The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1884-11-26
Written for THE RECORD.
"REMINISCENCES OF A VOYAGE TO
THE NORTHERN SEAS.
BY GEO. c. WESTON, N.
a..

we had lost him, he checked his speed
and came to the surface once more, in
order to take in a supply of fresh air.
We then began to haul in line and thus
drawing nearer to him succeeded in get
ting quite close to his body before be had
time to dive away from us again. Our
'boat-steerer" then fred bomb-lance
into his body. The other boats approach
ed and two more lances were fired, which
took prompt effect Three or four hand
lanees were also thrown and plunged deep
into the body of the whale. The bomb
lances consist of case of iron, loaded
with an explosive compound, in which is
placed lance ten inches long and one
and one-half inches in diameter. A fuse
is attached to one end of the case, which
ignited at the time of the discharge of the
iron gun from which the case lance is
sent on its mission of death. The object
of the case is to have it explode in the
body of the whale.
Three rapid explosions in succession at
once notified us that the work was favor
ably done; strong shiver passed through
the body of the whale. The lancers then
probed and ran their weapons rapidly in
and out the holes, made previously by
them in the monsters carcase, causing
him to spout forth volumes of bloody
froth and steam, which completely en-
veloped us in its sitting effect, and made
many young stomach turn in disgust
upon its owner. We were soon rewarded
in witnessing the great death struggle of
the immense fish, who gathering his re-
naming strength, dashed The water sur
rounding him into foam, and then turn
ing high into the air, covering us with
the hot stuff and nearly nauseating the
newly feged youngsters, composing some
of the boats crew. Finally came the great
death struggle of the huge monster,
when he called forth all his remaining
strength, lashing the water into foam,
and turning over upon his back hoisted
his fins into the air and gave up the ghost.
We then came up alongside of him, cut n
hole through each fin, passed rope
through them and made his fins fast to
the body, so as not to impede his progress
through the water. We then made an
other rope fast around his tail or ''flukes, /"
fastening the other end around the log
ger head in the boat, and prepared to
tow the carcase to the vessel. The rope
was also passed about in similar man
ner throughout all the boats.
Having slain the monster, we hoisted
the "white flag" as an indication that
the battle was ended, and that our victim
was in our power. Our vessel had been
"laid to-, while we were fighting the
whale; it now bore down upon us while
we pulled manfully toward it, dragging
the body of the whale after us. Having
come alongside of the vessel, we made the
whale fast to it, by fastening his head to
the stern of the vessel and his tail to the
bow. After having secured the immense
carcase, we went on board and hoisted
the boats to the deck of the vessel. Pre-
partitions were then made for the cutting
up of the body, the removal of the "blub
bern aud rendering out" tho latter into
oil, and removing the bones from The
head of the whale.
The "try works. on whaling vessel
are generally two large iron pots, Of
about twenty barrels capacity each, en-
closed in brick work and situated on
deck, between the ''waist" and "fore
mast" A small space is left between
wooden structure of the vessel which is
filled with water to prevent fire. The
''blubber" was then cut from the whale
in large strips, called the blanket pieces,
being from four to six feet square and
about one foot in thickness, hoisted on
deck, cut into smaller pieces about 6x24
inches, called ''horse pieces" These
were then run through machine called
''mincer," the same being one man
power, turned by man on the ''crank. !"
Fires were then started nnder the try
pots, the blubber "pitched' in, and then
the fun began. The crew was then di'
vided into "try Watches" differing from
the regular sea Watches being six hours
on duty and six off. These were run day
and night.
| At the end of three days the whale was
transformed into oil, when we found that
he had yielded 1856 barrels of oil, and be-
sides by careful estimate $500 pounds
of good whale bone; the marketable value
of the entire yield was about $4,000.
After we had used up the whale and
had stored away the oil and whalebone,
we began to cleanse our craft from the
large lot of grease with which she was
laden from our last operations. After
having gotten everything into ship shape
once more, we cruised about in quest OF
game, for about two weeks longer, gradu-
ally making our way to the southwark,
and keeping a bright look out for whales.
Several elbows" were seen during this
time and boats were lowered, but it was
not our good fortune to strike any more
| in these waters.
The Captain then declared the season
ended for whaling, in this locality, and
we set sail for "Hudson's Straits,'' in Or
der to take in fall whaling. The point we
steered for was on the northern shore of
the straits about half way between the bay
and the ocean. Having favorable winds
and fine weather, we reached the spot in
about three weeks.
Upon one fine afternoon we dropped
anchor in fine large sheltered harbor,
called by the natives Ok-et-le-ah. Here
we again met another tribe of the Es-
quimaux, the chief of which was sur
named "Johnny Bull" short, thick,
heavy set, handy legged savage. He earn
ed his cognomen at one time by shipping