METHOD OF EXTRACTING OIL AND PREPARING WHALE-BONE, WITH A
DESCRIPTION OF THESE ARTICLES, AND REMARKS ON THE USES TO WHICH THE
SEVERAL PRODUCTS OF THE WHALE-FISHERY ARE APPLIED.
On the margin of the river, wet dock, canal, or other sheet of water,
communicating with that wherein the whale-fishing ship discharges her
cargo, are usually provided the necessary premises for reducing the
blubber into oil, consisting commonly of the following articles.
1. A copper vessel or boiler, three to six, or even ten or more tuns’
capacity, of a circular form in the horizontal view, and elliptical
in the perpendicular section, is fixed at the elevation of six to
ten feet above the ground, provided with an appropriate furnace, and
covered with a tiled or slated shed.
2. On the same, or on a little lower level than that of the
copper, is fixed a square or oblong back or cooler, built of wood
generally, capable of containing from ten to twenty tuns of oil, or
upwards. Adjoining to this is another back, sometimes a third, and
occasionally a fourth or fifth, each placed a little lower than the
one preceding it, so that the lowest shall stand with its base about
two or three feet above the level of the ground. In some very modern
_works_, the coolers are all fixed at the same elevation. Each of the
backs is provided with one or more stop-cocks on the most accessible
side, for convenience in drawing the oil off into casks.
3. Altogether above the level of the copper, and immediately
adjoining it, on the side directed towards the river or canal,
an oblong wooden cistern, called the “starting-back,” is usually
erected, for containing blubber, which ought to be a vessel of equal,
or nearly equal, capacity to that of the copper. It is generally
provided with a crane, which, with a winch, or other similar engine
attached, is so contrived as to take casks either from the quay, or
from a lighter by the side of the quay, and convey them at once to
the top of the starting-back. Over this vessel is extended a kind of
railing or “gauntree,” on which the casks rest without being injured,
and are easily movable.
4. The starting-back being elevated two or three yards above the
level of the ground, occasionally admits of a “fenk-back,” or
depository, for the refuse of the blubber, immediately beneath it;
which fenk-back is sometimes provided with a _clough_ on the side
next the water, for “starting” the fenks into a barge or lighter
placed below.
5. The premises likewise comprise a _shed_ for the cooper, and
sometimes a cooper’s, or master-boiler’s, dwelling-house; the
inhabitant of which takes the charge of all the blubber, oil,
whalebone, and other articles deposited around him.
6. Warehouses for containing the oil after it is drawn off into casks
are also used, not only for preserving it in safe custody, but for
defending the casks from the rays of the sun, otherwise they are apt
to pine and become leaky, and,
7. Sometimes “steeping-backs” and apparatus for preparing whalebone
are comprised within the same inclosure.
The blubber, which was originally in the state of fat, is found,
on arrival in a warm climate, to be in a great measure resolved
into oil. The casks, containing the blubber, are conveyed, by
the mechanical apparatus above mentioned, to the top of the
starting-back, into which their contents are emptied or _started_
through the bungholes. When the copper is properly cleansed, the
contents of the starting-back, on lifting a clough at the extremity,
or turning a stop-cock, fall directly into the copper, one edge of
which is usually placed beneath. The copper is filled within two or
three inches of the top, a little space being requisite to admit
of the expansion of the oil when heated; and then a brisk fire is
applied to the furnace, and continued until the oil begins to boil.
This effect usually takes place in less than two hours. Many of
the fritters or fenks float on the surface of the oil before it
is heated, but after it is “boiled off,” the whole, or nearly so,
subside to the bottom. From the time the copper begins to warm until
it is boiled off, or ceases to boil, its contents must be incessantly
stirred by means of a pole, armed with a kind of broad, blunt chisel,
to prevent the fenks from adhering to the bottom or sides of the
vessel. When once the contents of the copper boil, the fire in the
furnace is immediately reduced, and shortly afterwards altogether
withdrawn. Some persons allow the copper to boil an hour, others
during two or three hours. The former practice is supposed to produce
finer and paler oil, the latter a greater quantity. The same copper
is usually boiled twice in every twenty-four hours, Sundays excepted.
After the oil has stood to cool and subside, the “bailing” process
commences. One of the backs or coolers having been prepared for the
reception of the oil, by putting into it a quantity of water, for
the double purpose of preventing the heat of the oil from warping
or rending the back, and for receiving any impurities which it may
happen to hold in suspension, a wooden spout, with a large square
box-like head, which head is filled with brushwood or broom, that
it may act as a filter, is then placed along from “the copper-head”
to the cooler, so as to form a communication between the two. The
oil in the copper being now separated from the fenks, water, and
other impurities, all of which have subsided to the bottom, is in a
great measure run off through the pipe communicating with the cooler,
and the remainder is carefully lifted in copper or tin ladles, and
poured upon the broom in the spout, from whence it runs into the same
cooler, or any other cooler, at the pleasure of the “boilers.”
Besides oil and fenks, the blubber of the whale likewise affords a
considerable quantity of watery liquor, produced probably from the
putrescence of the blood, on the surface of which some of the fenks,
and all the greasy animal matter, called foot-je, or footing, float,
and upon the top of these the oil. Great care therefore is requisite,
on approaching these impure substances, to take the oil off by
means of shallow tinned iron or copper ladles, called “skimmers,”
without disturbing the refuse and mixing it with the oil. There must
always, however, be a small quantity towards the conclusion, which
is a mixture of oil and footing; such is put into a cask or other
suitable vessel by itself, and when the greasy part has thoroughly
subsided, the most pure part is skimmed off and becomes fine oil, and
the impure is allowed to accumulate by itself, in another vessel,
where in the end it affords “brown-oil.” From a ton, or 252 gallons
by measure of blubber, there generally arises from fifty to sixty
gallons of refuse, whereof the greater part is a watery fluid.
The constant presence of this fluid, which boils at a much lower
temperature than the oil, prevents the oil itself from boiling,
which is probably an advantage, since, in the event of the oil being
boiled, some of the finest and most inflammable parts would fly off
in the form of vapour, whereas the principal part of the steam,
which now escapes, is produced from the water. Some persons make a
practice of adding a quantity of water, amounting perhaps to half a
tun, to the contents of each copper, with the view of weakening or
attenuating the viscid impurities contained in the blubber, and thus
obtaining a finer oil; others consider the quantity of watery fluid
already in the blubber, as sufficient for producing every needful
effect.
Each day, immediately after the copper is emptied, and while it is
yet hot, the men employed in the manufacture of the oil, having their
feet defended by strong leathern or wooden shoes, descend into it,
and scour it out with sand and water, until they restore the natural
surface of the copper wherever it is discoloured. This serves to
preserve the oil from becoming high-coloured, which will always be
the case when proper cleanliness is not observed.
When prepared and cooled, the oil is in a marketable state, and
requires only to be transferred from the coolers into casks, for
the convenience of conveyance to any part of the country. Each of
the coolers, it has been observed, is furnished with a stop-cock,
beneath which there is a platform adapted for receiving the casks.
At the conclusion of the process of boiling each vessel’s cargo
manufactured on the premises, the backs are completely emptied of
their contents. To effect this water is poured in, until the lower
part of the stratum of oil rises within a few lines of the level of
the stop-cock, and permits the greatest part of the oil to escape.
The quantity left amounts, perhaps, to half an inch or an inch in
depth; to recover this oil without water requires a little address. A
deal board, in length a little exceeding the breadth of the cooler,
is introduced at one end, diagonally, and placed, edge-ways, in
its contents. The ends of the board being covered with flannel,
when pressed forcibly against the two opposite sides of the cooler,
prevent the oil from circulating past. The board is then advanced
slowly forward towards the part of the back where the stop-cock
is placed, and, in its progress, all the oil is collected by the
board, while the water has a free circulation beneath it. When the
oil accumulates to the depth of the board, its further motion is
suspended until the oil thus collected is drawn off. Another similar
board is afterwards introduced, at the furthest extremity of the
cooler, and passed forward in the same manner, whereby the little
oil which escapes the first is collected. The remnant is taken up
by skimmers. The smell of oil during its extraction is undoubtedly
disagreeable; but, perhaps, not more so than the vapour arising from
any other animal substance, submitted to the action of heat when in
a putrid state. It is an erroneous opinion that a whale-ship must
always give out the same unpleasant smell. The fact is, that the fat
of the whale, in its fresh state, has no offensive flavour whatever,
and never becomes disagreeable until it is brought into a warm
climate, and becomes putrid.
Whale-oil, prepared by the method just described, is of a pale
honey-yellow colour; but sometimes, when the blubber from which it
is procured happens to be of the red kind, the oil appears of a
reddish-brown colour. When first extracted, it is commonly thick,
but after standing some time a mucilaginous substance subsides, and
it becomes tolerably limpid and transparent. Its smell is somewhat
offensive, especially when it is long kept. It consists of oil,
properly so called, a small portion of spermaceti, and a little
gelatine. At the temperature of 40° the latter substances become
partially concrete, and make the oil obscure; and at the temperature
of 32° render it thick with flaky crystals. It is sold by the tun,
of 252 gallons, wine measure. Its specific gravity is 0·9214. The
tun weighs 17 cwt. 1 qr. 1 lb. 12 oz. 14 dr. The value of whale-oil,
like that of every other similar article, is subject to continual
variations. In the year 1744, oil sold in England for £10. 1_s._ per
tun; in 1754, for £29; in 1801, for £50; in 1807, for £21; and in
1813, when the price was the highest ever obtained, for £55 or £60
per tun.
The application of gas, produced by the distillation of coal, for
lighting the public streets and buildings, manufactories, shops,
etc., which formerly were lighted with oil, it was apprehended
would be ruinous to the whale-fishery trade, and certainly had a
very threatening appearance; but hitherto, owing to the amount
of whale-oil lately imported having been less than the ordinary
quantity, this expected effect of the employment of gas-lights has
not been felt.
When blubber is boiled in Greenland, the oil produced from it is
much brighter, paler, more limpid, and more inflammable than that
extracted in Britain. It is also totally free from any unpleasant
flavour, and burns without smell. Hence it is evident, that whatever
is disagreeable in the effluvia of whale-oil arises from an admixture
of putrescent substances. These consist of blood and animal fibre.
This latter is the reticulated and cellular fibres of the blubber,
wherein the oil is confined, which produces the fenks when boiled.
When putrefaction commences, a small portion of the blood contained
in the blubber is probably combined with the oil, and the animal
fibre, in considerable quantity, is dissolved in it. These substances
not only occasion the unpleasant smell common to whale-oil, but,
by being deposited on the wick of lamps, in burning, produce upon
it a kind of cinder, which, if not occasionally removed, causes a
great diminution in the quantity of light. A sample of oil, which
I extracted in Greenland, about ten years ago, is still fine, and
totally free from rancidity. It has certainly acquired a smell,
but is not more unpleasant than that of old Florence oil. Hence,
were whale-oil extracted in Greenland before the putrefying process
commences, or were any method devised of freeing it from the
impurities which combine with it in consequence of this process, it
would become not only more valuable for common purposes, but would be
applicable to almost every use to which spermaceti oil is adapted. In
fact, it would become a similar kind of article.
In performing some experiments on oil in Greenland, during the
fishing season of 1818, I adopted a process for refining oil
extracted from blubber before the putrefying process commenced, by
which I procured a remarkably fine oil. It was nearly colourless,
beautifully transparent, and very limpid. This oil retains its
transparency, even at a very low temperature. It is more inflammable
than spermaceti oil, and so pure, that it will burn longer, without
forming a crust on the wick of the lamp, than any other oil with
which it has been compared.
Besides the oil produced from blubber by boiling, the whalers
distinguish such as oozes from the jawbones of the fish by the name
of jawbone oil; and inferior oils, which are discoloured, by the
denominations of brown oil and black oil, or bilge oil. Brown oil is
produced in the way described in the process of boiling; black or
bilge oil is that which leaks out of the casks in the course of the
voyage, or runs out of any blubber which may happen to be in bulk,
and accumulates in the bottom of the ship. This oil is always very
dark coloured, viscous, and possessed of little transparency.
Whalebone, or whalefins, as the substance is sometimes, though
incorrectly, named, is found in the mouth of the common Greenland
whale, to which it serves as a substitute for teeth. It forms an
apparatus most admirably adapted as a filter for separating the
minute animals on which the whale feeds from the sea-water in which
they exist. The Lawgiver of all the creatures, whether rational or
irrational, has fitted them with organization appropriate for the
purposes for which they live, and has provided them with all that is
needful, according to their rank, for the happiness of their lives.
The care which is bestowed upon the animals who do not recognise Him
is in unison with that more tender kindness which he has manifested
to such as have a mind to meditate on his perfections, and a heart
wherewith to love him and adore.
The whalebone is a substance of a horny appearance and consistence,
extremely flexible and elastic, generally of a bluish black colour,
but not unfrequently striped longitudinally white, and exhibiting
a beautiful play of colour on the surface. Internally, it is of a
fibrous texture, resembling hair, and the external surface consists
of a smooth enamel, capable of receiving a good polish. When taken
from the whale, the whalebone consists of laminæ, connected by what
is called the gum in a parallel series, and ranged along each side
of the mouth of the animal. The laminæ are about three hundred in
number, in each side of the head. The length of the longest blade,
which occurs near the middle of the series, is the criterion fixed
on by the fishers for designating the size of the fish. Its greatest
length is about fifteen feet. The two sides or series of the
whalebone are connected at the upper part of the head or crown-bone
of the fish, within a few inches of each other, from whence they
hang downwards, diverging so far as to inclose the tongue between
their extremities; the position of the blades with regard to each
other resembles a frame of saws in a saw-mill; and, taken altogether,
they exhibit in some measure the form and position of the roof of
a house. The smaller extremity and interior edge of each blade of
whalebone, or the edge annexed to the tongue, are covered with a long
fringe of hair, consisting of a similar kind of substance to that
which constitutes the interior of the bone. Whale-bone is generally
brought from Greenland in the same state as when taken from the fish,
after being divided into pieces, comprising ten or twelve laminæ in
each. Of late years, the price has usually been fluctuating between
£50 and £150 per ton. It becomes more valuable as it increases in
length and thickness.
In cleansing and preparing the whalebone, the first operation, if
not already done, consists of depriving it of the gum. It is then
put into a cistern containing water, till the dirt upon its surface
becomes soft. When this effect is sufficiently produced, it is taken
out piece by piece, laid on a plank placed on the ground, where the
operator stands, and scrubbed or scoured with sand and water, by
means of a broom or piece of cloth. It is then passed to another
person, who, on a plank or bench, elevated to a convenient height,
scrapes the root-end, where the gum was attached, until he produces
a smooth surface; he, or another workman, then applies a knife or a
pair of shears to the edge, and completely detaches all the fringe
of hair connected with it. Another person, who is generally the
superintendent of the concern, afterwards receives it, washes it in a
vessel of clean water, and removes with a bit of wood the impurities
out of the cavity of the root. Thus cleansed, it is exposed to
the air and sun, until thoroughly dry, when it is removed into a
warehouse or other place of safety and shelter.
Before it is offered for sale, it is usually scrubbed with brushes
and hair-cloth, by which the surface receives a polish, and all
dirt or dust adhering to it removed; and, finally, it is packed in
portable bundles, consisting of about one hundred weight each. The
size-bone, or such pieces as measure six feet or upwards in length,
are kept separate from the under size, the latter being usually sold
at half the price of the former. Each blade being terminated with a
quantity of hair, there is sometimes a difficulty in deciding whether
some blades of whalebone are size or not. Owing to the diminished
value of under-sized bones, and more particularly in consequence of
the captain and some of the officers engaged in a fishing-ship having
a premium on every size fish, it becomes a matter of some importance
in a doubtful case to decide this point. From a decision which, I
understand, has been made in a court of law, it is now a generally
received rule, that so much of the substance terminating each blade
as gives rise to two or more hairs is whalebone; though in fact the
hair itself is actually the same substance as that of which the
whalebone is composed.
The oil produced from the blubber of the whale, in its most common
state of preparation, is used for a variety of purposes. It is used
in the lighting of the streets of towns, and the interior of places
of worship, houses, shops, manufactories, etc.; it is extensively
employed in the manufacture of soft soap, as well as in the
preparing of leather and coarse woollen cloths; it is applicable in
the manufacture of coarse varnishes and paints, in which, when duly
prepared, it affords a strength of body more capable of resisting
the weather than paint mixed in the usual way with vegetable oil; it
is also extensively used for reducing friction in various kinds of
machinery; combined with tar, it is much employed in ship-work, and
in the manufacture of cordage, and either simple, or in a state of
combination, it is applied to many other useful purposes.
One of the most extensive applications of whale-oil, that for
illumination, has suffered a considerable diminution, in consequence
of the appropriation of gas from coal to the same purpose. This
discovery, brilliant as it is acknowledged to be, which in its
first application bore such a threatening aspect against the usual
consumption of oil, may be the means of bringing the oil of the
whale into more extensive use than it has at any former period
been. Whale-oil, in the most inferior qualities, is found to afford
a gas which, in point of brilliancy, freeness of smell, and ease
of manufacture, is greatly superior to that produced from coal. In
places where coal is not very cheap, gas, it seems, can be produced
from oil at about the same expense as coal-gas; consequently, the
numerous advantages of the former will render it highly preferable.
Whale-oil, when free from the incombustible and contaminating
animal matters which are usually dissolved in it in consequence of
putrefaction, is, then, applicable to a variety of purposes, in which
the common oil cannot conveniently be employed. Even in its unrefined
state, whale-oil frequently obtains an unmerited bad character for
burning, when the fault lies in those who have the charge of the
lamps in which it is consumed. Want of proper cleanliness, the use
of wicks of too great diameter, and sometimes in a damp state, are
common errors inimical to the obtaining of a good light.
The fenks, or ultimate refuse of the blubber of the whale, form an
excellent manure, especially in soils deficient in animal matter.
Fenks might be used, it is probable, in the manufacture of Prussian
blue, and also for the production of ammonia. Footing, which is
the finer detached fragments of the fenks, not wholly deprived
of oil, may be used as a cheap material in the formation of gas.
Whale’s tail can be converted into glue, and is extensively used in
the manufacture of this article, especially in Holland. It forms,
as I have already mentioned, chopping-blocks for the fishers. The
jawbones, with the skull or crown-bone of the whale, are the largest
found in nature. They are sometimes met with of the length of
twenty-five feet. Jawbones are used as the ribs of sheds, and in the
construction of arches and posts of gateways.
Whalebone, when softened in hot water, or simply by heating it
before a fire, has the property of retaining any shape which may then
be given to it, provided it be secured in the required form until
it becomes cold. This property, together with its great elasticity
and flexibility, renders it capable of being applied to many useful
purposes. The first way in which it seems to have been employed was
in the stays of ladies. Its application to this purpose was at one
period, when the quantity imported was small, so general that it
attained, in the wholesale way, the price of £700 per ton. Of late
years, however, it has fallen somewhat into disrepute, some ladies
preferring to support themselves with plates of steel. There has
been for many years an extensive consumption of this article in the
manufacture of umbrellas and parasols. The white enamel (found in
some specimens of whalebone) has been fabricated into ladies’ hats,
and a variety of ornamental forms of head-dresses; and the black
enamel is employed, in the same way as cane, in the construction
of the seats or backs of chairs, gigs, sofas, etc. The hair on
the edge of the whalebone answers every purpose of bullock’s hair
in stuffings for chairs, sofas, settees, carriages, mattresses,
cushions, etc. An attempt has been made to build whale-boats of
this material, but the great alteration which takes place in its
dimensions, in different states of the atmosphere, on account of its
ready absorption of moisture, renders it inapplicable. It has been
used with a much better effect, in the construction of portmanteaus,
travelling-trunks, hygrometers, the ram-rods of fowling-pieces,
fishing-rods, the shafts, springs, and wheels of carriages, and
various other articles.