Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1888-10-04

v II
gums spongy and bleeding, the breath
fetid, and the debility extreme. 1t occurs
after moist. cold. foul atmosphere, with
long use of one kind OF food and stagnant
water.
QUESTION. What about an Arctic win
ter's cold:
ANSWER The greatest degree of cold
which have experienced. is about 60 de-
grees below. II is not the extreme degree
of cold which makes an Arctic winter so
perilous and terrible; but It is the contin-
nous cold morning, noon and night for
livelong weeks. with no let up of the in
dcscrbable severity Of the Polar grip
when the wind suddenly changing, up goes
the mercury TO 80 degrees above, and
dense. damp, blood-chiliing fog sets in
MANY a boats crew have been lost during
these intensely thick fog~. and says their
Arctic cpitaph Frozen, starved. or fallen
prey to polar bear"
QUESTION. What about the polar bear:
AH>wrr or all Of the plantigradc ami
mal- that l. Of animals that walk on the
whole sole Of the FOOT the white or polar
bear j. the most ferociouS Not one Of
the hazards In the wake" OF a whale
mans life win so quickly make one think
Of everything in a minute. a. the unex-
pccied meeting Of white bear between
the hummock, Of an icc.tioc. TO turn
out j. death Ia turn back Is ditto. Their
average live weight j. 400 pounds. Two
that shot weighed lSto pounds each
have seen more than ono battle upon the
icc between a white bear and walrus.
4 walrus with its two tu.kS. csch some -
inches long can keep bear al bay for
quite a while; but in the end II falls vic
Tim To- IL, heavy. stout-hodiea. thick
limbcd. omniyorous foe
QUESTION. Have you ever seen that
oceanic monster. the sea serpent, % often
sighted VI Capc Ann:
AN-wEk never have; never expect
Ia: nor have seen even the recognition
of such creature by any one vvrsed In
The science ~ zoology Perhaps the great
rnruual species Of whale. usually fonud
ia the northern Atlantic said 70 BE- the
largest u living animals. beng sometimes
lr' froi lpng from IL peculiar motion ~
wak,~ h tac waves. TO those who cant
See straight; may be the marine monster (
80 often mistaken for a >ra serpent
Even the wakc of sperm whale might 4
h,. mistaken FOR the track lcf' hy an oc'an ,
snake ia passing through the water.
Urr~rtp~ what are some of tic great .
cr pcr.l> Or Arctic whaling:
ANSWER lee and infuriatsd whales
with The lcr comes the continual ri,k "f .
being ground between two mighty Ice .
berg>. or Of beng caught "A some liri.l of ,
ice and forced ashore. or # coming IN I
collision with >omr heavy moving Ice /
Zoe {, s., dee against oak and the OAK j ,
alwas~ the most damaged. especially ~ IL T.
copper shcathiug This chaln@ % ne /
copper rs contact with icc reef or rock, /
and exposing the plankuz on Tie sh'p- !
bottom. serves as a railsing point for the .
terrln. or boring worms \" person not .
an eyewitness can have any idea in how /
short time those worms can hnncy-o1mb .
The exposed bottom Of q mhalc-ship
Havoc made. hy those mnlln-k .'tpiler- al .
he sea. too often ! the solution Of that +
terrible problem Of
..yt->c. crew missing dead;
Thai = all In. mr-saL-s .aid ="
~ Ahliow - darkcns tue sunshine or T
" xhslcman> life A. the abandonment, pf
one'~ Ship hopeIe>~ly caught and crushed .
In the Ice. lnl l,76. the united number ~ .
men belonging to the feet " which my .
shin wa abandoned in the lee, wa+
more than 400 la ls7l. thirt, ,-four ve~- +
~. ont ~ an Arctic feet of f"rty-"uc .
were cau.A, aud ground up in the Icr
The long catalogue of whale ships crushed
1y lee ! an ,mplr a,'r>ta;ion . The prr.l~
Arctic whalrmen are obliged :" encounter
have not escaped my quota 81 the ship
" wrerk> and suffering incident % uhalc- .
R-hin. iu ;hc Arctic. have lo>t thrr"
,hip. in the Polar Ocean. Tue tir-t, the .
"tcorgr Rowland" wa> caught AMI
crushed in Arctic ic- iu Sept l-7l Ahsn-
loued in the Arctic. Ship - H"pr-r.
S,p. l.-6. 1ug -. 49,, in ~ Arct'c
yal. lost the bark -t'rnrGe aud Susan. /
and three men Tho>r Of y who we're ,
fortunate enough 10 reach errn an uuin-
habitcd shore we're rescued by L. :.
revenue. steamer, which landed u~ at san
Francisco. >ixty days after being ship
wrecked TO give SOM idea Of The fury
Of the gale. my ship. one Of fleet Of +
thirteen each furnished with that heavier
yrounj.tack!e In use III the Arctic, lay AZ
anchor between the ice and Ice ,hore. and
At the height Of the gale. each Of the thir-
teen parted cable, and two of the feet the
ship Mabel" and the "Georae and Susan
were fated to 20 ashore
QUESTION. You make distinction
without an apparent difference, between,
sperm oil aud whale. why:
ANSWER. Both are products Of the
whale: bnt the best and highest priced
comes from the sperm whale. There are
seven possibly eight, specie, of the whale
The sperm. gray, right hump-back. TN
back. sulphur-bottom. bow-head and roT-
qual. The sperm i the whale Of the
warmer seas. The bowhead. the true po-
lar whale. inhabits the BehIing. ochotsS
and Arctic seas. Ii has been caught with
in 10 degrees Of the north pole. My high
ct northern point is latitude % degrees
or to within Il degrees of that open po-
lar sea
QUESTION Upon what does whale
feed:
ANSWER The feed of a whale consists
chiefly Of little. reddish, shrimp-shaped,
jellv-fl>h known as brit" which occur in
prodigious numbers in various parts of the
ocean. Estimates say that in the natural
feeding grounds Of the whale, these jelly
il.h are so numerous, that an area of two
square miles contains tens of thousands of
billions Of these mcdusea individuals.
The spread of the lips Of an average