Whales are taken in great numbers about Spitzbergen, Greenland, and other northern countries by the English, the Dutch, &c. Considerable fleets of ships are sent out every spring for this purpose. When they begin their fishery, each ship is fastened or moored with nose-hooks to the ice. Two boats, each manned with six men, are ordered by the commodore to look out for the coming of the fish for two hours, when they are relieved by two more, and so by turns; the two boats lie at some small distance from the ship, each separated from the other, fastened to the ice with their boat-hooks, ready to let go in an instant at the first sight of the Whale. Here the dexterity of the Whale hunters is to be admired; for as soon as the animal shows itself, every man is at his oar, and they all rush on the Whale with prodigious swiftness; at the same time taking care to come behind its head, that it may not see the boat, which sometimes so alarms it, that it plunges down again before they have time to strike it. But the greatest care is to be taken of the tail, with which it many times does very great damage, both to the boats and seamen. The harpooner, who is placed at the head or bow of the boat, seeing the back of the Whale, and making the onset, thrusts the harpoon with all his might into its body by the help of a staff fixed to the iron for this purpose, and leaves it in, a line being fastened to it of about two inches in circumference, and one hundred and thirty-six fathoms long. Every boat is furnished with seven of these lines, from the motion of which, when let run, they observe the course of the Whale.
As soon as the Whale is struck, the third man in the boat holds up his oar, with something on the top, as a signal to the ship; at the sight of which the man who is appointed to watch gives the alarm to those that are asleep, who instantly let fall their other four boats, which hang on the tackles, two at each side, ready to let go at a minute’s warning, all furnished with six men each, harpoons, lances, lines, &c. Two or three of these boats row to the place where the Whale may be expected to come up again; the others to assist the boat that first struck it with line; as the Whale will sometimes run out three more boats’ lines, all fastened to each other, for when the lines of the first boat are almost run out, they throw the end to the second to be fastened to theirs, and the second boat does the same to the third, and so on. In this manner line is supplied to such an extent that a large Whale has been known to carry off three miles of it.
A Whale, when he is first struck, will run out above a hundred fathoms of line, before the harpooner is able to take a turn round the boat’s stern; and with such swiftness that a man stands ready to throw water on the line to quench it, in case it should take fire, which it frequently does. There was, many years ago, a boat to be seen in the South Sea Dock at Deptford, the head of which was sawed off by the swiftness of the line running out. The harpoon would be of but little avail in the destruction of this animal; but part of the rowers, either at the first onset, or when, in order to fetch his breath, he rises to the surface and discovers himself to view, throwing aside their oars, and taking up their very sharp lances, thrust them into his body, till they see him spurt the blood through the blow-holes, the sight of which is a sign of the creature’s being mortally wounded. The fishermen, upon the killing of a Whale, are each entitled to some small reward. After the Whale is killed, they cut all the lines that were fastened to it, and then cut off the tail; upon this it instantly turns on its back; and in this manner they tow it to the ship, where they fasten ropes to keep it from sinking; and, when it is cold, begin to cut off the blubber.
The blubber of a Whale is frequently found to be eighteen or twenty inches thick; which yields fifty or sixty puncheons of oil, each puncheon containing seventy-four gallons; and the upper jaw yields about six hundred pieces of whalebone, most of which are about twelve feet long, and six or eight inches broad; the whole produce of a Whale being worth one thousand pounds, more or less, according to the size of the animal. Whilst the men are at work on the back of the Whale they have spurs on their boots, with two prongs, which come down on each side of their feet, lest they should slip, the back of the Whale being very slippery.
When the Whale feeds, it swims with considerable velocity below the surface of the sea, with its jaws widely extended. A stream of water consequently enters its mouth, carrying along with it immense quantities of cuttle-fish, sea-blubber, shrimps, and other small marine animals. The water escapes at the sides; but the food is entangled, and, as it were, sifted by the fringe of whalebone within the mouth; this kind of strainer is rendered necessary by the very small gullet, which in a Whale of sixty feet long, does not exceed four inches in width. The sailors say that a penny-loaf would choke a Whale.
The Whale bellows fearfully when wounded or in distress. Its young is called a cub.
There is also an extensive Whale fishery in the Southern Ocean, carried on chiefly by the Americans. The Whale found in those seas is distinct from the Greenland Whale, and is described by naturalists under the name of Balæna Australis.
