, 1922-02-18

- $50
i stabbed n whale or hit a
wnale|oeoause you DON'T stab
or hit him. Please say struck a
whale And for the sake OF all that's
good and holy. don't call me captain
nor talk OF my many years experience
as a whaier. for I've eve been at
sea in my i've I'm plain mister"
The speaker was Frank T. Brown
OF New Bedford. Mass. maker Of whhl-
Ing guns and iances. doubtless of
tho best informed men on every con
coivabie phase OF the whaling indus
Try. for which Now Bedford was once
so renowned. says Wellington Haze. in
the Boston Transcript
A popular actress some years ago
visited "MisterT Brown and in anzwer
10 her somewhat disparasing remark
as to the use OF the whale, Mr.. Brown
turned on her With:
MADAM, you should not speak that
way. Threo very important things
you are dependant upon TO the whale
your corscts. which give you your
style; your cosmetics II YOU per
fumcry, which give you our beauty
and your attractiveness.-
Then he explained there was no
substitute for tho whalebone for cor
sets. while few women realized what
they owed TO the ambergris for per
fume. nnd to spermaSeti. so valued in
tho making of cosmetics and oint-
ments-
AmberEris Mt $3.50 n Pound.
Ambergris, which wal first discov-
cred off The coast OF Arabia, is an oily,
porous substance used in the making
of perfume. not because OF its fag-
rance, but because it possesses an un-
usual quality OF retaining or absorb
ing odory-
-Many's the whaler, in days gone
by Mr.. Brown continued. handing
me a photograph of a large lump OF
ambergris. who got a few bits of
that which is worth far more than its
weight in gold. II would bring him
moro money than all tho oil obtained
on oven the longest OF cruises"
And he quoted the two most IA
nous catches of ambergrls:
1859. schooner Watchman. 500
pounds.
1888. bark Splendid $50 pounds.
with the substance selling. as II
did then. for $3.50 a pound, 1t is not
difficult to imagine the feelings OF a
coptain bound for port, listening TO
his crews chanty:
And soon we shall be home again; our
friends we then shall see &.
Heave away. my hearties; heave
away. my boysI
And when we see NJ Bedford. wen
ns'er more go to sea,
Heave away. my hearties, heave
away. my boys!
They used to tell a story@true
story. too. all my stories are rue one
of a whaling vessel that put out
from here and when the first whale
wns having its case baled out" and
the narrator stopped long enough to
explain that the case was that part
OF tho head which contains the sper-
maceti, 'the captain got Sc eager for
every drop that he kept his men ball
ing away tin they had scraped a hole
in theswhale's
but they kept right on. hour in
and hour out. bailing up the Atlantic
ocean,
Then Mr.. Brown grew serious and
> talked entertainingly of the many va
rieties of whales: the belunga or white
whale. the narwhal Of unicorn whale.
and especially the right whales and
Llb DDWhtetdss WAAOh 49, Va N~
whalebone. and the sperm whales. in
which ambergris and ~spermacei are
to be found.
Whales A Playful Lot
Mr.. Brown can tell of the habits of
whales, of all varieties of them. and
he thinks that they are human. temp
amental and very intelligent
why. I've been told by whalers,
who have watched them at play. that
they have their preferences. same as
among folks A bull whale will pat
his mate. not very lightly maybe. but
in a manner tina cannot be mistaken
for anything but a caress The bossy
whale is the most popular; II he makes
the others stand around they an like
him It's h caveman brand!
And now as to their signalizinE.
When there was such a hur1ah in the
last war over the submarine bell dis
coveries, we fellows just laughed at
its being a new discovery. Every tar
knows that VOC can knock two stones
together under water and the sound
will carry thirty feet, whilc II knocked
above the surface 1t wont
carry.
whales. have been known to sig
nalize to each other four or five miles
on this same basis OF sound carrying
under water. For instance. If there
is whaling, say. on the weatherbow
three miles from the vessel n whal-