Useful Knowledge: Volume 3. Animals / Or, a familiar account of the various productions of nature

by William Bingley

Every ship sent out from this country carries along with it six or seven boats, each of which has one harpooner, one man at the rudder, one man to manage the line, and four men as rowers. In each boat there are also two or three harpoons, several spears, and about six lines, each 120 fathoms in length, fastened together. As soon as the men in the boats discover a whale, swimming near the surface of the water, they approach to the spot, and strike a harpoon deeply into his body. To this instrument the line is attached; and on the whale plunging into the water, this line is allowed to run out, great care being taken not only to prevent it from catching, lest the animal should overset the boat, but also (by continually wetting the place against which it runs) to prevent its rapid motion from setting fire to the wood. After a while the wounded animal is obliged to return to the surface to breathe. His direction is followed, and his re-appearance carefully marked. With great dexterity fresh wounds are inflicted, till, at length, he appears exhausted, when a long spear is thrust into his intestines, which soon destroys him. The whale is then dragged to the ship, and securely fastened to the side by ropes attached to the fins and tail. The blubber is cut out, in large square pieces, by men who get upon the animal, having their shoes armed with a kind of iron spurs to prevent their slipping. As soon as the blubber is taken on board the vessel, it is divided into smaller pieces, and thrown into the hold to drain.

The next operation is to extract the whalebone. This is done entire, along with the gums, which are hoisted on the deck, where the blades are cut and separated, and left until the men have leisure to scrape and clear them. The tongue consists of a soft and spongy fat substance, which, when boiled down, yields five or six barrels of oil; the oil that is drained from the two upper jaw-bones is the peculiar perquisite of the captain. As an encouragement to the whale fishery, a bounty of twenty shillings is allowed by Government for every ton of blubber which is imported into this country.

From Milford, in Pembrokeshire, and some other British sea-ports, vessels are also fitted out for the South Seas, in pursuit of whales which frequent the ocean in those torrid climates, particularly near the coast of South America.

The inhabitants of Greenland, and of other northern countries of the world, eat almost every part of the whale. The skin, the tail, and the fins, are sometimes eaten even raw. The flesh is eaten both fresh and dried. That of the young animals is of red colour; and, when cleared of fat, broiled and seasoned with pepper and salt, is said to eat not unlike coarse beef. That of an old whale appears black, and is exceedingly coarse and unpalatable. The Esquimaux, however, eat both the flesh and fat of the whale, and drink the oil with greediness. Indeed some of the tribes carry, in their canoes, bladders filled with whale oil, which they use in the same way, and with a similar relish, that a British sailor does a dram. They also eat the skin of the whale raw. It is not unusual for female Esquimaux, when they visit whale ships, to select for eating, pieces of skin to which a portion of blubber is attached. They also give it for food to the infants suspended at their backs, who suck it with great apparent delight. The heart of a young whale which was caught in the year 1793, and measured fifteen feet in length, is said by Captain Colnett to have afforded a delicious repast to his ship's crew. Of the intestines of the whale the Greenlanders prepare a substance which serves instead of glass for their windows. They make fishing-lines of the filaments which terminate the blades of whalebone; and in many countries, the ribs and other large bones supply the place of timber, in the construction of houses, and as fences to surround gardens and fields. The smaller bones are converted into harpoons and spears. The tendons are split into filaments, and used as cordage, and for nets of various kinds. With the Esquimaux some of the membranes of the abdomen are used for an upper article of clothing; and the thinnest and most transparent of them are adopted, instead of glass, in the windows of their huts. The blubber of the whale, when pickled and boiled, is said to be very palatable; and the tail, when parboiled and fried, is often adopted in the Greenland ships as food. The blubber, when in a fresh state, is destitute of any unpleasant smell: indeed it is not until the termination of the voyage, when the cargo is unstowed, that a Greenland ship becomes disagreeable. The use of the whalebone in our own country is well known; but, since ladies have left off wearing stays, it is at present comparatively in little demand. By a late invention it is manufactured into hats, bonnets, and brushes.

Whales are sometimes seen in troops sporting about near the surface of the ocean. They spout water through the spiracles on the top of their heads, with the rushing noise of a cataract, and to the height even of thirty or forty feet. Such are their powers in the water that, in some instances, their motion through that element has been calculated at thirty feet in a second, or upwards of twenty miles in an hour. Great caution is required in attacking them, as, with a single blow of their tail, they are able to upset a tolerably large boat. They feed only on the smaller kinds of fish and other marine animals, as their throat is not sufficiently wide to admit of their swallowing any substance of large size, and they are not furnished with teeth to cut or grind their food into small pieces. The females produce only one young one each: this they suckle for many months, and are peculiarly affectionate and attentive towards it.

These animals are occasionally stranded on the British shores, in which case, by the ancient laws of the land, they are deemed royal fish; the king being entitled to the anterior, and the queen to the posterior half.

119. The FIN-BACKED WHALE, or FIN-FISH (Balæna physalus), is a marine animal from sixty to ninety feet in length, with a thick fin on the hinder part of the back, the muzzle tapering, and the jaws somewhat pointed.

This species is of more slender form than the last, its greatest circumference not in general exceeding fifteen or twenty feet. The spiracle or breathing hole is double, and situated on the middle of the fore part of the head; and the colour of the body is generally dark or blackish olive above, and white below. The whole surface appears polished and shining.

These whales are chiefly found in the northern frozen ocean, and particularly about the coast of Greenland and Spitzbergen. But they sometimes enter the Mediterranean, and are not uncommon in the South American and Indian seas.

Although a smaller proportion of oil is obtained from these than from the great whales, it is of much better quality than that. The inhabitants of Greenland consume it with their food, preferably to burning it in lamps, if oil of less value can be obtained for that purpose. The whalebone is too short and narrow to be of much value. From the small quantity of oil, and little value of the whalebone, added to the difficulty and danger which are attendant on the pursuit of these active and powerful animals, they are not very eagerly sought after by the whale-fishers.