New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-09-02
MODERN WHALING.

WHALE HUNTING WITH GUN AND CAMERA
NaturAist's Account or me M9lern a1ncoit.
and % Hunting Experiences IN Various Paris o.
the World. By Roy chapman Andrews. llw
usied sVo pp. Iii. 49, D. Appleton -
The old whaling industry-deep-ses
whaling a thing Of the past. A.
HYATT Verrill wrote its American his
tory only the other day. But whaling
has been revived in new, more scien-
tific manner, which has done away not
only with the hardships and abuses OF
the old method, but with the waste
that accompanied il as well. Deep-sea
whaling gathered only the oil and the
whalebone, casting adrift the carcass.
Shore whaling turns it into fertilizer
The new industry, which can afford 10
hunt species of whales that in the old
days were Improbable, yields an an
nual revenue of nearly s70,OOO,0OO,
half Of which is gained in sub-Ant-
arctic waters.
Ii was the invention OF the harpoon
gun by a Norwegian whaling captain
which made possible the establishment
of shore whaling, and the first part OF
Mr.. Andrews's book is devoted TO
description Of its technique and of its
chief centres on our Pacific coast, in
Newfoundland, Norway, Russia, Japan,
South America and South Africa, the
sub-Antarctic islands, Shetland, the
Hebrides, Greenland, the Galapagos
and elsewhere. The new whaling Is
indeed world industry.
Science has profted greatly by its
methods, which bring the entire whale
ashore before t is cut up. Mr.. An
drews has visited the chief stations OF
the shore whalers the world over, and
presents in this book, in popular form,
ehe results of his observations and
studies, which include the rediscovery,
in japanese waters, Of a species OF
whale believed to have been extinct.
He is particularly successful in CIV
ing the lay reader some idea Of the
enormous size of these mammals, one
Of which, the blue whale, is not only
the largest living animal to-day, but
the largest animal that ever lived.
The largest specimen thus far meas
ured and recorded was eighty-seven
feet long and must have weighed at
least 10000 pounds, or seventy-hve
tons. A blue whale taken in New
foundland. seventy-eight feet long
was weighed in sections. The total
weight was sixty-three tons. whales
Mr.. Andrews explains, living IN
supporting element, water. can grow
with hardly a limit to their develop
ment. A birds size is limited TO the
weight its wings can support; land
animals 10 the strength of its legs. II
is because whales live in supporting
medium that their young are Of enor-
nous size at birth. An unborn caIt
taken By the author from an eighty
foot blue whale measured twenty-five
feet and weighed about eight tons. AS
the calf's blunt mouth makes sucking
impossible. il is assumed that the COW
elects her milk a distance Of two or
three feet, probably turning on her
side TO prevent the milk from being
nixed with water. The whales curious
habit Of standing on its head and wav-
ing It's tail in the air still awaits an
exclamation. Mr.. Andrews rejects the
old whalemen's theory that 1t shook on
he barnacles with which it is covered
in this manner.
The book is packed with curious in
formation of this sort. The fnbaek is
"the greyhound of the sea, its beautl-
fnl slender body built like racing
racbt. II can surpass the speed Of the
fastest ocean liner" The sperm whale
is the fighter Of the tribe. Even the
orcas.. or killers. leave it in peace. And
there is a chapter on these wolves OF
he ocean" which bite off pieces Of the