[Illustration: DANGERS OF THE WHALE FISHERY.]
CATCHING
OF THE
WHALE AND SEAL;
OR,
HENRY ACTON’S CONVERSATION TO HIS SON WILLIAM
ON THE
Whale and Seal Fishery.
WITH PLATES.
[Illustration]
Salem:
PUBLISHED BY IVES AND JEWETT.
NEW YORK: GOULD AND NEWMAN.
1838.
ANDOVER:
Gould & Newman, Printers.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE DIFFERENT AND MOST REMARKABLE SPECIES OF THE
WHALE TRIBE, &c.
CHAPTER II.
FOOD OF WHALES, AND THEIR MANNER OF OBTAINING IT, &c.
CHAPTER III.
THE TAKING OF A WHALE WITH HER YOUNG, &c.
CHAPTER IV.
BOATS—HAND HARPOON—BLUBBER LANCE—GUN
HARPOON—ACCIDENTS—DANGERS OF THE NORTHERN FISHERY, &c.
CHAPTER V.
PROCEEDINGS AFTER A WHALE IS KILLED.
CHAPTER VI.
THE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF SEALS—THE FISHERY ON THE
ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC, &c.
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE WHALE.
CHAPTER I.
THE DIFFERENT AND MOST REMARKABLE SPECIES OF THE WHALE TRIBE.
“Nature’s strange work, vast Whales of different form,
Toss up the troubled flood, and are themselves a storm.
Uncouth the sight, when they, in dreadful play,
Discharge their nostrils, and refund a sea.”
You recollect, my son, that some time since in a morning’s walk you
pointed out to me an enormous arch over a field gate, which I told you
was formed of the jaw-bones of the whale, and I then promised you an
account of these enormous fishes. Among the numberless tribes of living
animals that people the northern seas, the class of whales are by far
the largest, and although living in the water, they are in many respects
similar to quadrupeds; they not only bring forth their young alive, but
suckle them as do the land animals; they have also a thick layer of
fatty substance, called blubber, surrounding their whole body, beneath
the skin, and it is by this covering, my son, that Providence enables
them to defy the most dreadful extremities of cold even under the ice
at the Poles. Although they are the “mightiest animals that swim the
ocean stream” their bulk has been often exaggerated, they being rarely
more than 60 feet long, which implies a weight of 70 tons, being nearly
that of 300 fat oxen. The tail is the most active limb of this mighty
animal; its power is tremendous; a single blow throws a large boat with
its crew into the air. There are several varieties of the whale. The most
dangerous one is the Razor Back, which is longer than the Common Black or
Right Whale, and although smaller in circumference, is a more powerful
animal, swimming at the rate of twelve miles an hour, and has been known
to run off 480 fathoms of line with a harpoon attached to him in one
minute. They are difficult to obtain, often obliging the sailors to cut
the line in order to escape destruction; but as this species contains
only ten or twelve tons of oil of an inferior quality, the whalers
generally shun his encounter; sometimes however they mistake him in the
water for the common one. The other species of whale eagerly sought after
by man, is the Cachalot or Spermaceti; this animal is almost invariably
found in large herds of from 150 to 200.
[Illustration]