then closes his lips, and pressing out the water from his mouth, every particle of solid matter is securely retained within.
"The mouth of the whale is an organ of very wonderful construction. In a large specimen of the race, it may measure, when fully opened, about sixteen feet long, twelve feet high, and ten feet wide—an apartment, in truth, of very good dimensions. Notwithstanding the enormous bulk of this creature, its throat is so narrow that it would choke upon a morsel fitted for the deglutition of an ox. Its food, therefore, must be, as it really is, in very small particles. Such is the wonderful contrivance of nature, and in which we can discover an instance of remarkable wisdom in the Creator and Provider of his creatures."
The right whale does not fight or contend with his mouth or head, as the sperm whale does; but his means of attack and defence are chiefly in his enormous flukes. He will, however, when struck, "root around," as whalemen say, and not unfrequently in this manner upset a boat.
This kind of whale, and other varieties, distinguished by the baleen or bone, have no regular time for remaining on the surface of the water after they "breach," nor in remaining under water after they "turn flukes."
The length of a large right whale is about eighty feet, and some have yielded their captors two hundred and fifty to three hundred barrels of oil.
Such a whale would perhaps weigh not far from eighty tons. Allowing one ox to weigh twenty-five hundred or three thousand pounds, he would weigh down more than fifty of such animals.
And what a sublime sight it must be—and whalemen have often observed it—to see such a prodigious living mass leaping right into the air, clear, altogether out of the water, so that the horizon can be seen between the fish and the ocean! These stupendous exercises and gambols of such huge creatures are termed "breaching."
Sometimes a whale will turn its head downwards, and, moving its tremendous tail high in the air, will lash the water with violence, raising a cloud of vapor, and sending a loud report to the distance of two or three miles. This is called "lobtailing" by whalemen.
The oil of this species of whale is less valuable than the sperm. The "whalebone," which now has an advanced price in the market far beyond any previous value attached to it, is obtained from the mouth of the whale about in proportion of a thousand pounds to a hundred barrels of oil.
3. The Finback Whale. This is a smooth, slim fish—smaller usually than a right whale. He is found in nearly all latitudes. His head and mouth are of the same construction with those of the right whale. This whale is known by whalemen, when seen at a suitable distance, by his "blows." The column of vapor rises in a single stream in a vertical or perpendicular direction. This fish is termed finback on account of a fin on his back, differing in this particular from all other species of whale. The oil obtained from him is of the same quality as the right whale oil.
4. Bowhead Whale. This whale is smooth all over, having no "bonnet on his head," as whalemen say, and as right whales have. Their heads differ in shape somewhat from other whales, and hence the name bowhead given to them. This species of whale, so far as known, has never been found except in the Ochotsk Sea and Arctic Ocean.
The Greenland whale, and also the species called the great rorqual, are doubtless included in the name which our whalemen give to the bowhead.
There are several other varieties of the whale tribe, and different names are attached to them, such as the "scragg," the "humpback," &c.; but the foregoing are all the kinds whether of interest or profit to whalemen.
[CHAPTER III.]
Whale Blubber.—Enemies of the Whale.—Affection of the Whale for its Young.—Instances.
Whale Blubber. The following furnishes a succinct statement of whale blubber: "That structure in which the oil is, denominated blubber, is the true skin of the animal, modified, certainly, for the purpose of holding this fluid oil, but still being the true skin. Upon close examination, it is found to consist of an interlacement of fibres, crossing each other in every direction, as in common skin, but more open in texture, to leave room for the oil. Taking as an example that of an individual covered with an external layer of fat, we find we can trace the true skin without any difficulty, leaving a thick layer of cellular membrane loaded with fat, of the same nature as that in the other parts of the body; on the contrary, in the whale, it is altogether impossible to raise any layer of skin distinct from the rest of the blubber, however thick it may be; and, in flensing a whale the operator removes this blubber or skin from the muscular parts beneath, merely dividing with his spade the connecting cellular membrane.
"Such a structure as this, being firm and elastic in the highest degree, operates like so much india rubber, possessing a density and power of resistance which increases with the pressure. But this thick coating of fat subserves other important uses. An inhabitant of seas where the cold is most intense, yet warm blooded, and dependent for existence on keeping up the animal heat, the whale is furnished in this thick wrapper with a substance which resists the abstraction of heat from the body as fast as it is generated, and thus is kept comfortably warm in the fiercest polar winters. Again, the oil contained in the cells of the skin, being superficially lighter than water, adds to the buoyancy of the animal, and thus saves much muscular exertion in swimming horizontally and in rising to the surface; the bones, being of a porous or spongy texture, have a similar influence."
Enemies of the Whale.
Enemies of the Whale. "The whales, gigantic as they are, and little disposed to injure creatures less in bulk and power than themselves, find, however, to their cost, in common with nobler creatures, that harmlessness is often no defence against violence. Several species of the voracious sharks make the whale the object of their peculiar attacks; the arctic shark is said, with its serrated teeth, to scoop out hemispherical pieces of flesh from the whale's body as big as a man's head, and to proceed without any mercy until its appetite is satiated.
"Another shark, called the thrasher, which is upwards of twelve feet long, is said to use its muscular tail, which is nearly half its own length, to inflict terrible slaps on the whale; though one would be apt to imagine that if this whipping were all, the huge creature would be more frightened than hurt."
A sperm whale was killed off the coast of Peru several years since, whose sides were found to be greatly bruised, and portions of the blubber were reduced nearly to a fluid state. Two thrashers probably attacked the whale, one on one side of it, and the other on the other, and beat him in the manner above described. This fact shows that thrashers are not only able to injure the whale, but most likely by repeated attacks even to kill it.
"The sword fish, in the long and bony spear that projects from its snout, seems to be furnished with a weapon which may reasonably alarm even the leviathan of the deep, especially as the will to use his sword, if we may believe eye witnesses, is in no wise deficient."
Thus sharks, thrashers, and sword fish, in pursuit of the whale, and meeting him at every turn, and in all directions, must be powerful antagonists, even with the monster of the deep; and it is not at all unlikely but that, in the conflicts with him, they finally conquer and destroy him.
But there is another, and, without doubt, the most powerful and persevering enemy with which the right whale has to contend. This is a fish about sixteen feet long, and called by his appropriate name, "Whale Killer." A company of these fish attacking the whale will almost surely overcome and kill him. Besides, the whale appears to be sensible of the superiority of his enemy.
Though the whale can and does frequently elude and outstrip the velocity of the fastest boats of the whalemen, yet, when attacked by "killers," he seems to lose all power of resistance, and submits, without any apparent effort to escape. The "killers," in their relish to fight the whale, have been known to attack a dead one which whalemen had harpooned, and were towing to the ship. And so furious and determined were they, that notwithstanding they were lanced and cut most dreadfully by the whalemen in order to drive them off, yet they finally succeeded in getting the whale, and carried him to the bottom. Old whalemen say that "killers" will eat no part of the whale but his tongue. They attack him by the head, and if possible get into his mouth and eat up his tongue. The "killers" are a remarkably active fish, and endowed with a set of sharp teeth which may well constitute them a powerful adversary even to the whale, and whose particular and personal enemy they appear to be.
The Whale's Love and Care for its Offspring. The strong affection of the whale towards its young has been many times witnessed by whalemen; and yet the nature of their occupation is such, that they turn this interesting and affecting feature of its character to a most fatal account. They will try to strike the young one with the harpoon, and if they effect this, are sure of the old one, for they will not leave it.
Mr. Scoresby mentions a case where a young whale was struck beside its dam. She seized it and darted off, but the fatal line was fixed in its body. Regardless of all that could be done to her, she remained beside her dying offspring until she was struck again and again, and finally perished. Sometimes, however, she becomes furious on these occasions, and extremely dangerous.
Another writer gives the following account of a case which he witnessed in the Atlantic. Being out with fishing boats, "we saw," says he, "a whale with her calf playing around the coral rocks; the attention which the dam showed to its young, and the care which she took to warn it of danger, were truly affecting. She led it away from the boats, swam around it, and sometimes she would embrace it with her fins, and roll over with it in the waves. We tried to get the 'vantage ground' by going to seaward of her, and by that means drove her into shoal water among the rocks. Aware of the danger and impending fate of her inexperienced offspring, she swam rapidly around it in decreasing circles, evincing the utmost uneasiness and anxiety; but her parental admonitions were unheeded, and it met its fate. The young one was struck and killed, and a harpoon was fixed in the mother. Roused to reckless fury, she flew upon one of the boats, and made her tail descend with irresistible force upon the very centre of our boat, cutting it in two, and killing two of the men; the survivors took to swimming for their lives in all directions. Her subsequent motions were alarmingly furious; but afterwards, exhausted by the quantity of black blood which she threw up, she drew near to her calf, and died by its side, evidently, in her last moments, more occupied with the preservation of her young than of herself."
[CHAPTER IV.]
Whale Grounds.—Whaling Seasons, and where Species of Whales are found.—Sperm Whale Grounds.—Right Whale Grounds.—Humpbacks and Bowheads, where found.—Right Whale not crossing the Equator.—Arctic Passage for Whales.—Maury's Opinion of the Haunts of the Whale in the Polar Sea.—Confirmed by Dr. Kane.—Vessels fitted for Whaling.—Several Classes.—Time of Sailing.—Arrival at Home.—Length of Voyages.—Seasons and between Seasons.
Whale Grounds, or Places where Whales may be taken. The following embrace all or nearly all the prominent localities which are familiar to whalemen as whale grounds.
The Charleston ground, Brazil Banks, Tristan de Cuna Islands, Indian Ocean, Sooloo Sea, New Holland, New Zealand, King Mill's Group, Japan and Japan Sea, Peru Coast, Chili Off Shore ground, California, Kodiak, Ochotsk Sea, and Arctic Ocean.
Whale Seasons and the Places where different species of Whale are found. Sperm whales are taken in the North and South Atlantic Oceans in every month of the year. Sperm whales are taken on the coast of Chili from November to April, and on the coast of Peru in every month of the year. In the vicinity of the Gallipagos and King Mill's group, sperm whales are found. On the coast of Japan, they may be taken from April to October. They are also taken off New Zealand and Navigator's Island, from September to May. From November to March, there is good sperm whaling south of Java and Lombock. In June and July, sperm whales may be found off the north-west cape of New Holland. March, April, and May are considered good months for sperm whaling off the Bashee Islands, but ships are obliged to leave this ground after that time, in consequence of typhoons. From March to July, there is good ground for sperm whaling in the Sooloo Sea, to the west of the Serengani Islands. In the same months, sperm whales are found off Cape Rivers and Canda, close in to the land. In the Molucca Passage, there is good sperm whaling the year round; the best months, however, are January, February, and March. The English whalemen have taken, in years past, a large number of sperm whales in the Red Sea. The area over which sperm whales roam may include the immense space of the ocean or oceans included between the parallels of 60° of latitude, on both sides of the equator. "The sperm whale is a warm water fish," and, according to the opinion of Maury, though it "has never been known to double the Cape of Good Hope, he doubles Cape Horn."
Right whale season off Tristan de Cuna is from November to March; and from January to March off Crozetts and Desolation Islands. Sperm whales are seldom seen near these islands. Right and sperm whaling off the south coast of New Holland, from October to March. In August, there is good ground for humpback whaling around the Rosemary Islands. Right whales are taken in the Japan Sea from February to October, but bowhead whales have never been seen there. Right whales are taken on the Kodiak ground from May to September; and from March, or as early as the sea is free from ice, until November, in the Ochotsk Sea. Right whales are found in the southern part of the sea, and bowheads are found in the north and western part of it at the same time. Bowhead whales are found and captured in the Arctic Ocean as soon as the ice breaks up, which is usually in June, until October.
The right whale is a cold water fish. It has been found by the examination of "records kept by different ships for hundreds of thousands of days, that the tropical regions of the ocean are to the right whale as a sea of fire, through which he cannot pass, and into which he never enters."
It has also been supposed, that since the right whale does not cross the torrid zone, which to him is as a belt of liquid fire through which he cannot pass, therefore "the right whale of the northern hemisphere is a different animal from that of the southern."
It is, however, a well-established fact, "that the same kind of whale which is found off the shores of Greenland, in Baffin's Bay, etc., is also found in the North Pacific, and about Behring Straits; the inference therefore is, that there must be an opening for the passage of whales from one part of the Arctic Ocean to the other."
The following facts are taken from Maury's recent work on "The Physical Geography of the Sea," and cannot fail of being interesting to whalemen, and indeed to all classes of readers:—
"It is the custom among whalers to have their harpoons marked with date and name of the ship; and Dr. Scoresby, in his work on 'Arctic Voyages,' mentions several instances of whales that have been taken near Behring's Straits side with harpoons in them bearing the stamps of ships that were known to cruise on the Baffin's Bay side of the American continent; and as, in one or two instances, a very short time had elapsed between the date of capture in the Pacific and the date when the fish must have been struck on the Atlantic side, it was argued, therefore, that there was a north-west passage by which the whales passed from one side to the other, since the stricken animal could not have had the harpoon in him long enough to admit of a passage around either Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope.
"Thus the fact was approximately established that the harpooned whales did not pass around Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope, for they were of the class that could not cross the equator. In this way we are furnished with circumstantial proof affording the most irrefragable evidence that there is, at times at least, open water communication through the Arctic Sea from one side of the continent to the other; for it is known that the whales cannot travel under the ice for such a great distance as is that from one side of the continent to the other.
"But this did not prove the existence of an open sea there; it only established the existence—the occasional existence, if you please—of a channel through which whales had passed. Therefore we felt bound to introduce other evidence before we could expect the reader to admit our proof, and to believe with us in the existence of an open sea in the Arctic Ocean.
"There is an under current setting from the Atlantic through Davis's Strait into the Arctic Ocean, and there is a surface current setting out. Observations have pointed out the existence of an under current there, for navigators tell us of immense icebergs which they have seen drifting rapidly to the north, and against a strong surface current. These icebergs were high above the water, and their depth below, supposing them to be parallelopipeds, was seven times greater than their height above. No doubt they were drifted by a powerful under current."
Dr. Kane reports an open sea north of the parallel of 82°. To reach it, his party crossed a barrier of ice 80 or 100 miles broad. Before reaching this open water, he found the thermometer to show the extreme temperature of 60° below zero. Passing this ice-bound region by traveling north, he stood on the shores of an iceless sea, extending in an unbroken sheet of water as far as the eye could reach towards the pole. Its waves were dashing on the beach with the swell of a boundless ocean. The tides ebbed and flowed in it, and it is apprehended that the tidal wave from the Atlantic can no more pass under this icy barrier to be propagated in seas beyond, than the vibrations of a musical string can pass with its notes a fret upon which the musician has placed his finger.... These tides, therefore, must have been born in that cold sea, having their cradle about the north pole. If these statements and deductions be correct, then we infer that most, if not all, the unexplored regions about the pole are covered with deep water; for, were this unexpected area mostly land or shallow water, it could not give birth to regular tides. Indeed, the existence of these tides, with the immense flow and drift which annually take place from the polar seas into the Atlantic, suggests many conjectures concerning the condition of the unexplored regions.
Whalemen have always been puzzled as to the place of breeding for the right whale. It is a cold water animal; and, following up this train of thought, the question is prompted, Is the nursery for the great whale in this polar sea, which has been so set about and hemmed in with a hedge of ice that man may not trespass there? This providential economy is still further suggestive, prompting us to ask, Whence comes the food for the young whales there? Do the teeming waters of the Gulf Stream convey it there also, and in channels so far down in the depths of the sea that no enemy may waylay and spoil it on the long journey? These facts therefore lead us to the opinion that the polar sea may be an exhaustless resource for the supply of whales for other seas, as well as a common rendezvous for them during the intense cold of arctic winters. Dr. Kane found the temperature of this polar sea only 36°!
Vessels that are fitted out for the purpose of whaling, whether for sperm or right whaling, and the time for which they are fitted, may be classed as follows:—
1. Small vessels, principally schooners, though barks and brigs are included, cruise in the North and South Atlantic Oceans. They are fitted for six to eighteen months, and even two years. 2. Ships and barks that cruise in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans are usually fitted for two to three years. 3. Ships and barks that cruise on the Peru coast, or Off Shore ground, are fitted for two to four years. 4. Ochotsk Sea and Arctic Ocean whalers are fitted for two, three, and four years. 5. New Zealand whalers, sperm and right, are fitted for two, three, and four years.
The Time when Whaling Vessels sail to their respective Whale Grounds. Ships and barks fitted for the North Pacific, the Ochotsk Sea, the Kodiak, or the Arctic Ocean, usually leave our ports in the fall of the year, so as to make the passage of the Horn, or Cape of Good Hope, in the southern summer; these ships will arrive at the Sandwich Islands in March or April, remain in port a week or two, recruit, and sail to the north. On their return from the north in October and November, and sometimes as late as December, they usually touch at the islands again, take in a fresh supply of provisions, it may be ship their oil home, and sail to some other whale ground in a more southern latitude, either for sperm or right whaling, or both, and continue this cruise until the season comes around for them to go to the north again. The first is called the "regular season" for whaling, and the second "between seasons."
Ships that have completed their voyages, and intend returning home, when they leave the Ochotsk or Arctic, generally touch at the islands, or some other intermediate port, for recruits, and arrive on our coast some time in the spring months, and even as early as February or March, though not generally. The great majority of the ships sail in the autumn, and the largest arrivals are usually in the spring.
The Length of a Whale Voyage is determined by the Number of Seasons. One season in the Ochotsk or Arctic, including the outward and homeward passages, consumes one year and a half. Two seasons at the north, including the passages outward and home, and one "between seasons," require two and a half years. Three seasons, including the passages and two "between seasons," will require three and a half years.
Sperm whalemen, who are not governed by these seasons and between seasons, as right whalers are, are absent from home three and a half and four years, and sometimes longer. Indeed, the success or ill success of whalemen in obtaining oil determines essentially the length of voyages.
[CHAPTER V.]
Increased Length of Whaling Voyages.—Capital.—Value of Oils and Bone.—Value of several Classes of Whaling Vessels.—"Lay."—Boat's Crew.—Whaleboats.—Approaching a Whale.—Harpooning.—Whale Warp.—Danger when the Line runs out.—Locomotive Power of the Whale.—Lancing.—Flurry.—Cutting in.—Boiling out.—The "Case and Junk."—The Rapidity with which Oil may be taken.
The voyages of all classes of whalemen are much longer and more tedious now than formerly. Whales are more scarce, more easily frightened; they change their grounds or haunts oftener; and besides, the number of vessels engaged in their capture, in all seas, is largely increased, compared with the number twenty years since, or even later.
Harpooning a Whale.
More capital is now employed in this enterprise than ever before; and, were it not for the greatly advanced prices of oils and bone beyond what they were a few years ago,—taking into account the scarcity of whales, the long time occupied on a voyage, the augmented expense of fitting out ships, in the high prices of provisions and other incidentals,—the enterprise could hardly be sustained a single year; and certainly but a few years. Immense losses would pervade all departments of this wide-spread system of commercial operation.
A few years since, the price of sperm oil by the quantity was only fifty to seventy-five cents per gallon; but now it brings one dollar and forty cents per gallon by the cargo.
Right whale oil was formerly sold as low as twenty-five cents per gallon by the cargo; but now it brings in the market seventy and eighty cents per gallon by the quantity.
Whalebone, which formerly was sold as low as six cents per pound,—and almost a drug at that,—in consequence of the increased demand for it, and the various and extraordinary uses to which it is applied, now readily commands eighty cents per pound.
Thus a cargo of three thousand barrels of sperm oil, at the present market value of the article, will amount to more than one hundred and thirty thousand dollars. A cargo of three thousand barrels of right whale oil, including the bone, will command in the market, as their value now is, more than ninety thousand dollars; a ship of four hundred tons burden, fitted for a whaling voyage, may be estimated to be worth from thirty to sixty thousand dollars; a bark of three hundred tons, valued from twenty-five to forty-five thousand dollars; a brig of two hundred tons, valued from fifteen to twenty-five thousand dollars; a schooner, valued from eight to twelve thousand dollars.
A vessel owned by a number of persons, or a company, is usually divided into halves, quarters, eighths, sixteenths, thirty-seconds, sixty-fourths, &c.
The "lay" for which an individual agrees to go on a whaling voyage, is the proportion of oil, or its equivalent in money, according to the current value of oil, which comes to his share at the termination of the voyage. A short voyage and a full ship will be a profitable enterprise. Since each and all on board know their individual lays, all, therefore, have urgent, personal considerations to secure both for themselves and employers the greatest quantity of oil.
The captain's lay is from one tenth to one eighteenth of all the oil which is obtained; the first officer's, or mate's lay, from one seventeenth to one twenty-fifth; the second officer, from one thirtieth to one fortieth; the third mate, from one fortieth to one fiftieth; the fourth mate, from one fiftieth to one sixtieth; four boat steerers, each about one eightieth; "green hands," or those "before the mast," not far from one hundred and seventy-fifth lay.
Each whale boat, when properly pointed, has six men. Some ships man five boats, others four; barks four, brigs three, and schooners two and three.
Each vessel carries nearly double the number of whale boats which it needs. The whale boats, which combine lightness and strength, are always kept hanging over the sides and upon the quarters of the ship, ready furnished for pursuit, so that, on the appearance of a whale being announced from aloft, one or more boats can be despatched in less than a minute.
When a boat approaches the whale sufficiently near to strike, which is sometimes close alongside, and at other times on the top of his back, the boat steerer, who has the forward oar, immediately "peaks" it, and taking his position at the head of the boat, with harpoon in hand, he hurls it with all his energy, and generally with such force and precision, that he buries the fatal iron in the body of the whale, and sometimes he is killed almost instantly.
"The harpoon with which the whale is first struck is a most important weapon, made of the toughest iron, somewhat in the form of an anchor, but brought to an edge and point. Instead of steel being employed, as is commonly supposed, the very softest iron is chosen for this important implement, so that it may be scraped to an edge with a knife. A long staff is affixed to the harpoon by which it is wielded. Connected with the harpoon there is a strong line regularly coiled in the tub; when the whale is struck, and is disposed to dart away or dive down to the depths of the ocean, he carries the iron sticking fast by the barbs, while the coiled line runs out with amazing velocity. From a tub near the stern of the boat, it passes around a loggerhead, and over the seats of the oarsmen, to the bow of the boat, and then a sheeve or pulley is provided, over which it passes to the whale. The friction sometimes is so great in consequence of the rapidity with which the line is carried out by the whale, if by accident it gets out of its place, the bow of the boat is speedily enveloped in smoke, and would burst into a flame provided water was not instantly applied to prevent or allay all friction.
"It is at such a time as this, when by some slight accident the line gets 'foul,' or, by the overturning of the boat, the warp becomes 'tangled' up with the men, many a poor sailor has been carried out of the boat, and carried down into the depths below, and never seen after. Such sad occurrences as these are not wholly unfamiliar with whalemen.
"As soon as the whale is struck, orders are given to 'stern all,' in order to get out of the way of his flukes, or if he is disposed to be frantic and run, to give him the line. Sometimes the lines of several boats are bent on, and more than eight hundred fathoms are run out, and yet the whale would sink the boats were not the line cut. The force that can drag more than three thousand feet of whale warp through the water, including a whale boat, and sometimes more than one, at the rate of ten, twelve, and fourteen miles per hour, must be tremendous. Such is the locomotive energy of the whale. It is supposed that with equal ease he could swim off with a ship.
"When, however, the whale becomes so exhausted, having been perhaps harpooned by some other boats, that the warp can be hauled in, and the boat or boats approach the whale again, the lancer, who is generally one of the mates of the ship, exchanges places with the boat steerer, and takes his position at the bow of the boat, with a lance ten or twelve feet long; as soon as he comes near enough to reach him, he thrusts the slender and fatal steel into the very vitals of the animal; blood mixed with water is discharged from the blow holes, and presently streams of blood alone are ejected, which frequently drench the boats and men, and cover the sea far around. Sometimes the last agony of the victim is marked by convulsive motions with the tail, and violent contortions of his whole body; and, as we have seen, in its dying moments it turns its rage towards the authors of its sufferings. The whale is now in his 'flurry;' he dashes hither and thither, snaps convulsively with his huge jaws, rolls over and over, coiling the line around his body, or leaps completely out of the water. The boats are often upset, broken into fragments, and the men wounded or drowned. The poor animal whirls rapidly around in unconsciousness, in a portion of a circle, rolls over on its side, and is still in death. At other times, after it is lanced, the whale yields up its life quietly, and dies with scarcely a struggle."
Besides harpoons, which are the most important instruments upon which whalemen depend for capturing the whale, the harpoon gun and bomb lance are now used for the same purpose. They are not, however, considered as substitutes for the harpoon, except in cases of emergency, when the whale cannot be approached by a boat, or when he manifests ugliness or ferocity. The harpoon gun, designed to throw a harpoon, is but little used by American ships, though quite generally among English whalers. Nearly all of our whale ships, however, are supplied with the fatal and destructive bomb lance. The gun, into which the lance exactly fits, is heavier, shorter, and its barrel larger than common guns. It is loaded with powder, in the same manner as other guns. The lance is then put into the barrel of the gun, until one end of it comes in contact with the charge of powder; the opposite extremity has three edges, sharp, and tapering to a point. The entire length of the lance is about eighteen inches. The lance is prepared with a hollow tube, extending half or two thirds of the distance through it; and this tube is filled with a combustible material that readily ignites when the gun is fired. When the lance has buried itself in the huge body of the whale, the fire communicates with the explosive part of the filling in the tube, situated about in the centre of the lance, and in a few moments, thirty seconds perhaps, it bursts like a bomb, and destroys the life of the whale. The bomb lance may be fired with effect at a whale, at a distance of about fifty yards or more.
"The huge body is now towed to the ship; a hole is cut into the blubber near the head, into which a strong hook is inserted—a difficult and dangerous operation. A strong tension is then applied to this hook, and by it the blubber is hoisted up, as it is generally cut by the spades in a spiral strip, going round and round the body, the whale being secured alongside of the ship, and somewhat stretched by tackles both at the head and tail. As this strip or band of blubber is pulled off, weighing from one half to two tons, the body of course revolves, until the stripping reaches the 'small,' when it will turn no more.
"The head, which at the commencement of the process was cut off and secured astern, is now hoisted into a perpendicular position, the front of the muzzle opened, and the oil dipped out of the case by a bucket at the end of a pole." A ship has no purchase sufficiently strong to hoist in on deck the head of a large sperm whale. It is so heavy that it would take the masts out of her if attempted, or bring her keel out of water. Besides, it is so bulky that it would more than fill up the entire waist of the ship. The head sometimes contains more than fifty barrels of oil.
After the oil has been dipped out of the "case," the "junk" is then cut into oblong pieces and taken in on deck; the remainder of the head and carcass are then cut adrift. The oil is afterwards extracted from the blubber and junk, being cut into small pieces by the "mincing knife," and exposed to the action of fire in large pots, the skinny portions which remain serving for fuel. It should be observed that it is usual to secure the "junk" before dipping the oil from the "case." The "junk," which is the forward part of the head, contains the purest spermaceti, and therefore more valuable on that account. It is deposited in the front part of the head in a solid mass, about the consistence of lard, and divided occasionally by a narrow layer of "white horse," a substance resembling the cords of animals, only harder. After passing through a "cooler," the oil is conveyed through leathern hose to large stationary casks which constitute the bottom tier in the hold of the ship. When whales are plenty, which is the harvest time with whalemen, they usually stow away one hundred barrels of oil in twenty-four hours. At such times as these, the fires in the "try works" never go out. If whales were abundant, whalemen would fill a ship carrying three thousand barrels in less than two months.
[CHAPTER VI.]
Outfitting and Infitting.—"Runners."—Remedy.—Articles of Clothing.—Whaling Business.—Promotion.—Whale Killing.—Dangers.—General Success of the Enterprise.
In connection with the enterprise of whaling, a system of outfitting and infitting, as they are termed in common parlance, has sprung up, become established, and which is now closely identified and associated with it. This system, from its novel and somewhat singular operation, is like the vine, which entwines itself around the huge and gigantic oak, and thus it grows and expands according to the height and dimensions of its support. Such is the outfitting and infitting business in its relations to whaling.
Cutting in a Whale.
There are many establishments of this sort, in those places where whaling is carried on, whose principal business is to fit out recruits for whale ships. Hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of young men from the country, who have a desire to go to sea, and particularly whaling, naturally direct their steps to seaport places. There are others, also, who compose the floating, shifting, and in many cases the vicious class of young men, such as are found in all our large cities and prominent seaport towns; these, as a last resort, and in keeping with their roving and roaming habits, enlist in the whaling service. Such, too, are generally poor, wanderers it may be from good homes, becoming associated with bad company, and having no particular means of helping themselves in the time of emergency; therefore they are willing to be assisted in any way by others. Indeed, a change to them is a new fortune.
Advertisements or handbills sent abroad from place to place, proclaiming the want of seamen, are the measures usually adopted, besides some others, for collecting the materials which supply, to a considerable extent, the whaling fleet with "green hands." The outfitters take the general charge of these men, pay their board bills and other incidentals while in port, or before going to sea, and thus supply agents of ships in want of seamen. Scores and hundreds are shipped in this manner who never see the vessels in which they are to sail until they go on board for the voyage.
The outfit is supposed to embrace such articles of clothing, as to quality and value, which seamen need for the cruise, whether longer or shorter, according to the time for which they are shipped. There is scarcely one young man, unless he has had some previous information on this point, or is otherwise familiar with the facts, who knows what he most needs in the line of clothing for a voyage of two, three, and four years.
The outfitter, however, is supposed to know just what the young man needs. He is therefore provided with a sea chest, and in the chest, his stock, or outfit of clothing, is supposed to be placed by the outfitter, according to the amount for which the respective agents of ships wanting men will be responsible, and for which agents will settle with the outfitters after the sailing of their ships. Outfitters are thus limited by agents of ships as to the amount of the bills of clothing charged against each seaman respectively. The amounts of the bill of goods, or outfit, authorized by an agent, and so understood by the outfitter, will average from sixty to one hundred and twenty-five dollars to each seaman, or some of the lower officers, as boat steerers or fourth mates. Besides, all the expenses which the outfitter has been at in procuring men, and while on their hands before the ship sails, are charged in the several bills against the seamen.
After the sailing of the ship, the outfitter presents his bills to the agent, which he has against the men whom he has furnished for the ship, and these bills are immediately settled. Now, the amount of the bills thus paid to the outfitter is charged by the agent of the ship to each seaman, according to his bill of outfit, or which the outfitter has against him. In the transfer of the bills from the outfitter to the agent who settles them, the agent adds twenty per cent. to each seaman's bill; and thus the seaman, by this change, becomes indebted to the owners of the ship in which he sails.
The outfitter, however, must see his men on board of the ship before she sails; if they are not there, or if they have taken "a land tack," which they sometimes do, clothes and all, the outfitter is the chief and only loser in the affair. Special care, therefore, is taken by the outfitter, that the chests of clothing belonging to seamen shall accompany them when they go on board to go to sea.
Again, seamen are furnished for the whaling fleet by another method: an agent, for example, wishes to procure a certain number of whalemen; and for this purpose he sends to an outfitter, who secures the number that is wanted, gives them an outfit, as before noticed, and places them on board a day or two before the ship sails. This course is now usually adopted with reference to ordinary seamen or green hands. Thus we see the operation of the outfitting system.
We would respectfully suggest in this connection, that in our opinion, this method of supplying ships with "fresh hands" is one of the most prolific sources of unhappiness, discord, and every evil work, which not unfrequently take place between officers and crews. The very lowest dregs of society in this way are thus placed on shipboard as foremast hands; and among them there will be found those of desperate characters, and prepared for every work of disturbance and crime.
The infitting may be stated in the following brief manner. When a ship arrives in port from a whaling voyage, there are individuals ready to go on board before she approaches the wharf, or even casts anchor in the outer harbor, whose object is to supply seamen, or those whom they have formerly outfitted, as soon as they come ashore, with new clothes; or, in other words, to give them a regular infit. These individuals are called by agents, whalemen, and others, "runners," or "sharks," and are connected with the outfitting and infitting establishments. The seamen are soon provided with new suits of clothing from head to foot, which they greatly need after a three or four years' voyage around the Horn. The results of the voyage, however, if any thing shall be due to the returned seamen at the time of settlement with the agent, are held available to the outfitter; he looks to this source wholly, to meet this additional bill of clothing, or infit, which he has against the young whaleman.
If this were all upon which the "sharks" were disposed to lay their hands, it might be construed into a virtue, perhaps, instead of a fault. But could the history of large numbers of returned seamen, both whalemen and others, be only partially opened and spread out before the public eye, as it not unfrequently is, in that history we should find scenes of temptation, dissipation, and vice, in which not only the hard-earned fruits of years of toil, but character likewise, reputation, and happiness, have disappeared before the voracious grasp of those who lie in wait to destroy.
There are, doubtless, honorable and creditable men in the outfitting and infitting business, as well as in other avocations and callings. Such we do not mean. It is not so much the enterprise as it is the disreputable proceedings of those who are bent on securing unrighteous gain, and to whom, in far too many instances, alas! the unsuspecting sailor falls an easy prey. It is persons of this description, called "runners," or "sharks," that are not even allowed on board of some ships when they come into port, and before the crew are discharged. The purpose of their visits is well known, both to the officers and owners, and therefore they are denied the liberty of coming on board.
Seamen, beware! There are shoals, quicksands, and death-pointed rocks upon the land as well as upon the ocean! Be not led astray. Be men, upright, honest. Shun the cup, and all the gilded and winning blandishments that line the pathway to ruin! Husband, with becoming interest and economy, the results of your toil. Remember that virtue, and the fear of God, united with a conscientious discharge of your duty, both upon the sea and upon the land, will be a sure precursor to happiness, usefulness, and success in life. Take this course, and we assure you, as friends to your temporal and religious welfare, you will escape many a snare spread for your feet, into which others, with less circumspection and watchfulness, sadly and fatally fall.
It sometimes happens, that a seaman who has been on a voyage of several years, finds on his return that he has not made enough to pay his outfit and infit, nor money enough in his pocket to get home to his relatives and friends in the country. The voyage, perhaps, had been an unsuccessful one, and he, therefore, with others, suffers a common loss. Worthy young men experience such instances of misfortune as these; having made little or nothing during their absence from home, they are induced, from a sense of mortified pride, perhaps, to remain away years longer, hoping thereby to gain during the next voyage what they failed to secure in the last one. Thus they ship again, and go through nearly the same routine, the second time, as they did the first; with this exception, however, if they have given proof of efficiency and aptitude in whaling, they will be promoted to the position of boat steerers, and even to higher offices.
The writer on one occasion conversed with a young man, on board of one of our outward bound whale ships, respecting his parents, the place of his nativity, how long he had been in the whaling business, when he left home, &c. He informed the writer that he had a widowed mother in an adjoining state; that he returned from sea in June last, and having made nothing, he was therefore unable to go home and see his mother. Soon after his arrival in New Bedford he shipped again, and is now on another cruise of three and a half years. When allusion was made to his mother, and that in some way he ought to have gone and seen her, the tear instantly gathered in his eye, which showed that beneath a weather-beaten exterior there was something in his bosom which quickly responded to the endearing name—mother.
The system of outfitting, to which allusion has been made, and which might be carried on with honesty and integrity, yet nevertheless, as all must see, furnishes an opportunity for the unprincipled and avaricious to defraud and grossly cheat the ignorant and unsuspecting. The following are the ways in which it may be done. 1. In the poor and miserable quality of cloth of which seamen's garments are made. They have been known to fail to pieces after being worn only a few times, which clearly proved that the material called cloth was just strong enough to be put into the shape of clothes, and that was all. It was poor and cheap, and the buyer of the article probably knew it; it being for whalemen, and outfits justified the purchase. 2. In the loose and imperfect manner in which seamen's garments are put together. This is not true of all. The price paid for making is the minimum, or starving price; and therefore the garments are made accordingly. There are two losers by this arrangement, and one winner. The maker and buyer are the losers, while the profit passes into the hands of the seller. 3. In the exorbitant charges which are sometimes made for articles of clothing in the bill of outfit. Some astounding facts might be mentioned illustrating this point; but we let them pass, hoping they will never be reënacted again. Besides, instances have been known, in which there was a sad discrepancy between the seaman's bill of clothing, and the number of articles actually found in his chest, when he first examined it, after the ship was got under weigh, and bound out to sea.
It is when whalemen are beyond our coast, and around the Horn, and their outfits have been put to some service, they find that the winds, storms, and exposures have made sad havoc of their supposed sound and reliable chest of clothing. The fact that they are not present, but absent, and will be for months and years, and therefore unable to speak for themselves, face to face, to those by whom they have been sold, poorly and wretchedly justifies frauds, which may not be heard from for months, and perhaps for years. Time, however, stereotypes, instead of obliterating, a wrong. And still further, extravagant and unreasonable inducements and promises held out to influence thoughtless youth to engage in the business of whaling, are connected with the evils which have grown out of the system of outfitting, and of which whalemen and others have justly complained. These evils, however, if they now exist, could be measurably removed, if agents of the respective ships would carefully examine the bill of clothing which each seaman brings from the outfitter, article by article, contained in his chest; or if captains and officers should take this thing in hand after the sailing of their ships from port, and thus ascertain from personal inspection whether their crews have been justly dealt with as to the quality and number of articles in their bill of outfits.
Were this course thoroughly pursued, it would put at once, we are free to assert, a wholesome check upon any further attempts to defraud the ignorant and unsuspecting. We may go even yet further, and say, that it is clearly the duty of agents and officers of ships to look after the interests of inexperienced seamen who sail in their employ, and under their command; and if they did as suggested, it would doubtless greatly conduce to the contentment of seamen on shipboard, and likewise promote mutual good will and understanding, in regard to the purposes of the voyage.
It is hoped, however, there is less disposition now than formerly to defraud the unsuspecting, either in the quality or number of articles included in their outfit, or to deceive the ignorant by presenting to their minds unreasonable and extravagant promises, which would never be realized; and that honesty, which is always the best and safest policy at all times, and under all circumstances, will henceforth be more obviously seen in this branch of business connected with the whale fishery.
The following is an inventory of the principal articles of clothing, and a few incidentals, included in a young whaleman's outfit for a voyage, of two, three, or four years. It may serve as a sort of directory, and thus be of considerable advantage to those who would prefer a good, substantial outfit, compared with one which may have a name simply, but deficient in a great measure in real worth and service.
- 1 Monkey Jacket,
- 1 Oil Suit,
- 4 Pairs Thick Pants,
- 6 Thick Shirts,
- 6 Pairs Thin Pants,
- 6 Thin Shirts,
- 4 Pairs Thick Drawers,
- 1 Thin Frock,1 Guernsey Frock,
- 6 Pairs Shoes, good,
- 6 Pairs Stockings,
- 1 Tin Pot,
- 1 Spoon,
- 1 Tin Pan,
- 1 Bed, (mattress,)
Quilt, Blanket, Pillow, &c., &c.; Razor, Strop, Soap, Needles, Thread, Brush, &c.
The chief purpose the writer had in view in bringing together these facts connected with the history and details of whaling, was not only to interest the general reader, but that young men from the country, and elsewhere, who are desirous of engaging in this branch of employment, may know somewhat of its character and pecuniary importance in a commercial point of view.
Men of the first business talents are enlisted in this enterprise at home; and a more hardy, thorough-going, energetic, and generous class of men, as captains and officers of ships, do not traverse the ocean. That there are exceptions to this general rule, none will deny. Capriciousness, tyranny, crossness, and inhumanity are exhibited by some upon the sea as well as upon the land. He who cannot govern himself is ill prepared to be the leader of others.
It may be said that whalemen are at home on the ocean. During the first fifteen or twenty years of their service, they scarcely remain at home with their families and friends as many months. It is no mean and unworthy profession, but one highly honorable and creditable for any aspirant.
Nor is the responsible position of a captain, or officer, attained at once. Promotion comes not from the cabin windows, but in a direct line from the forecastle. There must be a regular apprenticeship gone through with, before one can expect to succeed in the hazardous undertaking of capturing the monsters of the deep. It is a trade, and in this regard it is far different from the merchant service. In addition to good seamanship,—and, by the way, whalemen are acknowledged to be among the best navigators in the world,—it is whale killing, an aptitude for this particular kind of work, that gives promise of attainment and success in the profession.
This business, then, we say, holds out many reasonable inducements to a young man desirous of engaging in it. With a good common school education, energetic, faithful to himself and his employers, temperate, and withal having a purpose to be something and do something in the world, there are but few paths to honorable respect, character, influence, and pecuniary competence, more inviting than this.
There are trials, and peculiar ones too, in the whaling service; and in what branch of industry are there not? But making all the allowances for long absences from home, which, without doubt, are the greatest deprivations of all, yet there are other considerations, which, it is believed, counterbalance these disadvantages.
There are dangers also connected with whaling; aside from the storms and sufferings which whalemen experience in navigating those remote northern seas and oceans, the greatest exposure to life is doubtless in the work of whaling. Yet, taking into the account the number of vessels and seamen engaged in this business, the distant places visited by them, and the character of their employment, and we venture the assertion, that there is no department of commercial enterprise, whether coastwise or foreign, that can present a list more free from disaster, loss of life, or bad health among seamen, than the whaling fleet.
While varied success attends the labors and deprivations of whalemen, yet, on the whole, we must conclude that the enterprise is as profitable, and furnishes as strong inducements for the investment of capital, as almost any other.
There have been partial and individual reverses in the whaling business, it is true, and unforeseen contingencies will ever happen; yet this fact is most obvious and plain to be seen, that from the whole history of whaling in this country, those seaport places in which the business has been perseveringly carried on, will advantageously compare with inland manufacturing and farming communities, in enterprise, wealth, educational appliances, and in all the comforts, and even the luxuries, of life.
[CHAPTER VII.]
Manufacture of Oil.
Crude oil, or oil in its natural state, is that which is obtained from the blubber of the whale in the process of "trying out" on shipboard. The oil, then, which is taken from whale ships and carried to the oil manufactory, is said to be in its crude state. We will speak first of the manufacture of crude sperm oil.[J]
The first step in the process of manufacture, is to take the oil in its crude state, and put it into large kettles, or boilers, and subject it to a heat of one hundred and eighty to two hundred degrees, and then all the water which happened to become mixed with the oil, either on shipboard or since, will evaporate.
Winter Strained Sperm Oil. In the fall, or autumn, the oil is boiled for the purpose of granulation during the approaching cold weather. The oil thus passes from a purely liquid into a solid state, or one in which it is in grains, or masses.
Boiling Out.
When the temperature of the atmosphere rises, or the weather slackens during the winter, the oil which has been frozen, but is now somewhat softened, is shovelled out of the casks and put into strong bags that will hold half a bushel or more, in order to be pressed. The oil which is now obtained from this first pressing is called winter strained sperm oil.
Spring Sperm Oil. What remains in the bags after the first pressing, is again heated by being put into boilers, after which it is baled into casks again, and upon cooling, it becomes more compact and solid than it was before.
During the month of April, when the temperature is about fifty degrees, the oil becomes softened; it is then put into bags, and goes through a second process of pressing similar to the first. The oil from this pressing is called spring strained sperm oil.
Tight Pressed Oil. That which is left in the bags after the second pressing, is again melted, and put into tin pans or tubs which will hold about forty pounds each. When this liquid is thoroughly cooled, as each pressing makes what is left harder, in consequence of extracting the oil, the cakes taken from the tubs are then carried into a room heated to about ninety degrees; and as they begin to yield to the influence of this high temperature, or the remaining oil begins to soften the cakes, they are taken and shaved into very fine pieces, or ground up as in some instances, deposited in bags as hitherto, and put into the hydraulic press.
The room being at the temperature indicated above, and the bags subjected to a powerful pressure of three hundred tons or more, all the oil is extracted from them, and what is left is perfectly dry, free from any oily matter, and brittle. The oil thus obtained by this last pressing is called tight pressed, or summer oil.
Spermaceti. What remains after the several pressings, and the removal of all the oil, is called stearine, or spermaceti.
Spermaceti is not confined to the head matter of the whale, as some suppose, nor does the head matter have any thing to do with the brains of the whale, as others have falsely conjectured; but spermaceti is found in the entire oil from the sperm whale.
It should be observed, however, that the spermaceti from the body oil of the whale makes harder candles than the spermaceti from the head matter; but the head oil or matter gives a greater proportion of spermaceti, and is more valuable than that from the body oil. Besides, the spermaceti from the head oil is quite different from that of the body oil; the former presents fine, bright, transparent scales, like small particles of isinglass, while the latter is more compact, something like dough. In cooling, one exhibits a sparry, crystalline structure, the other that of clay.
Head oil or matter is usually manufactured with the body oil of the whale, and mixed in proportion to one third of the former to two thirds of the latter.
Spermaceti Candles. That which remains in the bags after the hydraulic pressure is both dry and brittle. The oil, it is supposed, is wholly extracted, and nothing now remains but the spermaceti. Its color, however, is not white, but interspersed with grayish streaks, bordering on the yellow.
The spermaceti is put into large boilers adapted for the purpose, and heated to the temperature of two hundred and ten degrees. It is refined and cleared of all foreign ingredients by the application of alkali. Afterwards water is added, which, with a temperature of two hundred and forty degrees, throws off the alkali in the form of vapor. The liquid which remains is as pure and clear as the crystal water, and ready to be made into the finest spermaceti candles.
Right Whale Oil. The manufacturing of this variety of oil is of recent date, (within twenty-five years.) At first, in preparing it for sale, it was taken in its crude state and "recked off," that is, simply pumped out of the casks, and leaving the sediment behind. This kind of oil then was as cheap as milk is now.
Bleaching Oil. Crude oil is bleached in the first place by putting it into large kettles, applying alkali to it in proportion of one quart of alkali to one barrel of oil, and then heating it to a temperature of one hundred and ten degrees. This process destroys the watery acid in the oil.
Winter Strained Whale Oil. Whale oil, after bleaching, is made into winter oil by exposing it in casks to cold weather, or by artificial freezing in the summer. When frozen it is granulated, or separated into grains, or masses, like sperm oil. At a temperature when the oil begins to exhibit liquid particles, it is taken from the casks, and put into double cotton strainers. The oil which comes from this straining is called winter strained whale oil.
The following facts respecting winter strained whale oil may not be wholly destitute of interest. It is found that it will endure a greater degree of cold at the same temperature than winter pressed sperm oil; it will burn longer, and its specific gravity is heavier; but it will not give so brilliant a light as sperm oil.
Spring Whale Oil. What remains after straining the first time, goes through the process of heating, cooling, and pressing, similar to spring sperm oil; and thus is obtained the spring whale oil.
That which is left after straining and pressing is called whale foots.
The following are a few of the uses to which whale foots are applied. In making an inferior kind of candles, in making some kinds of bar soap, and likewise used on railways and in ship yards.
The adamantine candles are made of spermaceti mixed with wax, in proportion of one ounce of wax to a pound of spermaceti, and subjected to powerful steam pressure. They are not only much harder than spermaceti candles, and variously colored, but they command a higher price in the market. There is a manufactory of this description in Philadelphia.
Oil soap is made from the deposit of alkali, in the process of bleaching. If, after pressing and bleaching, the oils should retain too dark a color, they are then bleached again. Some varieties of oil are darker than others, which requires additional labor in this respect.
There is another method, and usually the ordinary one, by which oils are clarified and prepared for the market. It is termed panning.
For this purpose, after it has been bleached, strained, or pressed, and it does not assume the right color or shade, it is pumped into large, leaded, superficial vats, or pans, located in a building near by, whose side roof is wholly of glass, like a glass house, and so arranged that both air and sun can act upon large bodies of oil in different stages of whitening.
This process not only whitens the oil, but whatever particles or thickness there may have been in the oil, not discernible before, is now all removed and deposited on the bottom of the pan. The oil taken from these pans is put into barrels or casks, and is ready for the market.
Government Test of Sperm Oil. The lighthouses upon our seaboard, and also upon the lakes, are furnished with the best quality of sperm oil.
Sperm oil has a standard weight established or recognized by the government, and according as varieties fall short or go beyond this measure, or standard, indicated by a nicely adjusted oilometer, its true weight and value are ascertained.
Winter strained sperm oil is heavier, and burns away faster than spring strained sperm oil, for the simple reason that the winter oil is freer from spermaceti than the spring strained oil.
Sperm oil is tested by authority of government, when contracts are made with the manufacturer to furnish oil for lighthouses, in the following manner: A common tin lamp of a cylindrical form is taken, and fitted with a wick which reaches to the bottom of the lamp. It is then filled with oil, and kept burning until all the oil in the lamp is burned up, and the wick so dry that not a drop of oil will fall from it.
The number of hours which a given quantity of oil will burn, is another consideration included in determining the relative quality of oil.
Mixing or Adulterating Oils. Sperm oil is the purest and best of all varieties of whale oil, and brings the highest price in the market. Sperm oil is frequently mixed in greater or less proportions with right whale oil, which is an inferior kind of oil, and labelled sperm oil. This is a fraud, and it is practised more extensively than people are aware of.
The fraud may be detected if either the right whale oil or sperm oil happens to differ in its shade or color, the one from the other. Sperm oil is lighter than right whale oil. If sperm oil is carefully put into a glass containing right whale oil, the former will not displace the latter, but remain separate; and the line of separation between the two kinds of oil, providing the color is somewhat different, may be easily detected. The smell and taste of oil, likewise, determine whether it be bogus sperm oil or not.
But the surest and most certain test of all others, as to the quality of oils, is by the oilometer,[K] (elaiometer.) This instrument is not only authorized by government, and employed for the purpose of securing genuine sperm oil, but it is used in all oil manufactories to determine both in buying and selling the different varieties of oils.
It should be observed, however, that the mixing or adulteration of oils is never practised by the oil manufacturer. It would be fatal to his business if he should do it. There is no such article in an oil factory for sale as mixed or adulterated oils. It is either sperm or otherwise. The mixing takes place after it passes into the hands of the second, third, and it may be the fourth purchaser, or retailer. It is believed that but little genuine sperm oil reaches far back in the country, except, perhaps, for the purpose of lubrication in machinery; and even then, much of that, if tested by the proper measure, would probably be found badly mixed with an inferior quality of oil.
Since preparing the present chapter on the manufacture of oil, the following just remarks came under our observation, selected from the New Bedford Mercury, January 16, 1857, and are worthy of the attention of all.
"We embrace the present opportunity to offer some remarks and suggestions in the matter of the adulteration of sperm oil, which has been carried on to such an extent as to form one of the causes, we may safely say, for the decline of the article in price. Like every other commodity, it is liable to be counterfeited; and we know, after it has passed out of the hands of importers and manufacturers, adulteration has been practised to a wide extent. This is an evil beyond the control of our merchants, however much they may deprecate its influence upon the trade. To say that a system of adulteration is practised here, is a charge which cannot be substantiated by facts; and to suppose that the manufacturer would knowingly injure or damage his own business, is too absurd to require refutation.... We believe it would be a wise and judicious policy to establish agencies in different sections of the country, with agents of known honesty and integrity, for the wholesale and retail of the article; and that each barrel and cask bear the name of the manufacturer as a guaranty of its purity.
"Consumers, especially those who buy for machinery purposes, would then know where to make their purchases, and have the assurance of 'value received.'"
[FOOTNOTES]
[A] Master of the ship South Seaman, of New Bedford.
[B] Master of the ship William Wirt, of New Bedford.
[C] First officer of the ship General Pike, of New Bedford.
[D] First officer of the ship William Henry, of Fairhaven.
[E] See the Report of the New Bedford Port Society for 1857.
[F] Chambers.
[G] Macy's History of Nantucket.
[H] Christian Review, vol. xii.
[I] Average, eight feet; longest, fourteen feet.
[J] The author is indebted to Charles J. Barney, Esq., foreman of Dr. Daniel Fisher's oil factory, in Edgartown, one of the largest, if not the largest in the country, for the principal facts respecting the manufacture of oil.
[K] Harris.