Evening journal., 1896-07-18
WHALING CHARMS.
FAsclNATlONS oP HUNTING THE BIG
SWIMMER OF THE SEA


"a whaleRis the best of all vessels for a |
seaman to ship aboard Of, said South
street shipping agent, "and whenever 1
put on my bulletin that want men for
whaling voyage / have ten applications for
every one 1 would have for ordinary mer-
chant service. In the first place, on
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 20
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 She rigging.
"Then again, the officers Of a 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 whaling vessel
are naturally moro disposed to kindness
and leniency than the officers OF merchant
men,. There are two reasons for such
pleasant state of affairs aboard a whaler.
One Is that the men all have an interest In
the catch and the better they conduct
themsmelves and perform their duty the
greater chance they have of increasing their
earnings on a voyage The other is that
the officers depend for the amount Of their
| profits on the size Of the catch and also
| for a reputation for future lucrative en-
gagements on the success they mako Of a
voyage. They are held responsible for the
success or nonsuocess Of vessel on the
whaling grounds. In the 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 n 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 prizo good many moro
whales would he 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 go
on the instant for tho 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
1 would soon bring the officers to terms So
no officer cares to give crew reason to
adopt them.
'San Francisco is the chief whaling port
Of the United States in these latter days OF
the business, although the vessels engaged
in it are nearly all from the historic old
ports of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Whalebone, or baleen, as the commercial
term has it, is today the mok valuable
product of the whale fisheries and only
| hr l.
ii The Greenland whale ;Ias no teeth,
unlike the sperm whale, which has plen-
ty of them and formidable ones, too,
bat its mouth is fitted with big str8inor-
like appendagss with which It nets tho
myriads of mipute moliusks on which II
feeds These appehdages furnish the ma
teriSl known as the wlalebone of COM
merce, and that Is what the whaler nova
days daTes the dangers of the arctic seas
chiefly to obtain. Not that whale Oils no
longer an object Of the long and pszaaous
search oil is still an important aFtitle
TO be sought for in whaling, as tlrcre are
many usos which no other oil has yet been
found TO serve, but II il were the oil alone
that the whales yielded even the small
whaling fleet OF today would be much
smaller than It is
ut is a clever piece of work to eet with
in harpooning distance of one Of these
whales. They have become so alert from
much pursuit in those contracted icy seas
that it is nowadays neNt to impossible TO
reach one in a boat propelled by oars.
Sails are now used AS the boat nears the
whale a whisper, the tapping Of "A boot
heel on the bottom of the boat 2 flap of
the SAIL the very slightest of unfamiliar
sounds, will alarm the whale instantly,
and away it will go Ike a hurricane, leaY-
ing furrowed and foamy wake that il
would be all usohss TO follow, even If the
boat was propelled by steam. AS the boat
draws near the whale the mon keep ont
of sight and scarcely breathe. But the In
stant the harpoon Is quivering I'm the mon
ster's ribs or the bomb is buried there they
may yell and who0p themselves hoarse II
they like, and they usually do
The perils Of the whalors IN these fro.
zen waters are many, but tho profits are cor
respondingly large. The common danger
makes a strong bond Of union among al
whaling vessels, although they may be
sharp rivals for the possossioR Of a whale
II n ship is nipped in On ico RpclS, every
vessel in sight win hasten to her aid, ready
10 tow her out of danger. A serious acci
dent to one vhaler becomes the concern %
all, and nothing else IS thought Of In the
l
peril OF her dnmage repaired. Hundred.
of deeds OF heroism havo been done by
whalers in the faraway seas of ice which
are never heard Of except when old mess
mates meet.
"A good captain Of an arctic whaling
vessel is a most Independent man. So 4:
an expert harpooner Some captains hav,
regulations for uncommon good luck in
finding whales, and these are watched
sharply by others and are followed closely
wherever they cruise Thus It IS no un
common thing to see the crews of a mum
Der of vessels in arctic waters watching
and trusting to the movements Of the cap
tain of one particular vessel, whose lucl
has served him particularly well on pre-
vious voyages. There arc captains who
have done so well in years of whaling thai
they have become very rich mon, yet tber'
is such fascination TO them in cruising
among the ice foes and storm beaten wa
ters of the arctic region that they canno
resist it, even font he comforts and luSurie'
with which they may surround themselves
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