The Arctic regions and the northern whale-fishery

by William Scoresby

The tail, comprising in a single surface eighty or one hundred square feet, is a formidable instrument of motion or defence. Its length is only five or six feet, but its width is eighteen to twenty-four or twenty-six feet. Its position is horizontal. In its form it is flat and semi-lunar, indented in the middle, the two lobes somewhat pointed and turned a little backward. Its motions are rapid and universal; its strength immense.

The eyes are situated in the sides of the head, about a foot obliquely above and behind the angle of the mouth. They are little larger than those of an ox. The whale has no external ear. The spiracles or nostrils of the whale are two longitudinal apertures, six or eight inches in length, from which a moist vapour, mixed with mucous, is discharged when the animal breathes, but no water accompanies it unless the breathing takes place under the surface. The mouth, in place of teeth, contains two extensive rows of “fins,” or whalebone, which are suspended from the sides of the crown-bone. Each series, or side of bone, as the whale-fishers term it, consists of upwards of three hundred laminæ, of which the longest are near the middle. Ten or eleven feet is the average length, and the greatest breadth at the gum ten or twelve inches. The interior edges of these laminæ are covered with a fringe of hair. In the youngest whales, called suckers, the whalebone is only a few inches long; when the length reaches six feet or upwards, the whale is said to be of size. The colour of the whalebone is brownish black, or bluish black, and occasionally striped longitudinally with white. A large whale sometimes affords a ton and a half of whalebone. The gum, in which the thick ends of the whalebone are inserted, is white, fibrous, tender, and tasteless. It cuts like cheese, and has the appearance of the kernel of the cocoanut. The animal has a large tongue, a slight beard, and a remarkably narrow throat.

The milk of the whale resembles that of quadrupeds in appearance, and is said to be rich and well-flavoured. In the female, two paps are situated on the abdomen.

The colour of the mysticetus is velvet black, grey, and white, with a tinge of yellow, according to the parts of the body. The older animals contain the most grey and white; under-sized whales are altogether of a bluish black, and suckers of a pale bluish, or bluish grey colour.

The skin of the body is slightly furrowed, but on the tail it is smooth. That part of the skin, which can be pulled off in sheets after it has been dried a little in the air, or particularly in the frost, is not thicker than parchment. The rete mucosum in adults is about three-fourths of an inch in thickness over most parts of the body. Under it lies the true skin, white and tough, and immediately in contact with it the blubber.

This most valuable portion of the animal encompasses its whole body. Its colour is yellowish white, yellow, or red; in old animals sometimes resembling the substance of the salmon. It swims in water. Its thickness all round the body is eight or ten to twenty inches, varying in different parts, as well as in different individuals. The lips are composed almost entirely of blubber, and yield from one to two tons of pure oil each. The oil appears retained in the blubber in minute cells, connected by a strong reticulated combination of tendinous fibres, which are condensed at the surface, and appears to form the substance of the skin. The oil is expelled when heated. In its fresh state, the blubber is without unpleasant smell, and it is only at the end of the voyage that the cargo of a Greenland ship becomes disagreeable.

The quantity of oil yielded by a certain quantity of blubber varies according to the age of the animal; the blubber of the sucker contains a very small portion. The quantity of oil generally bears a proportion to the length of the longest blade of whalebone. Four tons of blubber in measure generally produce three tons of oil; the ton of oil being two hundred and fifty-two gallons, wine-measure.

The flesh of the young whale is of a red colour, and, when broiled and seasoned with pepper and salt, eats like coarse beef. The bones are very porous, and contain much fine oil. The ribs are thirteen in number, and are nearly solid, and the bones of the fins, in number and proportion, are similar to those of the fingers of the human hand.

A stout whale, of sixty feet in length, is of the enormous weight of seventy tons; the blubber weighs about thirty tons; the bones of the head, whalebone, fins, and tail, eight or ten; the carcase thirty or thirty-two.

The whale is dull of hearing, but its sense of seeing is acute, especially when under water. It has no voice, but makes in breathing or blowing a very loud noise. It blows or breathes about four or five times a minute, discharging vapour to the height of some yards, which, at a distance, looks like a puff of smoke. When the animal is wounded, this vapour is often stained with blood, and on the approach of death jets of blood are sometimes discharged. The whale being lighter than the water, can remain at the surface with ease, but requires considerable exertion to descend. It advances through the water by means of the tail, which, to attain the greatest velocity, is moved alternately upward and downward; and, for slower progress, laterally and obliquely downward, in the manner of skulling a boat. The fins are used for balancing the animal, and in bearing off their young. I have observed a whale descending, after I had harpooned it, to the depth of four hundred fathoms, with the average velocity of seven or eight miles per hour. The usual rate at which whales swim, however, seldom exceeds four miles an hour, and though their extreme velocity may be eight or nine, yet we find this speed never continues longer than for a few minutes. They sometimes ascend with such rapidity as to leap entirely out of the water, apparently for amusement, and to the high admiration of the distant spectator. At other times they throw themselves into a perpendicular posture, with their heads downward, and rearing their tails on high in the air, they beat the water with awful violence; the sea is thrown into foam, the air is filled with vapours, and the noise in calm weather is heard to a great distance. Sometimes the whale shakes its tremendous tail in the air, which, cracking like a whip, resounds to the distance of two or three miles.