PUBLISHERS’ NOTE
The readers of this book will be interested to learn that the expedition from Dundee which set out for the Antarctic regions in 1892 to the Weddell Sea, south and east of Graham’s Land, and in which the author of the present volume took part, was the first of its kind since the famous expedition commanded by Sir James Ross in 1842. Dr W. S. Bruce, the distinguished polar traveller and oceanographer, was the scientific naturalist, and Mr Burn Murdoch, the author of this volume, was the artist and historian of the expedition, which is described by his pen in “From Edinburgh to the Antarctic.” It consisted of three whaling vessels specially built of great strength to withstand ice pressure, barque rigged and fitted with auxiliary steam power. They were accompanied by a Norwegian barque of similar type. The chief object of the expedition was the capture of the Right or Bowhead whale by old methods, from small boats. For three months these vessels were continuously amongst the thick pack ice and enormous bergs on the east side of Graham’s Land.
The publication of the above-mentioned book, and lectures by Dr Bruce and Mr Burn Murdoch, revived both at home and abroad interest in the Antarctic regions, and in 1897 the Belgica expedition followed in their wake, and this again was followed by expeditions of various European nations.
During the expedition of 1892-1893 vast numbers of the largest-sized finner whales were observed in the neighbourhood of Erebus and Terror Gulf, and between South Georgia and the South Shetland Islands. The report brought home of these whales being in such numbers led to the development of the present great whaling industry in the Southern Seas. Companies were formed and modern steam whalers were sent South to hunt these powerful rorquals or finner whales. The extent of this industry and the methods of modern whaling are described in the first part of this volume.
In the second part, which is concerned principally with bear-hunting in the Arctic regions, some description is also given of the old style of harpooning narwhals from small boats.
The publication of this volume has been held over owing to the war. Part of the text was printed off, and it contains references to events, current at the time, which, without this explanation, might puzzle the reader. The prices of the products of the whaling industry are for the same reason more up to date in the Appendix than in the text.
LIST OF CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
| CHAPTER I | |
| Planning a Modern Whaler—Towing a Whale—Our Whaler, the Haldane, in Shelter—Balta Sound, Shetland—We plan a Company—Our New Whaler, the St Ebba, in Tonsberg | [17] |
| CHAPTER II | |
| Norway to Tonsberg—Comparison between the Old Viking Ships and our Modern Vessel—Similarity of Lines—Modern Methods of Whaling—“Modern Whales” compared with Old Style—Whales, Sperm—Right Whales—Finners—Tackling a Finner with Old Style of Gear—Whaling Stations—Utilisation of Whole Carcass—Whale Products—Modern Whaling in Southern Hemisphere—Stations round the World—Decrease and Increase in Numbers of Whales—Natural Close Season—Increase of Biscayan Whale | [21] |
| CHAPTER III | |
| In Southern Norway—Building our Whaler—Cutting Lance Shafts—Tanks—Whale Lines—Outfit for Prolonged Cruise—Rigging and Arrangements of Hull—Our Harpoon Guns—The Henriksens of Tonsberg—Svend Foyn inventor—The Henriksen Works—Early Experiments with Modern Harpoon—Tonsberg Yacht Club—Tonsberg Whaling Captains—Successors of Svend Foyn—Development of Modern Whaling in South Atlantic—Weary Waiting—Trial Run of Engine—Provisioning—At the Rope Factory—Spinning our Whale Lines—Norwegian Hospitality—The St Ebba’s First Journey—Studying Charts—The Winch | [27] |
| CHAPTER IV | |
| Clear St Ebba from Quay Side—Anchor in Sheltered Fiord—Getting our Fishing Gear, Guns, etc., in order—Adjusting Compass—Final Provisioning—Ammunition—The Islands in the South Atlantic we hope to visit—A Fault in our Accounts—Harpoon Gun Drill | [38] |
| CHAPTER V | |
| Leave South Norway for the Shetlands—Anchors foul—At Sea at Last—Down the Skagerak in Calm—Picking up Lights—Unpromising Weather—Half a Gale—Digging into same Hole—Full Gale—St Ebba a Dry Ship—Hove to—A Sick Crew—Our Cook—Engine will not start—Drifting across North Sea to Yorkshire Coast—Recollection of a Previous Whaling Voyage—All Hands to Air Pump | [45] |
| CHAPTER VI | |
| Drifting—Gale falling—Engines start—Set Sail—The Name St Ebba—We put aside our Plans for Arctic Whaling—Fair Isle Light—Sumburgh Light—Bressay and Lerwick—Quiet and Greyness of Lerwick—Shetland Anæmic | [53] |
| CHAPTER VII | |
| The Waiting Part of Whaling—Before “grassing a Fish”—Waiting in Japanese Seas—Poultry on a Whaler—Small Whale Yarn—Tied up in Lerwick—“Customs” on Board—“Tearing Tartan”—Entangled in Red Tape—Are we Pirates?—A Mass of Fish and Cormorants—Shetlands held in Pawn—A Burly Type of Old Whaler—About the Old Dundee Whaling Captains—The Registrar braves a Storm—Herring Catchers versus Whalers—British Restrictions on Whaling Industry | [57] |
| CHAPTER VIII | |
| Visit to R. C. Haldane at Lochend—Return to St Ebba—Captain Henriksen entertains the Board of Trade Inspector—Registers our Tonnage at Sixty-nine Tons—A Sunday Saturnalia of Shag Shooting—How to cook Shag (Cormorants)—The Quiet of Lochend—Haldane’s White House, Peat Fire and Illuminated Missals—Stories—Our Shetland Whaling Station | [64] |
| CHAPTER IX | |
| Extracts from Whaling Log and Sketch-Book—In Shetland—Sea-Trout in the Voe—The Whaler Haldane calls for the Writer—The Forty-Mile Limit—Seals and Birds—The Modern Whale Gun—Difficulty of shooting it—Various Whales—Their Names—Idyllic Sea—A Bad Day for Whaling—Hunting—Freedom of the Sea—Try to blow up Mackerel—Sabbath Calm—No Whales—Fascination of watching for a Blow—Hark back to Shetland—New Departure—A Bag of Wind—Across the Limit again—Fine Weather—Æsthetics on a Whaler—A Blast, Whales at last!—A Rough Chase—A Bull’s Eye at Forty Yards—Lost! | [68] |
| CHAPTER X | |
| Better Luck—Spectacular Effect—Whales and Rainbow—On Chase—The Sea teems with Life—Our Chance comes—Heart-stopping Excitement—A Close Shave—In Tow—Seventy Tons in the Basket—Ten Whales in a Day—Vexatious Government Restriction—Uses of Whale Meat, Oil, and some Values in £ s. d. | [80] |
| CHAPTER XI | |
| Whaling has its seamy Side—A Whale Hunt—Colours of the Sea and Whales—In Tow—Whale is killed—Another Whale—“Thrilling Dangers” of Whaling and Exceptional Behaviour of Whales—Dangers of Whaling—Whale Steak—Whale Guano as Fertiliser—Lancing a Whale—Exquisite Colour of Whales—Pedigree of Whales—Rolling Home, Two Whales in Tow | [85] |
| CHAPTER XII | |
| Back to the St Ebba on West of Shetland—Fine Weather—No Competition—All Hands busy but no Whales—Our Last Night in Port—Out to the West—The Ramna Stacks as Targets for H.M.S.—A Sailing Ship once more | [97] |
| CHAPTER XIII | |
| A Fine Weather Chantey “California”—Back to Lochend—Cormorant Hash—Up Anchor and leave the Shetlands—Cape Wrath—Lewis—Dunvegan—Picking up Lights—South to Tobermory—Our West Coast on a Dark Night—Ardnamurchan and Coll—Morar, the Most Beautiful Country in the World—Drimnin next, Glen Morven—Tobermory—Relatives and the Lady of Aros Castle | [102] |
| CHAPTER XIV | |
| The British Fleet at Oban—A Union Jack made in Norway—St George versus Imperial Idea—Violation of British Constitution—John Knox a Sunday Golfer—Wives at Sea—A Yarn—A Spy in Tobermory—The Tobermory Policeman | [110] |
| CHAPTER XV | |
| Harvest Moon—Across the Irish Sea—Belfast—Origin of our Name Scotland—Erin go Bragh—What brought us to Ulster Day and the Covenant—The Crew’s Adventures—Greenhorns in Ballymacarack Street—Down Channel for the Azores—Spun Yarn—Deep-sea Swell—Inspection of Rifles | [115] |
| CHAPTER XVI | |
| N.E. Gale—“Oot o’ this intil a waur”—Into Deep Soundings—It Blows Hard—Black Night and Phosphorescent Wake—Oil on the Waters—Driving through—A Scrap of Sail—Attempt at Dolphin Spearing—A Whale in Phosphorescent Sea—An Idyllic Sunday—A Shoppie or Sale of Clothes from the Slop Chest—Æsthetic Music—Grieg on a Melodeon—M’Crimmon on Practice Chanter—Men who have dreamed—A Demonstration on flensing a Whale—Dolphin Steak and Onions—The Islands of the World | [122] |
| CHAPTER XVII | |
| A New Land (to us)—St Michael of the Azores—Bens and Glens—Colour of the Island—Portuguese Pilot—Talk by Signs—About Sperm Whales—Ponta Delgada—Its Remarkable Beauty—Arcades—Colour Reflections—The Inner Harbour—Sea Fishing—Bonita—A Trammel Net—Hunting for Whales round the Island—Distress Signals—The Wreck | [130] |
| CHAPTER XVIII | |
| Notes about the Island—Compared with Madeira—Its Sights—The Streets of Delgada—A Café—Vino Tinto—Guitar Melody—Costumes—Chase Small Whales—Whales’ Ocean Routes—“The Ladies’ Gulf” | [139] |
| CHAPTER XIX | |
| A Sudden Gale—Driving on to a Lee Shore—Bad Night—Engine Trouble—Killers attacking Whale—Recollections of the Antarctic—Oddments—An Eight-Foot Ray or Skate—A Jaunt on Shore—The Writer’s Excursion to “The Seven Cities”—Up the Hills—Wind up Affairs in Delgada—Up Anchor | [146] |
| CHAPTER XX | |
| Leave the Azores and San Miguel—Madeira in Prospect and Tunny Fishing—Whales at Last!—Sperm—A Chase—Prospects of Success—Long Chase—Fast!—A Straight Shot—A Bull Sperm—Cutting up a Sperm Whale’s Anatomy—Sharks—Creeling a Shark Single-handed—Spermaceti Oil—Blubber like Marble—Cooking Process—£. s. d. on the Horizon—Sharks and Pilot Fish—General Satisfaction—Whaling off Madeira | [154] |
| CHAPTER XXI | |
| Madeira at Dawn from the Sea—Description—Funchal Flowers—Tunny Fishing—Early Morning Start—Splendid Colours of Native Boats and Crews—Small Fry for Bait—A Large Tunny caught by next Boat—Our Tunny and Pulley-haul Fight—Sailing Back | [165] |
| CHAPTER XXII | |
| We leave the North Atlantic—Engine Troubles—Slow Voyage to Cape Town—New Engineer puts Diesel Engine right—Up the East Coast of Africa—The Seychelles Islands—Many Whales—We decide to make a Land Station—Apply to Government for Licence | [176] |
| CHAPTER XXIII | |
| Going to the Arctic—Objects in View—Our Little Company in the Fonix—Rough Weather—The First Ice—Draw for Watches—A Party lost in the Ice and a possible Cure for Scurvy—A Lunatic in the Ice—The Coming Spanish Arctic Expedition—Clay Pigeons—Fencing—We aim at Shannon Island—North-East Greenland—Ice Floes and Mist | [179] |
| CHAPTER XXIV | |
| Arctic Ice compared to Antarctic Ice—Colours of the Floes—First Blood—Habits of Arctic Seals compared with those of the Antarctic—Stopped in the Floes—Cobalt Ice Water—White Bears’ “Protective Colouring”?—Watching a Bear Hunt—Flea of Ursus Maritimus—Scoresby on the Danger of Bear-hunting | [187] |
| CHAPTER XXV | |
| Six Bears in the Twenty-four Hours—A Bear’s Meal—C. A. Hamilton’s Veteran Bear—The Writer and a Bear stalk each other—Tips for Animal Painters—Sensation facing a Bear at Three in the Morning—Bear Flesh as Food—The colour of the Polar Regions—Method of pulling a live Bear on Board—A Bear eating a Seal | [196] |
| CHAPTER XXVI | |
| Waiting for Whales—Narwhals at last!—Our She-Cook—An Arctic Sanatorium—A Shark—Arctic Seals and Seals of the Antarctic—Our Bear’s Food—L’éscrime—Rifle, Pistol, Lasso—Lasso our Starboard Bear—Morning Watch in the Ice—Ivory Gulls, Fulmars, Skuas—Small Life—More Bears—A Bear Stalk before Breakfast—Fears about reaching Greenland—Bears on Board—Cachés in Franz Joseph Land—Bear Stories—“The Ends of our Garden” | [204] |
| CHAPTER XXVII | |
| A Walk on the Floe—Bear takes a Football—Lasso Practice—A Piece of Driftwood—The Bagpipes—Pushing West—A Cold Bath—Chasing a Bear and Cubs—Lost in Mist—Clever Mother Bear—Bear-hunting, a Man killed—Expectations of Walrus | [219] |
| CHAPTER XXVIII | |
| A Narwhal and a Bear in the Bag—Missing Whales—Old Style of Whale Gun—Svend Foyn’s Cure for Toothache—Is Whaling an “Industry” or a “Speculation”?—Whales “Tail up”—Excitement of Whaling—Svend Foyn overboard—Floe Rats—Bears struggle for Freedom—Size and Strength of Bears—The Silence of the Arctic—Seals—Painting Ice Effects—Our Gifted Steward and our Vivandière on the Ice—A Bear on the Floe Edge | [231] |
| CHAPTER XXIX | |
| Arctic and Antarctic Floes compared—The Writer, the Bear and our “She-Cook”—Bear bids for Freedom—Rope-throwing—An Artist’s Points in a Little Seal Stalk—Man and his Works in Arctic and Antarctic—Whales’ Food | [240] |
| CHAPTER XXX | |
| On Sitting up late—Harp Seals—Young Bears and Seniors—A Family Party—An Ice Grotto—A Hot Grog and Another Bear—A Tight Place | [248] |
| CHAPTER XXXI | |
| All Hands to secure the Bears—Two Bear Cubs captured—Invidious Comparisons between the Starboard and Port Bear—Another Bear for the Larder—Greenland’s Icy Mountains—A Blue Seal—“Starboard” makes more Trouble—A Spanish Yarn—Why the Harp Seal blows its Nose | [256] |
| CHAPTER XXXII | |
| Sports on the Floe—Notes on Protective Coloration | [263] |
| CHAPTER XXXIII | |
| Bear Cubs, “Christabel” and “William the Silent”—Bottle-nose Whales—Bear versus Bull—The Dons back the Bull!—Getting out of the Pack to Open Water—Meet Spitzbergen Ice | [276] |
| CHAPTER XXXIV | |
| We get out of the Ice—Open Sea again—Spanish Airs—Killers—A Whaler’s Esperanto—Killers attacking a Rorqual—A Gleam of Sun—Then Rough Weather—Then Shelter in a Fiord—Beards off and Shore Togs—Our Engineer’s Children and the Bagpipes | [281] |
| CHAPTER XXXV | |
| Trömso again—Down the Coast—Selling our Bears—Bears Escape—Eat the Fish in Market-place—We put our Bears into New Cages—Notes amongst the Norwegian Islands—Recollections of Hunting—Fishing—Music—A Viking Air—Talk in the Smoking-room—Drawings of Whale’s Structure | [287] |
| CHAPTER XXXVI | |
| Killers—Stomach of Whales—Grampuses and Whales—William and the Mandolin—The “Prophet”—Hard Waves—Back to Trömso | [291] |
| CHAPTER XXXVII | |
| Teetotal Travellers—Fate of the Bears—Bears at large—Trondhjem—Folk Songs | [300] |
| CHAPTER XXXVIII | |
| Whalebone—Whales’ Food—Head of Sperm Whale—Value of Whale Oil | [308] |
| APPENDIX | [312] |
| INDEX | [317] |