CHAPTER X
The solitary finner we hunted disappeared, and we hunted for hours towards heavy purple clouds in the S.W., and the sea seemed deserted as before, till towards six o’clock we saw a blow, and soon after saw the crow’s nest of a whaler above the horizon; she appeared to be working to and fro as if hunting a whale.
In half-an-hour we were amongst great large whales! and began the most spectacular whale-hunt we have ever seen. For two and a half days we had hunted blank, lifeless ocean, then, without rhyme or reason, it was brimming with life! An indigo bank of cloud there was for background, a complete vivid rainbow against that—beneath it the swelling seas, dark green with purple lights and white foam, with here and there whales’ white blasts catching the western sun from a score or fifty enormous finners. In every direction were dolphins with yellow and white stripes, and porpoises spurting water up like cannon shots as they dived; overhead were petrels and dark skuas. The whales’ plum-coloured backs caught the western light and reflected the sky on their upper surface in tints of lavender as they rose, glittering and powerful, in green and white foaming water, thousands of pounds sterling, and millions of horse-power, in groups of three or four surging along beside each other, east and west, sending up mighty jets of steam, to be carried away in the wind.
As we went in chase of a group of these we saw the other whaler was fast to a whale, over which she apparently had no control.
Towing a Whale
The top plate shows a fluke, that is, one half of a whale’s tail, fastened by a chain to the bows. This is cut away to prevent resistance to the water. Note the gun and harpoon on the bows.
The middle plate shows two 5½″ lines attached to a whale.
The bottom plate shows the double-barrelled winch and line and grooved wheel on which the hard wood brake acts.
The whales were feeding, but travelling so fast that we could not come up with them, so we cut across their course, and dozens of times we thought we were going to get our chance. Then other bigger whales crossed, and we gave up the first lot and went plunging after the others, throwing up grand showers of foam over our bows and oilskins. But cold and wet you do not think of, with seventy or eighty tons charging in front of you and the chance of getting in the harpoon any moment. For several hours we chased in this wonderful piece of sea, so brimful of life, but the whales dodged about at a most unusual rate; possibly their rapidity of motion was caused by the host of dolphins and porpoises that leapt alongside them and crossed their course; and for all these hours we could occasionally descry our neighbour through the rain showers and failing light, still in tow of her prey. Not till about nine o’clock did she fire a second gun and we hoped she had got in another harpoon to finish her prolonged fight.