THE WHALE.

The Whale is the largest and most powerful of all cre-
ated beings. No animal that lives on the earth is one half
as large. The Elephant, which is the largest of all living
quadrupeds, is seldom more than ten feet long, and weighs
not more than eight or nine thousand pounds. How large,
then, must an animal be, one hundred feet long, from thirty
to forty feet round, and weighing one hundred tons, or two
hundred thousand pounds! There are many varieties of
the Whale, of which one, called the *Razor-back* is the lar-
gest, being of the size just mentioned, and often even ex-
ceeding it. The Common Whale is seldom so long, nor
is he near so heavy. The Razor-back is also more vio-
lent, and swims with great velocity. This variety of the
Whale is found in great numbers in the Polar seas, around
the island of Nova Zembla, Spitzbergen, and other high
latitudes. They are often seen sporting around the ice-
bergs, with which those seas abound. Icebergs are moun-
tains of ice, often two or three thousand feet in height.
Several of these mountains of ice are seen in our pictures.

Around these mountains of ice, so dangerous to whale
ships, the Razor-backs play without fear.

YALE

THE WHALE.

The Razor-back Whale, although larger than the *Common* Whale, (which the picture represents,) is seldom sought for by fishermen, because it yields less oil, and that of an inferior quality. The Common Whale is not often more than sixty feet long, but it yields more than double the quantity of oil that the *Razor-back* does, and of course is more sought after by the whalers.

One would think that a creature so large and strong as the Whale, could have no fears; but the *Sword-fish* darts out of the water, and striking on the back of the Whale, wounds him with his long sword-like snout, putting him in great pain, and making the sea red with his blood.

6

THE WHALE.

Another species of whale is called the *Narwal*. It is generally less than sixteen feet in length, and differs but little from a small whale, excepting that it has a long spiral tooth, or tusk, which has obtained for it the name of *Unicorn*. This tooth grows from the left side of the head, and is sometimes nine or ten feet long. The use of this singular and formidable tusk is not known.

The Narwal is a harmless animal. It is easily taken, sometimes being shot with a rifle, and at other times harpooned, as is the Whale. It generally yields two or three tuns of very fine oil. The Greenlanders and Esquimaux

THE WHALE.

7

employ the whole animal for various uses. The flesh is eaten; the oil is burned in their lamps; the intestines wrought into lines and dresses; and the tusks are used for spears. It is said that the king of Denmark has a magnificent and valuable throne, made entirely of Narwal tusks.

Dangerous as the whale fishery must be, yet great numbers of ships go to those seas for this purpose; and, indeed, if they did not, where should we procure oil for our lamps, and whale-bones for umbrellas, and many other purposes for which it is used? For lamp-oil is taken from the fat, and whale-bone is found in the mouth of the Whale, which is very large; the throat is small, and the eyes, which have lids to them, are not larger than the eyes of an ox. On the top of the head are blow-holes, which are supposed to be his nostrils. Through these he spouts the water to a great height, and with a noise like that of a cannon. The tail of the Whale is very broad, and a most powerful weapon; when in pain or rage, he lashes the sea with it till the water is in a foam all around. One blow from the tail will dash a stout boat in pieces. The head of this kind of Whale is generally about one third of its length. The mouth is large enough to hold a good sized boat filled with men.

Immediately under the skin lies the fat, which is called blubber, and is from ten to twelve, and sometimes, on some parts of the body, twenty inches thick. The color of the blubber is yellowish white, or yellow; sometimes it is red. In the young ones it is always yellowish white. The col-

8

WHALE FISHERY.

or of the Whale is velvet black or gray, and sometimes white.

Whale-ships are of different dimensions; but those which are of about three hundred and fifty tons, are thought to be the most eligible. Each vessel is furnished with six or seven boats, and manned with from forty to fifty seamen. One of the most essential particulars is the *crow's nest*, or sentry-box, made of canvass, or light wood, pitched on the main-topmast or top-gallantmast head. This is the post of honor, and also of severe cold, where the master often sits for hours, in a temperature thirty or forty degrees below the freezing point, and from whence he can descry all the movements of the surrounding seas and ice, and give directions accordingly. He is provided with a telescope, a speaking-trumpet, and a rifle, with which he can sometimes strike a Narwal, as it floats around the ship.

The *boats* which are used in the whale-fishery, being very liable to receive damage, are constructed with reference to strength and buoyancy. The largest kind, called six-oared boats, are able to carry seven men, six of whom, including the harpooner, are rowers. These are generally from twenty-six to twenty-eight feet in length, and between five and six feet in breadth. Besides the men, these boats contain a large quantity of rope, all coiled up, to one end of which is fastened the harpoon, an instrument of iron,

WHALE FISHERY.

9

about three feet in length, so shaped as to pierce the Whale,
and by remaining in his body prevent his escape. Another
instrument called the lance, which is a spear about six feet

in length, with the blade made very thin and sharp, is used
to plunge into his vital parts and occasion his death.

Another instrument, which has sometimes been used, is
called the harpoon-gun.

It consists of a kind of a swivel, having a barrel of
wrought iron of about two feet in length. It is furnished
with two locks, which act together, to diminish the liabil-
ity of the gun's missing fire. This gun was invented in
the year 1731, since which, it has been much improved.
A harpoon, it is said, may be thrown from it, with effect, the

2

WHALE FISHERY.

wards the Whale in the deepest silence. Although this
huge animal does not hear quick, yet when the sea is calm
a slight splashing alarms him.

When the boat is as near the whale as is consistent
with safety, the harpooner darts his harpoon into the back
of the monster. This is a dangerous moment; for when
the Whale feels the blow, he often lashes the sea with his
tail with great violence. But more commonly he darts
down into the sea, to a great depth, dragging after him
many hundred feet of the rope to which the harpoon is fas-
tened, and drawing the boat after him with great velocity.

12

WHALE FISHERY.

While he is thus moving with such rapidity, the utmost
diligence must be used, that the line to which the harpoon
is attached may run off smoothly and readily along with
him. Should it be entangled for a moment, the strength
of the Whale is such, that he would draw the boat and
crew after him under the water.

The first boat ought to be quickly followed up by a se-
cond, to supply more line when the first is run out, which
often takes place in eight or ten minutes. When the crew
see the line in danger of being all run off, they hold up
one, two, or three oars, to intimate their pressing need of a
supply. At the same time, they turn the rope once or
twice around a kind of post, called the bollard, by which
the motion of the line, and the career of the animal are
somewhat retarded. This, however, is a delicate opera-
tion, which brings the side of the boat down to the very
edge of the water, and if the rope is drawn at all too tight,
may sink it altogether. While the line is whirling round
the bollard, the friction is so violent, that the harpooner is
enveloped in smoke, and water must be constantly poured
on to prevent it from catching fire. When after all no aid
arrives, and the crew find that the line must run out, they
have only one resource,—they cut it, losing thereby, not
only the whale, but the harpoon and all the ropes of the
boat.

During this time, several other boats put off from the ship,
and by spreading themselves about, some of them are
usually near where the animal comes up again to breathe.

WHALE FISHERY.

13

As soon as he rises he is attacked with the lances, which are struck as deep as possible, in order to reach a vital part. Blood, mixed with oil, streams from his wounds, and becoming exhausted with his violent struggles, and with pain, he expires.

The crew now give shouts of victory; they then make holes in his tail, through which ropes are passed and fastened to the boats, when they drag the fish to the ship, with shouts of joy.

The body is now fastened to the sides of the vessel, where the whale bone is taken out, and the blubber cut off.

14

WHALE FISHERY.

in large pieces and hoisted on board; there it is put into
casks and kept till the vessel arrives at home; then put
into large copper boilers, and the oil extracted in the same
way that tallow is tried. If a *Spermaceti Whale* is taken,
the oil is extracted on board, by means of two large boil-
ers, with which whale-ships are furnished. The fire is made
with the scraps of blubber that has been tried, and produ-
ces a great heat.

Whailing is not only a toilsome, but a very dangerous
business. Few men follow it many years without either
suffering, or seeing other suffer great calamities. The
dangers are many, and some of them so sudden as to ren-
der escape almost impossible.

Sometimes the Whale, after he is struck, in his violent
struggles dashes the boat in pieces. The rope, too, to
which the harpoon is fastened, may get entangled while the
Whale is drawing it out of the boat with great rapidity.
In this case, if the line is not instantly cut by the man who
stands ready for the purpose, the boat is immediately drawn
under water. Whalers are often in great danger by rea-
son of the Whale which they are pursuing becoming en-
raged, and turning suddenly upon them. The Dutch wri-
ters mention a man who, after a whale had been struck, was
hastening with a second boat to the support of the first.
The fish, however, rose, and with his head struck the boat
so furiously, that it was shivered to pieces, and the man
was thrown with its fragments on the back of the huge
animal. Even then this bold mariner darted a second har-

WHALE FISHERY.

15

poon into the body of his victim; but unfortunately he got entangled in the line and could not extricate himself, nor could the other party approach near enough to save him. At last, however, the harpoon was disengaged, and he swam to the boat.

The crew of Mr. Scoresby, the elder, in 1807, had struck a whale, which soon re-appeared, but in a state of such violent agitation that no one durst approach it. The captain courageously undertook to encounter it, in a boat by himself, and succeeded in striking a second harpoon. But another boat having advanced too close, the animal brandished its tail with so much fury, that the harpooner,

16

WHALE FISHERY.

who was directly under, judged it most prudent to leap into
the sea. And it was well for him that he did so, for the
tail struck the boat in the very place that he had left, and
cut the boat entirely asunder, so that if he had remained,
he must have been dashed in pieces. Happily, all the
others escaped injury.

Mr. Scoresby, in one of his earliest voyages, saw a boat
thrown several yards into the air, from which it fell on its
side, plunging the crew into the sea. They were fortu-
nately soon taken up, when only one was found to have
received severe injury.

WHALE FISHERY.

17

The results, however, are not always so fortunate. The Aimwell, of Whitby, in 1810, lost three men out of seven; and in 1812, the Henrietta, of the same port, lost four out of six, by the boats being upset and the crews thrown into the sea.

In 1809, one of the men belonging to the Resolution, of Whitby, struck a sucking whale; after which, the mother being seen wheeling rapidly round, was narrowly watched. Mr. Scoresby being, on this occasion, the harpooner of another boat, was selecting the situation where the parent fish would probably re-appear, when suddenly, an invisible blow from the animal beneath the water, stove in fifteen feet of the bottom of his boat, which filled with water and instantly sunk. The crew were, however, saved.

*Entanglement in the line*, while the retreating Whale is drawing it off with rapidity, is often productive of serious disasters. A sailor belonging to the John, of Greenock, in 1818, happening to step into a coil of running rope, had a foot entirely carried off, and was obliged to have the lower part of the leg amputated. A harpooner, belonging to the Henrietta, of Whitby, very imprudently threw some of the line under his feet. A sudden start of the fish made it twist round his body. He had just time to cry out —"Clear away the line! Oh dear!" when he was cut almost asunder, dragged overboard, and never more seen.

A Whale sometimes causes great danger by proving to be alive, after being supposed to be dead. Mr. Scoresby mentions one which appeared to be so decidedly dead, that

18

WHALE FISHERY.

he himself had leaped on the tail, and was busy putting a
rope through it, when he suddenly felt the animal sinking
from under him. He made a spring towards a boat that
was some yards distant—succeeded in catching hold of
the gunwale, and was assisted on board. The fish then
moved forwards, reared his tail aloft, and shook it with
such prodigious violence, that it resounded to the distance
of several miles. After two or three minutes of this vio-
lent exertion, he rolled on his side and expired.

Even after life is extinct, all danger is not over. In the
operation of flensing, the harpooners sometimes fall into
the Whale's mouth, with the imminent danger of being
drowned. If there is a heavy swell they are drenched,
and sometimes washed over by the surge. Sometimes
they have their ropes broken and are wounded by each
other's knives.

Mr. Scoresby mentions a harpooner who, after the flen-
sing was completed, had his foot attached by a hook to
the carcass, when the latter was inadvertently cut away.
The man caught hold of the gunwale of the boat. But
the whole immense mass being now suspended by his
body, occasioned the most excruciating torture, and even
exposed him to the danger of being torn in two. His
companions, however, contrived to hook the carcass with
a grapnel and bring it back to the surface.

A story is related of the escape of a Whale, in the year
1812, from a boat's crew belonging to the Resolution,
Capt. Whitby, which would be quite incredible, were it

WHALE FISHERY.

19

not well attested. This Whale, being struck, soon run out
the first boat's lines, and indeed the lines which belonged
to a second and a third boat, which came to the assistance
of the first. A signal was made for still more line, and a
boat was dispatched to carry relief. But before the whale-
boat could be reached, she was on a level with the water,
being almost pulled under by the fugitive Whale, while the
harpooner, from the friction of the line, was enveloped in
smoke. At length, when the relief was within a hundred
yards, the crew were seen to throw their jackets upon the
nearest ice, and then leap into the sea. After this, the end
of the boat rose into the air, and making a majestic curve,

20

WHALE FISHERY.

was drawn beneath the waters, with all the lines attached to it. The crew were saved. A vigorous pursuit was immediately commenced. The whale, being traced through narrow and intricate channels in the ice, was at length discovered considerably to the eastward. Three harpoons were then darted at him.

The lines of two other boats were then run out, when, by an accidental entanglement, they broke, and the whale went off with about four miles of rope, which, with the boat, were valued at $700. The daring fishers again gave chase. The Whale was seen, but again escaped. A third time it appeared—the whalers reached it. Two more harpoons were struck into it. The animal being now plied with lances, became entirely exhausted, and yielded to its fate. It had by that time drawn out ten thousand four hundred and forty yards, or about six miles of line. Unfortunately, one of the harpoons had been disengaged, and a boat and thirteen lines, nearly two miles in length, attached to it, were detached and never recovered.

A whale-ship, in 1802, had one of its boats thrown fifteen feet into the air, and it came down bottom upwards. The crew, however, were all saved except one.

But these are only a very small portion of the dangers which the hardy seamen experience in these perilous pursuits. To numberless others in which they are placed by the Whale, we may add all the perils of shipwreck, which in these regions, among the fields and mountains of ice,

YALE

WHALE FISHERY.

21

are often very distressing, and generally occasion the most
dreadful sufferings to the unfortunate mariners.

Several accounts are given by the same writer, of distressing shipwrecks which have occurred, at various periods, in the northern seas. Two or three of these I will relate.

In 1639, one Albert Raven, a Dutchman, commanded a whaling ship, which was employed near the island of Spitzbergen. While lying at anchor, he was assailed by a furious tempest, which, of itself, was sufficient to appall the stoutest heart. But to add to the horrors of his situation, two immense icebergs were driven violently by the wind, and appeared to be coming directly down upon him. He endeavored, by spreading all his sails, to pass between them. But in this attempt, the ship was driven against one of them with so terrible a shock, that it was soon found to be sinking. By cutting away the masts, the sailors enabled her to proceed. But as she continued to take in water, they launched several boats. So many persons got into them that they became overloaded and sunk, and all on board of them perished.

Those who remained on board of the ship, found their situation more and more desperate. The fore part of the vessel being in deep water, and the keel rising almost perpendicular, made it extremely difficult to avoid falling into the sea. While in this situation, one of the masts broke, plunged down, and carried with it several persons who had clung to it for safety.

22

WHALE FISHERY.

At length the stern separated from the rest of the vessel
and sunk, carrying with it several more of the sailors.
The survivors still clung to the wretched fragments; but
one after another was washed off by the fury of the waves,
while some, half dead with cold, unable to hold on any
longer to the ropes and anchors, dropped in. The crew,
which was at first eighty-six in number, was thus reduced
to twenty-nine. The ship now suddenly changed its po-
sition, so that they could more easily keep their footing on
board; the sea then became more calm. The exhausted
sailors now felt an irresistible propensity to sleep, though
in so dreadful a situation. But to some it was the fatal
sleep of extreme cold, from which they never awoke.

One man proposed the construction of a raft, which was
accordingly framed, contrary to the captain's advice. But
no sooner was it launched than the waves swallowed it up.
The remnant of the vessel, the next night, encountered
another severe gale; the sufferings of the crew, from cold,
hunger, and extreme thirst, were dreadful. Death in ev-
ery form seemed now to have encompassed them. In the
morning, however, a sail was descried. They made sig-
nals of distress—they were understood—a boat was sent
to their relief, and twenty survivors, after being in this ex-
treme distress for forty-eight hours, were restored to safety.

Another very distressing shipwreck took place in 1777.
Capt. Broerties, in the Guillamine, arrived on the great
bank of northern ice June 22d. Here he found fifty vessels
engaged in the fishery. The day after a tempest drove in

WHALE FISHERY.

23

the ice with such violence that twenty-seven of the ships
were surrounded, and ten lost. July 25th, Broerties saw
some appearance of an opening, and warped his vessel
through by the boats. After four days' labor she found her-
self, with four other ships, in a narrow basin enclosed by
ice on every side. August 1st, a violent storm arose, and
driving the ice against the vessels, placed them in great
danger for several days. On the 20th, a dreadful gale arose,
in which the Guillamine suffered considerable damage. In
this tempest, two of the ships went down, and a third sprung
a number of leaks. The crews were taken on board of the
three remaining vessels, which made them much crowded.
On the 25th all three were completely frozen in. Twelve
men were now sent to seek aid from four vessels which had
been driven into a station at a little distance. On their
arrival, they found that two of these had been dashed to
pieces, and the other two were in a most deplorable condi-
tion. Two other ships, still further off, had perished in a
similar manner. Meantime the former came in sight of
Greenland, and the tempest still driving them on, Iceland
was seen to their left. The two distant vessels found a
little opening, through which they contrived to escape.
The crews of the three others began to hope they might
do the same, when on Sept. 13th, a whole mountain of ice
fell upon the Guillamine. The poor sailors, half naked,
jumped out upon the ice. One of the other ships had just
met a similar fate. To the remaining one they all looked
for refuge, which, though in extreme distress herself, took

24

WHALE FISHERY.

them all on board. Shattered and overcrowded as she was,
she immediately after had to accommodate fifty other seamen,
whose vessel had just gone down, and thirteen of her
crew perished. Crowded into this crazy bark, these numerous
companies suffered every kind of distress.

October 11th, the vessel went to pieces, in the same
manner as the others had done, leaving the poor crews hardly
time to leap upon the ice with their remaining provisions.

With difficulty they reached a field of ice of some extent.
Here they made a sort of tent with their torn sails, which
they had saved. But if they remained here they must
certainly perish. They saw no way of escaping, except
by scrambling over the frozen surface to the coast of
Greenland, which was in sight. After much toil and danger
they accomplished their object.

Happily, they met with some inhabitants, who received
them hospitably, and gave them some dried fish and seal's
flesh to eat. After the extreme hunger which these poor
fellows had suffered, this seemed delicious food. From
thence they traveled across the dreary country, suffering
much distress. At length, after innumerable toils and
privations, they reached the Danish settlement at Frederikshaab.
Here they were kindly treated, and finally
were enabled to return to their native country.

We trust there was not of them who did not feel grateful to that kind Providence who had preserved them amid all these dangers, sustained them in all their sufferings, and enabled them to reach their homes at last.

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