Every sea-port in England was thronged with seamen whom the cessation of
war had cast on shore without employment, when as I was strolling along
the quays of Liverpool with my hands in my pockets, in rather a
disconsolate mood, wondering in what direction my wayward fate would
carry me, I ran bolt up against a post near which a gentleman was
standing, and somehow or other managed to tumble over him.
"Beg pardon, sir," said I, looking up in his face; "I did not see you."
"No harm done, my man; but stop," said he, as I was moving on; "I think
I remember that voice and face. Jack Williams, I am certain?"
"Yes, that's certain," said I, looking at him hard. "And I may make
bold to guess that you, sir, are Mr Carr."
"You are right in your guess, Jack;--that is to say, I have been Captain
Carr for some years past. I am glad to have fallen in with you, for I
am fitting out a ship for a long voyage, and I like to have men with me
whom I know and can trust."
"Glad to have your good opinion, sir, and without another question I'll
ship with you," I answered. "Where are you bound for?"
"A South-Sea whaling-voyage," he answered. "I have been at it for some
years now, both as mate and master, and I tell you there's nothing like
it for excitement and novelty. There's our craft, Jack; the _Drake_ is
her name. Look at her. Not a finer ship for her size sails out of
Liverpool--measures five hundred tons, and carries forty hands. You'll
like the life, depend on it; and I say, if you fall in with any good
men, let me know. I like to have trustworthy men serving with me."
I promised to do as he desired, and then went on board to have a look at
the ship. I found her everything I could wish, and felt perfectly
satisfied with the arrangement I had made. Having set my mind at ease
on that point, I began to consider how I should pass my time till the
_Drake_ was ready to receive her crew on board, for she was still in the
hands of the carpenters. I bethought me, then, that I would run across
to Dublin, to try and find out my old captain. I found a large smack--a
regular passage vessel--just sailing, so I went aboard, and in two days
we reached that port. On landing I inquired for Captain Helfrich, for I
had forgotten where he lived. "There he goes along the quays," answered
the person I had addressed; and I saw a gentleman whom, from his figure,
I did not doubt was him.
"Captain Helfrich, sir, I beg pardon; but I'm glad to see you looking so
well. I'm Jack Williams," I exclaimed, running after him.
"That's my name; but I do not remember you, my man," he answered.
"I served my apprenticeship with you, and you were very kind to me,
sir," I replied; but as I spoke I looked more narrowly in his face, and
saw a much younger man than I expected to meet.
"Ah! you take me for my father, as others have done," he remarked,
laughing. "He has given up the sea long ago, but he will be glad to
meet an old shipmate; and now I think of it, I have to thank you for the
model of his old craft the _Rainbow_. Come along by all means; I'm
going to his house. You'll find him much changed, though."
So I did, indeed, and it made me reflect how many years of my life had
passed away. I found my old captain seated before the fire in a large
arm-chair, with a book and spectacles on a table by his side, and a
handkerchief over his knees. His hair was long and white as snow, and
his cheeks thin and fallen in about the mouth; but still the hue of
health had not altogether fled. He received me kindly and frankly, and
seemed much pleased at my coming so far to see him. He desired to hear
all about me, and was greatly moved at the account I gave him of the
_Rainbow's_ loss. He was sorry to find that all the time I had been at
sea I had not improved my condition in the world. I confessed that it
was owing to my idleness and unwillingness to learn.
"Ah, I have learned many a lesson I did not know in my youth, from this
book here, Jack," said he, pointing to the book by his side, which was
the Bible. "I now know in whom to trust; and had I known Him in the
days of my youth, how much grief and shame I might have avoided!
Mercifully, God has by His grace taught me to see my own errors; and I
have endeavoured to remedy them as far as I have been able, in the way I
have brought up my son. I have taught him what I learned from this
book: `Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth.'"
I was very much struck by the way my old captain, I may say the once
pirate, spoke; and I afterwards learned that he had not failed to instil
into his son the better principles he had imbibed. Still I am bound to
say that he was an exception to the general rule; for, as far as my
experience goes, men who grow careless of their duty to God and
indifferent to religion, continue through life increasing in hardness of
heart and conscience, without a thought of the past or a fear for the
future--truly, living as if they had no souls to care for, as if there
were no God who rules the world. Dreadful is their end! Therefore I
say to all my readers: Never put off for a single hour--for a single
minute--repentance and a diligent searching for newness of life. You
know not what an hour, what a minute may bring forth. You may be
suddenly summoned to die, and there may be no time for repentance.
Among other questions, Captain Helfrich kindly inquired for my old
friend Peter Poplar. How ashamed I felt of my own ingratitude, my
heartlessness, when I could not tell him! No one I had met could tell
me whether he still survived, or whether he had fallen among the
thousands of brave men who had died that England might be free. I
promised to make further inquiries before I sailed, and, should I fail
to hear of him, to set out on my return from my proposed voyage with the
express purpose of discovering him.
That visit to my old captain is one of the few things performed of my
own accord on which I can look back with satisfaction. The next day I
sailed for Liverpool.
Many strange and curious coincidences have occurred to me during my
life. Two days before the _Drake_ was ready for sea, having failed to
gain any tidings of Peter, I was standing on the quay--work being over--
in the evening, with my hands in my pockets, just taking a look at my
future home, when I observed a boat-load of men landing from a sloop
which had lately brought up in the river. By their cut I knew that they
were men-of-war's men. Several of them I saw had been wounded, and,
judging by their shattered frames, pretty severely handled. One was a
tall thin man. The sleeve on his right side hung looped up to a button,
and he leaned over on the opposite side, as if to balance himself. I
looked eagerly in his face, for I doubted not I knew his figure. It was
Peter Poplar himself! I sprung eagerly forward. Captain Helfrich's
appearance had made me feel old, but Peter's weather-beaten countenance
and grizzly hair reminded me that my own manhood must be waning. For a
moment I do not think he knew me. He had thought me dead--killed by the
French fishermen, or murdered in prison. At all events he had heard
nothing of me from the moment I was carried off in the fishing-boat.
How kindly and warmly he shook my hand with his remaining one!
"I've lost a flipper, Jack, you see," said he, sticking out his stump.
"I never mind. It was for the sake of Old England; and I have got a
pension, and there's Greenwich ready for me when I like to bear up for
it. There's still stuff in me, and if I had been wanted, I'd have kept
afloat; but as I'm not wanted, I'm going to have a look at some of my
kith and kin, on whom I haven't set eyes since the war began. Many of
them are gone, I fear. So do you, Jack, come along with me. They will
give you a welcome, I know."
I told him how sorry I was that I could not go, as I had entered aboard
the whaler; but I spent the evening with him, and all the next day; and
he came and had a look at the _Drake_, and Captain Carr was very glad to
see him, and told him that he wished he had him even now with him. I
cannot say how much this meeting with my old friend again lightened my
heart; still I felt ashamed that I should have been in a trader, and
away from one who had been more to me than a father, while he was nobly
fighting the battles of our country. He had bravely served from ship to
ship through the whole of the war. He, however, did not utter a word of
blame. He only found fault with himself.
"I told you once, Jack," said he, "that I ought to have been a master,
had it not been for my own ignorance, instead of before the mast; and
having missed that, had I not continued too idle to learn, I might have
got a boatswain's warrant. I tell you this because, though you are no
longer a youngster, you have many years before you, I hope, and may
still get the learning which books alone can give you, and without which
you must ever remain before the mast."
I need not say that he made me promise to find him out on my return. I
shall never forget the kindly, fatherly glance the old man gave me as he
looked down from the top of the coach which was to take him on his way
to the home he had so long left.
The _Drake_, ready for sea, had hauled out into the stream. She might
at once have been known as a South-Sea whaler by the height she was out
of the water, and by the boats which hung from their davits around her,
painted white, light though strongly-built, with their stems and sterns
sharp alike, and with a slight curve in their keels--each from about
twenty-six to nearly thirty feet in length. Although she had provisions
enough on board--casks of beef, and pork, and bread, (meaning biscuit),
and flour, and suet, and raisins, and rum, and lime-juice, and other
antiscorbutics--to last us for nearly four years, they were not
sufficient to bring her much down in the water, as she was built to
carry many hundred barrels of oil, which we hoped to collect before our
return. I may as well here describe the fittings of a whale-boat. In
the after-part is an upright rounded post, called the loggerhead, by
which to secure the end of the harpoon-line; and in the bows is a groove
through which it runs out. It is furnished with two lines, each of
which is coiled away in a tub ready for use. It has four harpoons;
three or more lances; several small flags, called "whifts," to stick
into the dead whale, by which it may be recognised at a distance when it
may be necessary to chase another; and two or more "drogues," four-sided
pieces of board to be attached to the end of the whale-line when it is
hove overboard, and which, being dragged with its surface against the
water, impedes the progress of the whale. Besides these things, each
boat is supplied with a case in which are stowed several necessary
articles, the most important being a lantern and tinder-box--the lantern
to be used as a signal when caught out at night--a compass, and perhaps
a small cooking-apparatus. A whale-boat, when going in chase, has a
crew of six men: one is called the headsman, the other the boat-steerer.
The headsman has the command of the boat. He is either the captain, or
one of his mates, or one of the most experienced hands on board. The
_Drake_ was a strongly-built, well-found ship, and as the greater number
of the crew were experienced hands, and we had confidence in our
captain, we had every prospect of a satisfactory voyage. The crew are
not paid wages, but share in proportion to their rank or rating,
according to the undertaking. Provisions are, however, supplied them,
so that although a man may, as sometimes happens, make very little all
the time he is out, he cannot lose. Still, want of success falls very
heavily on the married men who have families to support.
The evening before we were to sail, one of the crew fell so sick that it
was evident he could not go the voyage; so the captain ordered the
second mate with several hands to take him ashore. Although not shipped
as an able seaman, he was a strong, active young man, and it was
necessary to supply his place. While some of the others carried the
sick man to the hospital, I remained in the boat at the quay. While I
was sitting, just looking up to watch what was taking place on shore, a
young man in a seaman's dress came down the slip and hailed me. By the
way he walked, and the look of his hands, I saw at a glance that he was
not a seaman.
"I say, mate," said he, in a sort of put-on manner, "I see that you've
just landed one of your people. Does your captain, think you, want
another man in his stead?"
"I suppose so," I answered, looking at him hard, to make out what he
was, though I didn't succeed. "But the mate will be down presently--
you'd better ask him. He may meantime have shipped another hand."
"I'll run the chance," he replied. "I'll go up and fetch my chest from
my lodging. Just tell him, if he comes down in the meantime, that a man
has volunteered to join. You can judge whether I'm likely to be fit for
work." He spoke in an off-hand, easy way, and without waiting for my
reply, he walked rapidly up from the quay.
The mate, directly after, came down without having found a man to his
taste. I told him that one had offered--a strongly-built,
active-looking, intelligent man, just cut out for a sailor, though, as I
said, I did not think he was one. Mr Marsh, the mate, listened to my
account, and as he stepped into the boat, seemed to be looking for the
stranger. After waiting a few minutes, as the man did not appear, he
gave the order to shove off.
"There he comes, sir," said I, seeing him walking rapidly along the quay
with a seaman's bag over his shoulder, while a porter accompanied him
carrying a moderate-sized chest.
"If you want another hand, I'm ready to ship for the voyage," said he,
coming down the slip, and abruptly addressing the mate.
"Seaman or not, he'll do," said Mr Marsh to himself. "Well, put your
traps into the boat, and come aboard, and we'll see what the captain has
to say to the matter," he answered, aloud.
The young man dropped a shilling into the hand of the porter, who looked
at the coin and then at his countenance, and touched his hat. The
stranger sat down on his chest in the bow of the boat, and we were soon
on board. The captain then sent for him aft, and held him in
conversation for half an hour or more. What was said I do not know; but
the result was, that the young man came forward and told me that he had
been entered as one of the crew, requesting me to show him where he was
to stow his chest and bag. "In the forepeak," said I; but he evidently
did not know where that was, so without saying a word I helped him down
with it.
The first night we were at sea I had the middle watch, and scarcely had
I made a dozen turns on deck, when he joined me. "What is your name?"
said he; "I did not catch it." I told him.
"Well," he continued, "there is no use denying it--I am not a sailor.
The captain knows this; but I have promised soon to become one, and I
want to keep my promise. Will you help me to do so, by teaching me all
I want to know?"
I told him I would do all I could for him, but that, as this was my
first voyage in a whaler, I could not help him much about whaling
matters.
"Oh, that will soon come," he answered. "I seldom see a thing done once
that I cannot do afterwards; but I want you to help me in seamanship. I
have been constantly on the water, and know how to handle a boat, but
never before made a voyage."
I was so pleased with the frank way in which he acknowledged his
ignorance, and the hearty desire he showed to learn, that I resolved to
instruct him in everything I knew.
I never found anybody pick up information so rapidly as he did. It was
only necessary to show him once how to do a thing, while he kept his
sharp eye fixed on the work, and ever after he did it almost if not
quite as well. He very soon dropped the nautical phraseology he had
assumed when he came on board, and which was clearly not habitual to
him; and though he picked up all our phrases, he made use of them more
in a joking way than as if he spoke them without thought, as we did.
From the way he spoke, or from his manner when he addressed any of his
messmates or the officers, or from the way he walked the deck, it was
difficult to suppose him anything else than a gentleman-born, or a
gentleman by education, whatever he had now become, and he at once got
the name forward of "Gentleman Ned." I asked him his name the day after
he came on board.
"Oh, ay. I forgot that," he answered, quickly. "Call me Newman--Ned
Newman. It's not a bad name, is it?" So Ned Newman he was called; but
I felt pretty certain from the first that it was not his real name.
He was good-looking, with fair hair and complexion, and a determined,
firm expression about the mouth. He seemed to put perfect confidence in
me, and we at once became great friends--not that we had at first many
ideas in common, for I was very ignorant, and he knew more than I
supposed it possible for any man to know. He showed me his chest, which
surprised me not a little. Most of his clothes were contained in his
bag. He had not a large kit, but everything was new and of the best
materials, calculated to outlast three times the quantity of sailors'
common slops. Instead of clothes, his chest contained a spy-glass, a
quadrant, just like those of the officers, and a good stock of books,
which I found were in a variety of languages, and some even, I
afterwards learned, were in Greek. Then he had all sorts of
drawing-materials--papers, and pencils, and sketch-books, and a
colour-box, and mathematical instruments, and even a chronometer. He
had a writing-case, and a tool-box, and a flute and violin, and some
music-books. I asked him if he could use the quadrant.
"I never took an observation in my life; but I can work a day's work as
well as a lunar, so I think that I may soon learn the practical part of
the business," he answered.
I pointed to his musical instruments. "Yes; I play occasionally, when I
wish to dispel an evil spirit; but books are my great resource. Jack,
you lose much pleasure from your ignorance of the rudiments of learning.
Take my advice and study. It's not too late to begin. Nonsense!
difficult! everything worth doing is difficult! There's pleasure in
overcoming difficulties. Come, you have begun to teach me seamanship--
to knot and splice--to reef and steer. I'll teach you to read, and then
the way is open to you to teach yourself whatever you like. Navigation!
certainly. Why, you would have been master of a vessel by this time if
you had known that." In the interval of Newman's remarks I was making
excuses for my ignorance; but he would listen to none of them, and I
promised, old as I was, to put myself under his instruction, and to
endeavour to be as apt a pupil to him as he was to me.
As I have said, I never saw anyone learn so rapidly as he did everything
which came in his way. Before six weeks had passed, there was very
little remaining for me to teach him. Every knot and splice he mastered
in a week or so, and could make them as neatly as I did. I don't think
he had ever before been up a ship's mast; but from the first day he was
constantly aloft, examining the rigging, and seeing where all the ropes
led to. I had shown him how to reef and furl sails, and the very first
squall we had, he was among the foremost aloft to lay-out on the yard.
His hands went as readily as those of the oldest seaman into the
tar-bucket; and so, though when he came aboard they were fair and soft,
they soon became as brown and hard as any of ours. With the theory of
seamanship he was already well acquainted--such as the way by which the
wind acts on the sails, the resistance offered by the water on the hull,
and so on; so that, when any manoeuvre was performed, he at once knew
the reason of it. It is not too much to say that before we crossed the
line he was as good a seaman, in many respects, as most of the hands on
board; and certainly he would have made a better officer than any of us
forward.
We were bound round Cape Horn, and Captain Carr intended to try his
fortune on the borders of the Antarctic ice-fields, in the neighbourhood
of New Zealand and the coast of Japan, among the East India Islands; and
those wide-spreading groups, among which are found the Friendly Islands,
the Navigators, the Feejees, the New Hebrides, the Loyalty Islands, and
New Caledonia, and known under the general name of Polynesia. Perhaps
other places might be visited, so that we had a pretty wide range over
which our voyage was likely to extend. People at home are little aware,
in general, of the great number of places a South-Seaman visits in the
course of a three or four years' whaling-voyage; and certainly in no
other trade is a lad of a roving disposition so likely to be able to
gratify his tastes.
The first place we touched at was Porto Praya, in the island of Saint
Jago, one of the Cape de Verds, our captain being anxious to fill up
with water, and to get for the crew a supply of fruit and vegetables and
poultry, which are here to be procured in abundance. Sailors, however,
are apt to forget that fruit, at all events, is not to be found all the
year round; and I have seen people very indignant because the
fruit-trees were not bearing their ripe produce at the very moment they
were honouring the place by their presence, and heartily abuse previous
visitors for having deceived them.
I was one of the boat's crew which went on shore to get provisions, and
we were half pulled to pieces, as we entered the town, by men, women,
and boys--brown, yellow, and black--chattering away in a jargon of
half-African half-Portuguese, as they thrust before our eyes a dozen
chickens a few weeks old, all strung together; baskets of eggs, or
tamarinds, or dates, or bananas, and bunches of luscious grapes, and
pointed to piles of cocoa-nuts, oranges, or limes, heaped up on
cocoa-nut leaves close at hand. The place seemed filled with beggars,
pigs, monkeys, slatternly females, small donkeys, and big oxen; dirty
soldiers and idle sailors of all the shades and colours which
distinguish the human race, dressed in handkerchiefs, and shirts, and
jackets, and petticoats of every hue of the rainbow--the only thing they
had in common being their dirt. Indeed, dirt predominates throughout
the streets and dwellings, and in every direction. The houses, though
mean, from being white-washed deceive a stranger at a little distance as
to the cleanliness of the place. From a spirited sketch Newman made of
the scene I have described, I here discovered his talent for drawing.
We next touched at the Falkland Islands, then uninhabited, except by a
few Gauchos, who had crossed from South America with a herd of cattle,
which have since increased to a prodigious number, as they thrive well
on the tussac grass, the chief natural production of the country. The
fresh beef afforded by a couple of oxen was very acceptable, and
contributed to keep us in health.
Even before crossing the line, we had been on the look-out for whales,
and all the boats and gear were in readiness to be lowered, and to go in
chase at a moment's notice. Everybody on board a whaler must be
wide-awake, and prepared for all emergencies, or the ship may chance to
return home with an empty hold. In no position in which a seaman can be
placed is it so necessary to belong to the _try_ fraternity. If whales
are not to be found on one fishing-ground, the ship must move to
another; and if not seen there, she must sail on till she chases them
round the globe. So if, when a whale is seen, the harpooner misses his
aim, and the fish dives and swims a mile or more off, he must watch and
watch till she rises, and _try_ again. This try principle should be
followed in all the concerns of life. Whatever ought to be done, _try_
and do it; never suppose a work cannot be done till it has been tried--
perseverance in duty is absolutely necessary. Its neglect must bring
ruin.
We had a look-out at each mast-head, and one of the mates, or the
boatswain, and sometimes the captain, was stationed at the
fore-topgallant yard-arm. Sharp eyes were, therefore, constantly
watching every part of the ocean, as our ship floated over it to the
very verge of the horizon in search of the well-known spout of the
whales. Great improvements have taken place since the time I speak of
in the apparatus employed in the whale-fishery. I am told that guns are
now used with which to send the harpoon into the whale's body, while in
my time it was driven by sheer strength and dexterity of arm, as the
harpooner stood up at his full height in the bow of the tossing
whale-boat, close to the huge monster, one blow of whose tail is
sufficient to dash her into atoms.
We were, it must be understood, in search of the sperm whale, which is a
very different animal from what is called the black or Greenland whale,
whose chief habitation is towards the North Polar regions, though found
in other parts of the ocean. There are several sorts of whales, but I
will not attempt to give a learned dissertation on them. I should not,
indeed, have thought much about the matter, had not Newman called my
attention to it. I should have hunted them, and killed them, and boiled
down their blubber, with the notion that we had the produce of so many
_fish_ on board. Now naturalists, as he told me, assert that whales
should not be called _fish_. They swim and live in the water, and so do
fish; they have no legs, nor have fish; but their implements of
locomotion are more like arms than fins. But whales do what no fish do:
they bring forth their young alive--they suckle them, and tend them with
the fondest affection in their youth. They have warm blood, and a
double circulation; and they breathe the atmospheric air by true lungs.
The tail of a fish is placed vertically, or up and down; that of a
whale, horizontally--that is to say, its broadest part is parallel with
the surface of the water. The tail of a large whale is upwards of 20
feet wide, and with a superficies of 100 square feet, and it is moved by
muscles of immense strength. This will give some idea of the terrific
force with which it can strike a boat. I have, indeed, heard of
instances where a whale has stove in a ship's bottom, and caused her to
founder, with little time for the crew to escape. Their progressive
movement is effected entirely by the tail; sometimes, when wishing to
advance leisurely, by an oblique lateral and downward impulse, first on
one side and then on the other, just as a boat is sent through the water
when sculled with an oar; but when rushing through the deep at their
greatest speed, they strike the water, now upwards and now downwards,
with a rapid motion and vast force. As whales breathe the atmospheric
air, they must come to the surface frequently for a fresh supply. They
have then to throw out the water which has got into their mouths when
feeding. This they do by closing a valve leading to the nasal passages,
and forcing it by means of air through the blow-hole placed in the upper
part of the head. It is this necessity of whales for breathing at the
surface which enables man to make them his prey, in spite of their
immense strength, while their spouts point out to him the place where
they are to be found.
The remarks I have made apply in common to the two chief sorts of
whales, but the Greenland whale is a very different animal from the
sperm whale, of which we were in search. The Greenland whale, (_Balaena
mysticetus_), is also called the common, true, or whale-bone whale. I
remember once, in a man-of-war, falling in with a dead whale in a
perfect calm. We towed it alongside, but so ignorant was everybody on
board of natural history, that no one knew where the whale-bone was to
be found. At the cost of great trouble, with a horrible odour to our
noses, we cut out a jaw-bone; which was perfectly valueless, except to
make the front of a summer-house for our commander; and we then let our
prize go with its rich contents, and glad enough we were to get rid of
it.
The Greenland whale is less in size than the sperm--its length being
about 60 feet. The head occupies about a third of the entire length.
It is narrow above, and broad, flat, and rounded beneath, so as to allow
it to move rapidly under the water. The body is largest about the
middle, and tapers suddenly towards the tail. The general colour is a
blackish-grey, with part of the lower jaw, and throat, and belly white.
The lips are five or six feet high, the eyes very small, and the
external opening of the ears scarcely perceptible. The pectoral fins or
arms are not long, and are placed about two feet behind the angle of the
lips. The black whale has no teeth; but from the upper palate and jaw
there hang down perpendicularly numerous parallel laminae--the baleen,
or whale-bone, as it is called. [Footnote: The baleen or whale-bone I
have described forms a most valuable portion of the produce afforded by
the black whale, although not so valuable as the oil extracted from the
same animal.] These filaments fill up the whole of the cavity of the
mouth, and form a most complete strainer, so that only the most minute
animals can enter. This is necessary, as the swallow is too small to
admit even the smallest fish. When a black whale feeds, it throws up
millions of small animals at a time with its thick lower lip, into the
straining apparatus I have described; and as they are scarcely
perceptible to the naked eye, when its vast size is considered some
slight notion may be formed of the prodigious number it must consume at
meal.
There is another whale, found in the northern regions, called the
razor-backed whale, from a prominent ridge on its back. It is found 100
feet long. As it is constantly moving along at the rate of five miles
an hour, and is very powerful and active, frequently breaking away and
carrying lines and gear with it, only the most daring whalers, in
default of other prey, venture to attack it. There is a third sort of
whale, called the broad-nosed whale, which is in many respects like a
razor-back, but smaller--its length being from 50 to 80 feet.
The smallest sort is the beaked whale, which is about 25 feet long.
Great numbers of this whale are often caught in the deep bays and firths
of Shetland and Orkney.
I must now give an account of the spermaceti whale, (the _Physeter
macrocephalus_), to capture which was the object of our voyage. It is
found through every part of the South Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and
frequently makes its way to far northern latitudes. Still the southern
seas must be considered its chief abode. In appearance and habits it is
very different from the black whale. It is nearly as long as the
razor-back, and exceeds it in bulk. In length it may be said to be from
80 to 85 feet, and from 30 to 35 in circumference. Looking at a sperm
whale, the stem on its nose or snout appears very thick, and perfectly
blunt, like a huge mallet about to strike. The head is a third part of
the length of the body. At its junction with the body a hump rises,
which we whalers call the _bunch of the neck_. Behind this is the
thickest part of the body, which tapers off till there is another rise
which we call the hump, in the shape of a pyramid--then commences the
_small_, as we call it, or tail, with a ridge partly down it. The
"small" gradually tapers till it contracts very much; and at the end the
flukes, or what landsmen would call the tail, is joined on. In the
immense head is contained the case, which is a cavity of almost
triangular shape, and of great size, containing, when the whale is
alive, that oily substance or fluid called spermaceti. I have
frequently seen a ton taken from the case of one whale, which is fully
ten large barrels. The use to the whale of the spermaceti in its head
is, that, being much lighter than water, it can rise with great facility
to the surface, and elevate its blow-hole above it. Its mouth is of
great size, extending all the length of its head, or, as I have said, a
third of its whole length. Its jaws narrow forward to almost a point--
indeed, the lower one does so; and thus, as it swims along, like the
stem of a ship, it serves to divide the water wedge, parting to make way
for its huge body--the blunt snout being all the time like the lofty
forecastle of an old-fashioned ship, clear of the waves high up above
it. The inside of the monstrous cavity, the mouth, has nothing like the
baleen or whale-bone, such as is found in the Greenland whale; but in
the lower jaw it has a formidable row of large teeth of conical shape,
forty-two in number. It has, however, none in the upper jaw; but
instead, there are holes into which fit the points of those in the
lower. These teeth are blunt, and are not used for biting or
mastication, but merely to keep in the food which has entered its mouth.
This food is chiefly the _Squid_ or _Sepia octopus_, known also by the
name of the cuttle-fish. In the South-Seas they are of enormous size,
and, with their long feelers or arms growing out of their heads, are
sufficiently strong to hold a man under the water and to kill him.
The sperm whale, however, swallows a variety of other fish. It catches
them, not by swimming after them, but by opening wide its mouth and
letting its prey swim into it! We will suppose ourselves looking down
that vast mouth, as the lower jaw hangs perpendicularly to the belly;
incapable it seems of moving. The interior of the throat is very
large--capable of swallowing a man; the tongue is very small and
delicate, and of a pure white colour; so are the teeth, which glisten
brilliantly; and so is the whole interior. Fish are particularly
attracted by their white appearance. They take it, perhaps, to be some
marble hall erected for their accommodation; so in they swim, big and
little squid equally beguiled! How the whale's mouth must water when he
feels a fine huge juicy octopus playing about his tongue! Up goes the
lower jaw like a trap-door, and cephalapods, small and large, find their
bright marble palace turned into a dark, black prison, from which there
is no return; for, giving a turn with his tongue, he gulps them all down
with a smack which must make old Ocean resound!
In another respect, the sperm is very different from the Greenland
whale. It seems to know the power of its jaws, and will sometimes turn
on its pursuers and attack them, though generally a timid animal, and
disposed to seek safety by flight. The general opinion is, that sperm
whales often fight with each other, as we have caught them with their
lower jaws twisted in a variety of directions, and otherwise injured.
The sperm whale's eyes are very small, with movable eyelids, and are
placed directly above the angle of the mouth, or a third part of its
whole length distant from the snout. It is very quick-sighted, as it is
also quick of hearing. Its ears--small round holes, which will not
admit a little finger--are placed directly behind the eyes. The fins,
which, as I have said, might be called paws, are close to the angle of
the mouth. I have known a female whale support her young on them; and
they are used to balance the body, to steer by, and, when hard pressed,
to sink with greater rapidity below the surface. The skin of the whale
is perfectly smooth, though old bulls get rough marks about them. As a
rule, though black above and white below, as they advance in years, like
human beings, they get grey on the head. Oftentimes an old grey-headed
bull proves a dangerous enemy.
I have with greater minuteness than I intended given an account of the
sperm whale. Its habits and mode of capture I will describe in the
course of my narrative.