The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-05-05
FISHING FOR HUMPBACK AND
SULPHUR BOTTOM WHALES
WITH STEAMERS AND BOMBS.
Continued from Sixth Page)

Continued from Sixth Page.)
and fifty-two feet is the greatest meas
urement the same author gives for
humpbaok over which the tape had
been passed. He puts the yield of
whalebone as averaging four pounds to
every barrel of oil, so that this whale
should have yielded just two hundred
weight and half OF the finbacks, or
rorquals, there are probably four spe-
cies-the common finback (Balaenop-
terra musculus), the sulphur bottom B.
SibbaldD, the blue whale of the Nor
wegians, Rudolphi's whale (B. boreal-
is), and the lesser f1n whale (B. rostra
ta). All these yield whalebone and
blubber, though not in such quantity
or of such good quality as those of the
right whale. For this reason, and also
on account of their great activity and
the difficulty of capturing them by
hand harpooning, they were formerly
neglected by whalers, but since the en-
ployment of steam vessels, with bomb
guns and explosive lances, a fishery has
been established on the Norway coast,
with a factory at Hammerfest for the
utilization of the products.
The work carried on there consists
chiefly of drying the whalebone and
preparing it for the market, and rem
dering down the blubber into train oil.
The flesh Of Rudolphi's whale Is there
preserved on a large scale for human
consumption. Mr. Collet says that the
flesh of no other finback whale Is con-
sidered fit for such purpose. If, how
ever, the whalers of Newfoundland
should, as is probable, take many spec
linens of the lesser fin whale, 1t might
be worth while to try the experiment of
preparing it's flesh for the market.
There can be no doubt that 1t Is whole
some and nourishing, and excellent evil
dence exists that it is also toothsome,
so that If the prejudice against its use
could be overcome, there is no reason
why whale steak" preserved and put
up in tins, should not find ready sale.
In 1929 a specimen of this whale was
entangled among the rocks at Runton,
in Norfolk, and killed by the fishermen.
Miss Quincy recorded in her diary the
fact that the creature was twenty-four
feet long, and that its jaws were lined
with white whalebone. "A steak cut
from it tasted, when cooked, like ten
der beef" The porpoise-which is a
toothed whale-was formerly held in
high esteem for food in this country
and In France, and in the DAYS of Hen
ny VIII. and Elizabeth was considered
royal dish.
The sulphur bottom will probably be
the chief object of pursuit when the
Newfoundland fishery commences ope-
rations, This whale owes both its pop
ular names to its coloTation. The Nor
wegians call it the blue whale, from
the general bluish-gray of the back and
sides, and the Americans call 1t the
sulphur bottom, from the yeIlowish cast
on the under surface which, however
is generally white in specimens met
with on this side of the Atlantic. II is
| beyond doubt the largest of living ami
| mails. A specimen taken in the Ham
merfest fishery measured eightv-fiye
feet in length and yielded ninety bar
! rels of oil. Seammon puts the average
length at from sixty to one hundred
| feet. and says that a captain of his ac-
quaintance gave him the following
memoranda of a specimen taken in the
Pacific: Length nineU-fve feet