The blubber of the devilfish is thick and fat and varies in color from red to flesh-pink. Because of this difference the Japanese recognize two kinds of gray whale—the aosaki (red blubber) and the shirosaki (white blubber), but this is merely an individual difference and certainly is not sufficient ground for specific distinction.
The Japanese consider the meat and blubber of the devilfish to be of poorer quality for eating than that of any other baleen whale. In the winter, during December and January when the price is at the highest, the blubber sells for about 4 sen (2 cents) per pound and the red meat at 10 sen (5 cents).
CHAPTER XVIII
THE WOLF OF THE SEA
Although the killer whale has no great commercial value, it is often brought in at the shore stations and figures so prominently in all deep-sea life that to omit it from any book on whaling would be a grave error.
The killer is the wolf of the sea and like the land wolves hunts in packs of twenty or more individuals which will attack and devour almost anything that swims. Every whaleman has stories to tell of the strength and ferocity of these sea terrors, but I think that the incident witnessed by Captain Robert F. Scott and published in the journal of his last ill-fated expedition is one of the most remarkable experiences of which I have ever known. It is so interesting that I have quoted it in full:
Thursday, January.—All hands were up at 5 this morning and at work at 6. Words cannot express the splendid way in which everyone works and gradually the work gets organized. I was a little late on the scene this morning, and thereby witnessed a most extraordinary scene.
Some 6 or 7 killer whales, old and young, were skirting the fast floe edge ahead of the ship; they seemed excited and dived rapidly, almost touching the floe. As we watched, they suddenly appeared astern, raising their snouts out of water. I had heard weird stories of these beasts, but had never associated serious danger with them. Close to the water’s edge lay the wire and stern rope of the ship, and our two Esquimaux dogs were tethered to this.
“The killer is the wolf of the sea and like the land wolves hunts in packs of twenty or more individuals which will attack and devour almost anything that swims.” This specimen, taken at Oshima, Japan, was twenty-six feet in length, and its skeleton was sent to the American Museum of Natural History.
I did not think of connecting the movements of the whales with this fact, and seeing them so close I shouted to Ponting, who was standing abreast of the ship. He seized the camera and ran toward the floe edge to get a close picture of the beasts, which had momentarily disappeared. The next moment the whole floe under him and the dogs heaved up and split into fragments. One could hear the “booming” noise as the whales rose under the ice and struck it with their backs.