SHIPS ATTACKED BY WHALES
After I left Alaska the Tyee Company put into service a wooden whale
ship called the _Sorenson_, which in 1910 was sunk by a finback. The
animal had been struck by one iron and, suddenly going into its death
flurry, began charging madly in every direction.
[Illustration:
The long slender body of a finback lying on its side; the outer edges
of the whalebone plates in the mouth are well shown.
]
In one of its wild dashes the sixty-ton whale, coming at a speed of
probably twenty-five knots per hour, drove straight into the ship,
crushing her side like an eggshell and tearing her almost apart. The
vessel filled so rapidly that the crew were hardly able to get a small
boat over before she went down. Later the men were all rescued.
J. G. Millais, Esq., says of the finback:
Space will not allow me to give any of the numerous stories of the
exciting hunts to which one listens in the galley and the cabin of the
Atlantic Finwhalers, but they prove that the chase of this great Whale
calls for the sternest courage and readiest resource.
To stand up in a tiny “pram” amidst a whirl of waters and lance a
fighting Finback is no child’s play, and requires that six o’clock in
the morning pluck that the Norsemen possess in a high degree. Many
accidents have occurred to the boat crews when engaged in “lancing,”
and one or two to the steamers themselves.
The whaler _Gracia_, belonging to Vadso, was sunk by a Finner in 1894
in the Varanger Fjord. In 1896 the _Jarfjord_ was sunk in ten minutes
by one of these Whales charging it, when about sixty miles north of
the North Cape. A heavy sea was running at the time, and the crew
crowded into two small prams, which would probably have been
overwhelmed had not Captain Castberg, hunting in another steamer, come
to their rescue.[7]
Footnote 7:
“The Mammals of Great Britain and Ireland.” By J. G. Millais.
Longmans, Green, & Co., p. 271.
Without doubt practically all ships which have been injured or sunk by
whales have been struck by accident. Just before a whale dies it goes
into what is called the death flurry and dashes wildly about in every
direction. If a ship or boat happens to be near it stands an excellent
chance of being rammed, for the animal is utterly blind in its rushes.
The sperm is an exception to the rule of purely accidental attacks,
however, for there are many well authenticated instances of whales of
this species, while only slightly wounded and not in the death flurry,
deliberately sinking boats and even three-hundred- or four-hundred-ton
vessels.
[Illustration:
The spout of a finback whale. The column of vapor rises to a height of
about twenty feet.
]
Almost every deep-sea whaleman has stories to tell of “rogue” sperms,
which are usually old bulls that have sought a solitary life either from
choice or ostracism from the main herd. Such animals are often vicious
and sometimes turn furiously upon the boats when struck with an iron.
The “devilfish,” or California gray whale, had a bad reputation among
the whalers of fifty years ago, for when attacked upon its breeding
grounds it is said to have fought fiercely for the protection of its
young. Under such circumstances its actions would undoubtedly be very
different from what I have observed when gray whales were killed near
Korea, where we had no more trouble than with other species.
At sea it is often impossible to distinguish the blue and finback whales
by the way they blow. The columns of vapor are much alike under ordinary
circumstances, except that the spout of the blue whale is usually
somewhat higher than is the finback’s. However, much depends upon the
size of the animal, since a large finback will often blow as strongly as
a small blue whale. But if not far away the blue whale may be easily
known by the light gray-blue color of its body, for it contrasts
strongly with the dark slate upper parts of the finback which, when
dripping with water, often look almost purplish. The Norwegian name
_blahval_ was given to the greatest of all living creatures because of
the distinctly bluish color of its body. The Newfoundland and American
whalemen call the animal “sulphur-bottom,” a most inappropriate name,
for there is no suggestion of yellow on its body. The Japanese know it
as _shiro-nagasu_ (the white finback).
The diving movements of the two species are also similar except that in
rare instances a blue whale will draw out its flukes when sounding,
while a finback never does. Each one ascends obliquely, delivering the
spout as soon as its head appears at the surface, and each slowly
revolves, lifting its body high out of the water as it goes down. But
the finback is more regular in its movements when traveling than is its
larger relative. Then it will swim as straight as an arrow, not varying
a quarter of a point from its course, and blow at regular intervals.
[Illustration:
A finback whale “sounding” or taking the “big dive.”
]
The blue whale, even when not frightened, spouts very irregularly. Under
ordinary circumstances it will blow from eight to fifteen times at a
rising and always with a tremendous noise. The sound is a metallic,
whistling roar which can be heard at a distance of three or four miles
if there is a fog or the sea is calm. I always have a feeling of
admiration when watching either a blue or finback whale, for the
magnificent brutes move in a slow and dignified way as though conscious
that they are the largest and most imposing animals of ancient or modern
times.
[Illustration:
When sounding the finback sinks lower and lower until the dorsal fin
disappears; this is the last part of the body to leave the surface.
This species never draws out the flukes as do the humpback, sperm
and right whales.
]
As a supplement to my own experiences while hunting finbacks in Alaska,
I have taken the liberty of quoting a portion of J. G. Millais’
description of killing a whale of this species off the Shetland coast,
for it shows most admirably what real excitement one can have even in
modern whaling:
At 7:30 it was bitterly cold, when Captain Stokken again stood beside
the gun, and we were in full pursuit of a large female Finback that
seemed tamer than the rest. Eventually, in its final “roll,” the Whale
raised itself about ten yards from the gun, and the whaler tipping the
muzzle downwards, fired and struck the quarry under the backbone.
At first the Finback was rather quiet, and then it began to run, the
strong line rushing out at a speed of about fifteen knots. When some
two miles of rope had gone over the bow I turned to Captain Stokken
and said, “How much line have you got?”
“About three mile,” was the curt reply.
“But when that three mile goes, what then?”
“Oh, well,” was the imperturbable answer, “then I check line, and we
see which is strongest, Whale or rope. Perhaps harpoon draws out.”
In the course of a minute the Captain gave the order to check the
line. The strain now became terrific, the two-inch rope straining and
groaning as if it would burst. At the same moment the little steamer
leaped forward and raced over the seas at about twelve miles an hour.
There was a feeling of intense exhilaration as we rushed northwards,
the spray flying from our bows as the ship leaped from crest to crest
in the heavy swell.
I have enjoyed the rushes of gallant thirty- and even forty-pound
salmon in heavy water on the Tay—the supreme moments in an angler’s
life—but that was mere child’s play to the intense excitement which we
experienced during the next three hours. To be in tow of a wild Whale
is something to remember to one’s dying day. You feel that you are
alive and that you are there with the sport of kings. No wonder the
Norwegians are full of life; the men, from the captain to the cook,
run to their several tasks with eyes and hearts aflame. This is a
calling which will stir the blood of the dullest clod, and to men who
are one and all the finest seamen in the world is the very life and
essence of the Viking nature.
Three hours of this fierce race went on, and the Whale seemed as if it
would take us to Iceland. The gallant Finback was as fresh as ever
when the captain gave the order, “Quarter speed astern.” With a
tremendous strain on the rope and the churning of the backward driving
screw our speed was at once reduced to ten knots. It was marvelous,
the strength of that animal. The minutes and even the hours fled by,
still the great Cetacean held on its northward course without a check.
Three hours passed; then came the order “Half speed astern,” and we
were down to six knots, the vessel and the Whale still fighting the
battle for the mastery.
In another hour the Whale showed visible signs of weakening when “Full
speed astern” brought matters to a standstill. The machinery of man
and the natural strength of the beast still worried on for another
hour, and then we saw the steamer moving backwards, the Whale was
done, and could pull no more.[8]
Footnote 8:
“The Mammals of Great Britain and Ireland.” By J. G. Millais.
Longmans, Green, & Co., pp. 272–273.
[Illustration:
A finback taking an “intermediate” or “surface” dive.
]
Although the blue and finback whales of the Atlantic and Pacific have
been given different names, yet there is little doubt but that each is
represented in all oceans by a single cosmopolitan species.
Apparently no definite barriers exist to curtail the wanderings of the
fin whales (_Balænopterinæ_), for they seem to be indifferent alike to
tropic or Arctic temperatures and travel where they will. Probably the
presence or absence of the little shrimp which forms their food is one
of the greatest determining factors of their movements.
In most oceans whales live under very similar conditions and naturalists
are gradually coming to recognize that the laws of geographical
separation which hold universally good for land mammals are not equally
true in the case of cetaceans. In other words, if any group of land
mammals is separated from others of its kind by impassable barriers such
as water, mountains, deserts, etc., it will gradually develop changes in
structure or external appearance due to differences of climate, food, or
other conditions of environment.
But this is not true of the fin whales for the conditions under which
they live in the North Pacific are very similar to those in the North
Atlantic; consequently, even if the animals of the two oceans never
mingled, they could probably continue to reproduce themselves without
material change for an almost indefinite period. But there is strong
evidence to show that all the fin whales do travel from one ocean to
another by way of Capes Horn and Good Hope and, since the tropic waters
of the Equator are not an effective barrier, wander from the borders of
the Antarctic far up into the North Pacific and Atlantic, or vice versa.
The sperm whale is also a cosmopolitan wanderer, but the right whales
apparently do not cross the Equator which, as Lieutenant Maury remarks,
acts to them like a “belt of fire.” The bowhead is found only in the
Arctic regions.
[Illustration:
The upper jaw of a finback whale, showing the bristles on the inner
edges of the baleen plates.
]
Strangely enough, if whales are driven away from inland waters they
seldom return, and others will not take the places of those which have
been killed. This has been demonstrated on the American west coast to
the considerable financial loss of both the Tyee Company of Alaska and
the (former) Pacific Whaling Company of Victoria, British Columbia.
The Tyee Company erected a station on the southern end of Admiralty
Island, sixty miles from the open sea, and although when operations were
first begun finback and humpback whales were there in hundreds, they
were soon all killed and the vessels had to hunt “outside.”
The Pacific Whaling Company spent many thousands of dollars building a
station at Nannaimo, on the east coast of Vancouver Island, expecting to
capture a sufficient number of whales in the bay and straits to supply
their factory. Their hopes were not realized, however, for after two or
three seasons’ work there were no more whales to kill and the station
had to be moved near the open sea.
It seems to be true that in all parts of the world the blue and humpback
whales first leave the feeding grounds and that the finback and sei
whales will remain longer than any other, even when persistently hunted.