The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1909-02-04
Che Wbalino Industry.
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wv
idea of the size of whale yielding $50
barrels of Gil may be formed by the
following dimensions given by Captain
Benjamin Higgins, master Of the whal-
ing Bark Sunbs am, New Bedford,
Mass. "The blubber of such a whale
says the Captain, 'is half yard thick,
and if put together in a strip, would be
sixty.slx feet long and twenty-seven
feet wide. The upl er jaws would
make room nine feet high and twenty
feet long. The lips and throat of the
brute, with the supporting jaw bones,
will weigh as much as twenty-five
oxen of one thousand pounds zach.
The tongue alone will often weigh as
much as ten oxen. The spread of the
lips is thirty ieet. He can take in
fifty barrels of water at each mouthful.
When feeding, a whale as big as that
sifts a track of sea quarter of mile
long and fifteen feet wide in one run.
The tail of right whale is twenty-five
feet broad and six feet deep and at the
point of junction with the body is
about four feet in diameter. In it lie
tend. MS as large as a mau's leg"
Whaling vessels are constructed on
original plans and are distinct type
of naval architecture. In the old days
of whaling they were built on honor
and of extremely stout aud large tim
bers-haying high bulky sides, big,
fat bowsprit and broad high stern,
built like church. An important
part was the immense timber davits-
powerful enough to raise the whale
out of the water to the deck. All the
vessels sailing from New Bedford or
Nantucket were barks rugged, that is,
having square sails on the fore and
| mainmast with tOpsails and spanker
on the mizzen. The life of whaler is
extremely hard and W. aring-besides
the usual dangers AMI vexa-iOns Incl
dent to life at sea-which is rightly
termed "dog's life." There are long
days of monotonous cruising about the
whaling grounds watching for schools
of whales with all the worry attendant
to venture in which luck and good
fortune constituted fifty per cent. OF
chances for a successful cruise. The
length of voyage depended OH the size
| % ho q a.
pacity aad the profit demanded by the
owner. Perhaps this should be termed
the degree of avarice possessed bJ
church h-going owners. Some vessels
returning to port from the Azores ol
South Atlantic grounds in six or nine
months, while others going round thu
Horn to the Pacific grounds remaining
from two to three years. Captain
Higgins of the bark Sunbeam, befor'
quoted, recently reported from Fayal
an island port of the Azoies, that h
had already secured SIX hundred ant
fifty barrels of sperm oil when out bu
two months.
|
paper devoted to tie whaling industr,
i. it is stated "that the bark Bertha latel
) arrived in New Bedford with tw
+ thousand six hundred and fifty tarrel
. of 81 erm oil valued at forty y-eight thou
: sand dollars or nearly eighteen dollar
:, and fifty cents a barrel. The crew o
i .b;c xoecol copc;otod IF tho oapfaiy
D three mates, three boat steerers, tn
: cooper, the cook, the steward, the cabi
boy and eighte sn men before the mas
q Of the forty EIGHT thousand the cal
: tain gets twentieth part, the share
0 of the mates slope downward; the bos
steerers and cooper come next, the
the steward followed in order by th
Q cook, crew and cabin boy, the latte
q receiving a two hundred and tWent,
e fifth part of the proceeds"
It As before mentioned the life an
II hardships on beard whaler are il
10 creased on account of the arduOl
e labor attending the cutting up of tt
Al whale and trying out the blubber fro
q which comes the oiI-alsO the dissectiI
,r of the whale for the bones, an artic
familiar to the gentler sex and witho'
,s which prevailing fashions would
D. impossible.
IT It is necess ary that the whale be CT
g up as soon as possible, and the ere
le works night and day to accomplis