The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-03-31
WHALING OF TODAY.
SOME FACTS ABOUT WHALES AND
HOW THEY ARE CAUGHT.

HOW THEY ARE CAUGHT.
Many Of the Big Creatures Weigh Over
a Hundred Tons-one-Half of Thei,
Bulk Is Marketable-some Bring a.
Much as $1,000 After BEING Cut Up.
1t is necessary to know how whale
looks and what its habits are in order to
understand how they should be hunted
They are about 50 to 60 feet long, and look
ike immense black logs floating in the
water when their bodies appear on the sur
face They are detected at a distance By
the stream OF water they spout through
their blowholes. From one-fourth to one
third the full length is taken up by the
head, which is from to II feet long and
from 80 u feet in thickness.
Whales are entirely destitute OF teeth,
but Instead the mouth is furnished with
an appas,tus Of baleen or whaleOone, for
the purpose Of straining out of the water
the small fish and crustaceans which form
their food. The fibrous structure of whale
bone, its elasticity and heayiness, are all
well known. The plates of it in the mouth
are very numerous. several hundred on
each side and placed very close together,
the whole quantity sometimes amounting
to over two tons il weight. The tongue is
a soft, thick r.ass, and does not extend be-
yond the back OF the mouth. The gullet is
very narrow, not over IL inches even IN
the largest, 30 that animals not much
larger than CIe's thumb cannot pass down
their Threats.
The skull is not symmetrical, the right
side being larger than the left; the flesh is
red and coarse, the skin is naked and
moistened by an oily fluid. Parasites in
fest the skin and some species of mollusk
burrow and live in it, Below the skin is a
thick layer of biubber from one to two feet
in thickness, sometimes weighing over
thirty tons. This keeps the animal warm,
and enables it to resist the great pressure
of the water in the depths to which it de-
sends The tail is FIVE Or six feet long
and twenty to twenty-five feet broad, and
is a most powerful weapon Of defense. The
eyes, not much larger than those of an OK,
are on the sides Of the head, about foot
above the angle Of the mouth. Whales
weigh from so to 10 tons. and of their
weight at least half is OF value and finds
ready market.
WHERE WHALES ARE FOUND.
In addition TO the two tons of whalebone,
there are about 300 barrels of oil III a bow
head whale. Besides the bone and oil,
whales afford q very valuable product
known to commerce as ambergris. 1t is
morbid secretion of the liver and intestines
of the sperm whale, solid. opaque. ash
colored, infammable substance, lighter
than water, OF "a consistence like that of
wax, and having when heated, a fragrant
odor It softens in the heat of the hand,
selts below 2i2 dogs Fahrenheit into
kind of yellow resin, and is highly soluble
in alcohol.
1t is usually found floating on the sur
face of the, ocean or cast upon the shore in
regions frequented by whales as on the
coast of the Bahama islands, Aleutian
islands and other north Pacific islands,
sometimes in masses Of from so to 225
pounds in weight. In this substance are
found the beaks of cuttlefsh, on which the
whale is known 70 feed. 1t is highly val
ued rs material for perfumery, and was
formerly used in medicine as an aphro-
disiac and for splicing wines Sometimes
as much as twenty to thirty pounds is
POUNDS in one whale, and all this is addi-
tional profit of course. A bowhead whale
is worth from EGO to 9900. or from 81, 500
to about s., 900.
They feed by swimming along with their
mouths open. When it closes the water is
drained out through the valves at the
sides and some is spouted up through the
blowholes. The small fish and mollusks
thus captured make up their food.
Now for the mode of hunting them. On
all of the whalers a lookout is kept from
the crows nest" on the mast, and when
one is sighted sporting the lookout re-
ports, There she blowsr' Where aways"
is called from the deck. 'Two points on
the starboard bow, sir" or wherever else
it may be. Immediately boats are low
cred and the chase commences. The least
unusual noise will brighten them, and
after sail is set on the boat no one is al
lowed to speak or move a foot even. If
there is no breeze to carry the boat, hen
the man in the stern paddles in that direc-
ton as noiselessly as possible, not daring
to use an oar, for fear the splash will
brighten the victim
NARROWING A LEvIATHAN.
The boat follows as closely in the wake
of the whale as possible, and the bowman
stands in the bow, hsrpoon in hand. This
harpoon, or iron" as it is called, is
broad bladed spear head three or four feet
long, very sharp and having about six
inches cutting surface on each side, and is
fastened on pole about ten feet long just
ahead Of gun that is fastened to the same
pole. A spring connects the harpoon and
the trigger of the gun, so that when the
harpoon enters the flesh the pressure back
ward pushes the trigger spring, and the
bomb is exploded Then comes the fun.
Stunned and stung as be is, the whale
starts down to escape, and the bowman
pays out the line attached to the harpoon
pole. AS soon as it is slack he hauls in
again and pays out when it tightens. So
on it goes until the boat may have been
towed several miles, but still holding on
and taking another shot every chance Of
fered and as soon as the whale is killed it
is hauled alongside and fastened TO the
ships chains
The process of "feshing" or cutting up
is then commenced. Some of the crew,
having their boots armed with iron spikes
10 keep them from slipping, descend upon
The carcass and cut into the blubber with
blu bier spades, removing broad strip or
blanket OF skin twenty or thirty feet long,
which is hoisted by block and tackle. |
Great cubical pieces Of blubber Oh half
Ion or more in weight are then cut out
and hoisted to the deck. 1t is turned over
and over until the fat is removed Mean
while part OF the crew removed the bSleen |
Or whalebone from the mouth. The re- |
OF the carcass Is flung adrlft as |
,ood for bears and fishes. The b!gbber, |
after being received on deck, Is cut into |
small pieces and heated in large pots, 81 |