The herald., 1896-08-19
THE CHARMS OF WHALING
Appeal Alike to Officers and
the Crew
THE PERILS ARE MANY
The Possible Profit Is CorrespondingIy
Large
PERILS ARE MANY
Things About the Calling Which Lead
Men to Brave the Dangers Of the
Arctic Secs

"a whalcr is the best of all vessels for
seaman to ship aboard off, said South
street shipping agent, "and whenever
put on my bulletin that want men for a
whaling voyage I have ten applications for
every one would have for ordinary mer-
chant service In the first place, on a
whaler there Is no fancy wood or paint to
scour, no metal to be polished There Is
lots Of time below, and the ship is never
short handed. The sailors have little to do
between the capture and getting aboard
ship of one whale and the sighting of an
other, and whales are not so plentiful as to
make that interval very short. The whales
Of the north Pacific are now about the
only whales that are hunted. The weather
there is so intensely cold that the sailors
enjoy immunity from work in the rigging.
''Then, again, the officers Of q whaling
vessel are uniformly kind and considerate
to the crew, even If they are inclined to be
otherwise. There is no beating or punish
ment of any kind on board whaler. This
isn't because officers on a whaling vessel
are naturally more disposed to kindness
and leniency shan the officers Of merchant
men. There are two reasons for such
pleasant state of affairs aboard whaler
the catch and the better they conduct
themsmelves and perform their duty the
greater chance they have of increasing their
earnings on voyage The other is that
the officers depend for the amount of their
profits on the size of the catch and also
for reputation for future lucrative en-
gagements on the success they make Of a
voyage. They are held responsible for the
success or nonsuccess of vessel on the
whaling grounds. In tho knowledge of
this the men have a weapon with which
they can always protect themselves against
tyranny and abuse from the officers.
1.-The eye of the arctic whale is tiny
thing to be in such an enormous head, and
:, If the whales power of vision were all the
whaler had to guard against in approach
ing his coveted prize a good many more
whales would be killed. But hearing is
the whales strong point. 1t can hear sus-
picious sounds miles away, and the slight
est noise will frighten 1t, and off it will 20
on the instant for the north, perhaps into
unknown seas Thus crew, angered by
arbitrary or cruel superiors, could easily
frighten every whale away, and the vessel
might cruise and cruise in vain. Such
tactics would work to the loss and disad-
vantage of the men, of course, but they
would soon bring the officers to terms. So
no officer cares to give q crew reason to
adopt them.
"San Franctsoo is the chief whaling port
of the United States in these latter days of
the business, although tho vessels engaged
in it are nearly ill from the historic old
ports of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Whalebone or baleen, as the commercial
term has it, is today the most valuable
product Of the whale fisheries and only
the arctic or Greenland whale provides
it. The Greenland whale has no teeth,
unlike the sperm whale, which has plen
ty of them and formidable ones, too,
but its mouth is fitted with big strainer-
like appendnges with which it nets the
myriads of minute mollusks on which it
feeds These appendages furnish the ma
terial known as the whalebone of COM
inerce, and that is what the whaler nova
days dares the dangers of the arctic seas
chiefly to obtain Not that whale oil is no
longer an object of the long and perilous
search Oil is still an important article
to be sought for in whaling, as there arc
many uses which no other oil has yet been
found to serve, but if it were the oil alone
that the whales yielded even the small
whaling fleet of today would be much
smaller than it is.
d. ''It is IA clever piece Of work to get with
lin harpooning distance of one of these
whales. They have become so alert from
much pursuit in those contracted icy seas
that it is nowadays next to impossible to
reach one in boat propelled by oars.
Sails are now used AS the boat nears the
whale a whisper, tho tapping of a boot
heel on the bottom of the boat flap of
the sail, the very slightest of unfamiliar
sounds will alarm the whale instantly,
and away it will go like hurricane, leav-
ing flrrowed and foamy wake that il
would be all useless to follow, even if the
boat was propell I'd by steam. AS the boat
draws near the whale the men keep out
of sight and scarcely breathe But the in
slant tho harpoon is quivering in the mon
ster's ribs or the bomb is buried there they
may yell and whoop themselves hoarse il
they like, and they usually do.
1.-The perils of the whalers in these fro
zen waters are many, but the profits are cor
respondingly large The common danger
makes a strong bond Of union among all
whaling vessels, although they may be
sharp rivals for the possession of u whale.
If ship is nippcd in an ice pack every
vessel in sight will hasten TO her aid, ready
to tow her out of danger. A serious acci-
dent to one whaler becomes the concern of
all, and nothing else is thought of in the
fleet until the unfortunate is relieved from
peril or her damage repaired. Hundreds
Of deeds of hcroism have been done by
whalers in the faraway seas Of ice which
arc never heard of except when old mess
mates meet.
"A good captain of an arctic whaling
vessel is most independent man. So is
an expert harpooncr. Some captains have
regulations for uncommon good luck in
finding whales, and these arc watched