The whale as obstacle: How the triumph of commercial shipping created a new conflict at sea

“ In the sperm fishery, this is perhaps one of the most remarkable incidents in all the business of whaling. One day the planks stream with freshets of blood and oil; on the sacred quarter-deck enormous masses of the whale’s head are profanely piled; great rusty casks lie about, as in a brewery yard; the smoke from the try-works has besooted all the bulwarks; the mariners go about suffused with unctuousness; the entire ship seems great leviathan himself; while on all hands the din is deafening. ”

“ For a Fundamentall Law in every Common-wealth is that, which being taken away, the Common-wealth faileth, and is utterly dissolved; as a building whose Foundation is destroyed. And therefore a Fundamentall Law is that, by which Subjects are bound to uphold whatsoever power is given to the Soveraign, whether a Monarch, or a Soveraign Assembly, without which the Common-wealth cannot stand, such as is the power of War and Peace, of Judicature, of Election of Officers, and of doing whatsoever he shall think necessary for the Publique good. ”

“ And so, having "cut in" our whale, we next proceeded to "try out" the oil.
CHAPTER V A STORM, A MAN OVERBOARD, AND A RESCUE
The scenes in a whaleman's life are varied and very stirring. Sometimes he is floating on the calm ocean, idling about the deck and whistling for a breeze, when all of a sudden the loud cry is heard, "There she blows!" and in a moment the boats are in the water, and he is engaged in all the toils of an exciting chase. Then comes the battle with the great leviathan of the deep, with all its risks and dangers. ”

“ It welcomes the people of all nations on equal terms to its bosom, and Commerce is the swift-winged messenger ever travelling from shore to shore. Look at it, and if our eyes could scan it all at once, we should see the smoke darkening the air as it rises from hundreds of chimneys, telling of fires that make the steam for propelling the mighty engines that bring the great leviathans of commerce almost daily into our ports and into those whom we supply and by whom we are supplied with the products of mutual labor. ”

“ Prior to the introduction of marine steam engines, the United States of America had no inconsiderable share of the world’s ocean traffic. No swifter ships raced with cargoes of tea from China to the Thames than the famous Baltimore clippers. No finer vessels crossed the Atlantic than the celebrated New York Packet Liners. It cannot be supposed that a people so enterprising as the Americans would make no attempt at ocean steam navigation. ”

“ Our conclusion, then, is that continued increase in the amount of vessel traffic, particularly charter/pleasure craft, in Glacier Bay is likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the humpback whale population frequenting Southeast Alaska. The alteration in the distribution of the whales in Southeast Alaska can be expected to appreciably reduce the likelihood of the recovery of the North Pacific humpback population, especially when viewed as an incremental aggravation of the problem of humpback/human interaction in general. ”

“ In one of the mighty triumphs given to a Roman general upon his entering the world’s capital, the bones of a whale, brought all the way from the Syrian coast, were the most conspicuous object in the cymballed procession.*
Grant it, since you cite it; but, say what you will, there is no real dignity in whaling.
No dignity in whaling? The dignity of our calling the very heavens attest. Cetus is a constellation in the South! No more! Drive down your hat in presence of the Czar, and take it off to Queequeg! No more! I know a man that, in his lifetime, has taken three hundred and fifty whales. ”

“ The schooner Iole was sailing towards New York, in Long Island Sound, steering her course west; but her actual course, by reason of lee-way, &c., west by south. The wind fresh from the north. Sailing at rate of seven miles an hour.
Under these circumstances, the wind was fair for the schooner, that is, she had what is technically called 'a free wind,' or 'had the wind free.'
The steamboat Neptune, with from 200 to 300 passengers, was going 'down Sound' from New York, on her proper course, east or east by north. Her speed about ten miles an hour. ”

“ Being carried on abroad on the ocean, (for I am speaking of foreign commerce,) it is subject to annoyance, interruption, and hazard. We must pass the common highway of nations to get to a market; and in this route, the weak and defenceless must, and always will be the sport and prey of the strong and violent, whom they meet in the way. From the wretched state of those nations with whom we have intercourse, we, from weakness, must fall victims to their violence. This is an evil which we shall always experience as a neutral, coming in collision with belligerents. ”

“ In a worst case analysis, Glacier Bay is a feeding ground, and its long-term abandonment would not be conducive to the conservation of the humpback whale. Up to 20 or 25 individual whales would relocate to other areas, increasing competition for food there. In such case a greater expenditure of energy might be required to obtain the same quantities of food than would be required in Glacier Bay. An increased energy expenditure would tend to decrease the likelihood of humpbacks successfully increasing their numbers, since growth and the onset of sexual maturity would be delayed. ”

“ I repeat, freedom to buy and freedom to build ships—that will give you again an American merchant marine to be proud of; that will send the stars and stripes again over all the oceans, and nothing else will. In vain will you try to reach the end by sly schemes to circumvent the logic of things and the economic laws of this world of ours.
I come to the fourth point, that if we sell to foreign nations, we must expect to buy from them, for commerce is mutual service. Is it necessary to argue so self-evident a truth before intelligent business men? ”

“ After all, the circumstances of modes, language, and religion, have much less influence in determining the friendship and enmity of nations, than other more essential interests. Commerce is more than all these and many more such circumstances. Now it is easy to see, that the commercial interests of England and America will forever hereafter be incompatible. America will take away, or at least diminish, the trade of the English in ship building, in freight, in the whale fisheries, in the cod fisheries, in furs and skins, and in other particulars, too many to enumerate. ”

“ The price in America is even higher, the last sales in that country bringing two thousand five hundred pounds. It is only the Greenland fish which yield this valuable commodity. The whale of the Pacific is furnished with teeth; but ‘the right’ whale has in lieu thereof a series of plates, or laminæ, on the upper jaw, which are in reality the whalebone of commerce. ”

“ But day-long pulls after whales, the ship left miles astern; and entire dark nights passed moored to the monsters, killed too late to be towed to the ship far to leeward:—all this, and much more, accustoms one to strange things. Death, to be sure, has a mouth as black as a wolf's, and to be thrust into his jaws is a serious thing. ”

“ Naturally, the technological improvements which make whaling profitable again would have been meaningless without the discovery of new whaling grounds. About 1900 the seas around the antarctic continent were found to be teeming with whales. These were principally three species—the humpback, the finback, and the blue. The blue whale is distinguished by the fact that it is the largest mammal on earth, reaching sometimes 100 feet in length and weighing over 100 tons. ”

“ In good time making the desired longitude upon the equator, a few leagues west of the Gallipagos, we spent several weeks chassezing across the Line, to and fro, in unavailing search for our prey. For some of their hunters believe, that whales, like the silver ore in Peru, run in veins through the ocean. So, day after day, daily; and week after week, weekly, we traversed the self-same longitudinal intersection of the self-same Line; till we were almost ready to swear that we felt the ship strike every time her keel crossed that imaginary locality. ”

“ He said we were bound to a fine cruising ground, scarcely known to other whalemen, which he had himself discovered when commanding a small brig upon a former voyage. Here, the sea was alive with large whales, so tame that all you had to do was to go up and kill them: they were too frightened to resist. A little to leeward of this was a small cluster of islands, where we were going to refit, abounding with delicious fruits, and peopled by a race almost wholly unsophisticated by intercourse with strangers. ”

“ Some years ago it was unusual to hear of a fatal accident to those engaged in the pursuit of the whale. At that time the fish were plenty, and boatheaders, as a class, were cool, sagacious, and experienced men, who had been accustomed to and occupied in the whaling business for years. These men would not risk their boat and crew to almost certain destruction to strike a whale, or to be the first boat fast, or to get a fatal lance before another boat arrived ”

“ Proceeding along the beach, over an uneven ridge of boulders, after a walk of about eight miles, we came to the whale fishery. Here we found about a dozen men, who were engaged in a warfare against the humpback and right whales that resort to the bay. They had taken, during the season, two of the former and one of the latter species, yielding them one hundred and seventy barrels of oil; they desired us to set no more bush afire, stating that the smoke or glare of the flames intimidated the whales from entering the bay. ”

“ Most of the scientific drawings have been taken from the stranded fish; and these are about as correct as a drawing of a wrecked ship, with broken back, would correctly represent the noble animal itself in all its undashed pride of hull and spars. Though elephants have stood for their full-lengths, the living Leviathan has never yet fairly floated himself for his portrait. The living whale, in his full majesty and significance, is only to be seen at sea in unfathomable waters; and afloat the vast bulk of him is out of sight, like a launched line-of-battle ship ”

“ Thus it is throughout the world: he who does least, is paid best. Intellect overbalances mere physical exertion; and thus it ever will, and ever should do in the promotion of great enterprises.
On the 14th we again met whales, which were not seen until within the ship’s length of us. Our boats were lowered away in haste. A moment afterwards, those of the Pamelia, who was not more than a mile distant from us, were also in the water. Our bow-boat fastened ten minutes after striking the water, and in an incredibly short time the whale was dead, and ours. ”

“ If two ships, one of which is a sailing ship and the other a steam-ship, are proceeding in such directions as to involve risk of collision, the steam-ship shall keep out of the way, and pass astern of the sailing ship.
Art. 16. Every steam-ship, when approaching another ship, so as to involve risk of collision, shall slacken her speed, or, if necessary, stop and reverse; and every steam-ship shall, when in a fog, go at a moderate speed. ”

“ He rested his arguments on the economical principle that the shipping trade of this country, as a trade, could be conducted on no other principles than those whereby trade, generally, was carried on; he contended that no more ships would be built than it was expected would be required, so as to yield a profit to the persons who built them; that, in the long run, there could be no larger amount of profit derived from shipowning than from any other trade, as other persons would, of course, come in to share the profit with the existing shipowners ”

“ We know that when the night was blackest, when the fortunes of the world hung in the balance and the eyes of all nations were turned toward the western continent, that the great Leviathan with her tremendous troop-carrying capacity was ready and that, trip after trip, without failures or accidents, the great transport plowed her way across the Atlantic, scornful alike of the submarine’s stilettos of the sea and the wrath of the elements, carrying to the shores of our nearly exhausted allies those inestimably precious cargoes of men who turned the tide and saved the day. ”

“ The control and manœuvering of a large ship such as the Leviathan is a responsible job. This vessel’s steering arrangement, or steering gear, is of steam engine type, connected to a hydraulic telemotor. The gear is so easily manipulated that a small boy standing on the bridge of this great ship can control any course or given route that is desired to be taken. ”

“ These tanks have hot soapy and clear water in which the men wash and rinse their mess gear, returning to their compartments by other established routes. All the mess lines, both to and from the mess, are kept under control so that in case of an emergency during the messing the men may be brought to their proper stations quickly and without confusion. This arrangement of the messing lines and mess hall has kept intact and separate the feeding space of the troops from their sleeping quarters, an arrangement of much sanitary value and in evidence only upon United States Navy transports. ”

“ There is life equipment aboard, consisting of lifeboats and the latest type of life rafts for over 17,000 persons, so that a landsman sailing on board the Leviathan is well provided for and need not worry.
The Leviathan is without doubt the most wonderfully constructed vessel below the water-line in the world. The ship is subdivided into fourteen water-tight compartments and every precaution was taken from the time the ship sailed from the Port of Embarkation until her return, to safeguard the vessel. ”

“ A most remarkable case of an iceberg collision is that of the Guion Liner, Arizona, in 1879. She was then the greyhound of the Atlantic, and the largest ship afloat—5750 tons—except the Great Eastern. Leaving New York in November for Liverpool, with 509 souls aboard, she was coursing across the Banks, with fair weather but dark, when, near midnight, about 250 miles east of St. John’s, she rammed a monster [Pg 285] ice island at full speed—eighteen knots. Terrific was the impact. ”

“ But these restrictive laws retard the natural progress of commerce in ways too numerous to mention within the limits of a letter, and they are as absurd as they are pernicious. Their absurdity becomes apparent when you ask yourself the question, why should the merchants of either France or Portugal not be allowed, when it suits their purpose, to import direct, in any ships they please, the produce of Europe, Asia, Africa, or America, instead of importing it through England or through any other country where it is not grown? ”

“ Why should I mention the impressment of our seamen; depredation on every branch of our commerce, including the direct export trade, continued for years, and made under laws which professedly undertake to regulate our trade with other nations; negotiation resorted to time after time, till it is become hopeless; the restrictive system persisted in to avoid war, and in the vain expectation of returning justice? The evil still grows, and in each succeeding year swells in extent and pretension beyond the preceding. ”

“ However much the world may have changed, human nature remains the same; and the merchants and Shipowners of ancient times must have desired, as they do now, to know if the vessel in which they embarked, or in which they shipped their goods, was fit to carry them safely: from this desire would, naturally, arise the competition of one Shipowner to have a better vessel than his neighbour, so that he might secure a preference. Nor can I suppose that this natural rivalry was confined, any more then than it is now, to the superiority in strength of hull, but was extended to equipment and speed. ”

“ We must, also, remember that every act fettering free navigation, renders our Shipowners less able to compete with those of other countries, and, if it does not forward the main object in view—the safety of life—must be a clear national loss, because it renders us less able to make our ships a source of profit, a result which, if not carefully watched, might easily be carried to such an extent as to discourage investments in British shipping. ”

“ Commerce has always moved westward, going from Asia to Greece, to Rome, to western Europe, to the western hemisphere; and the race which takes up the movement and carries it forward is the one which gains the profits. All must realize the truth of Mr. Seward’s prophecy when he said, “The Pacific coast will be the mover in developing a commerce to which that of the Atlantic Ocean will be only a fraction.” ”

“ In a word, while the bulky articles which require ships for their conveyance to distant parts of the world have enormously increased, the shipping of the world has been comparatively stationary during the past year, and the many losses and disasters at sea during 1860 have tended materially to diminish the already scanty supply of shipping necessary to conduct the oversea trade of the world. ”

“ All that various commerce on which so much depends, all that interchange of goods which contributes so infinitely to the wants of each, all that shipping and all those steamers traversing the ocean between the two, all the multitudinous threads of business by which the two peoples are woven together, warp and woof, as in a mighty loom,—all these must be severed. ”

“ In docking and undocking we need from fourteen to sixteen tugs. Abnormal conditions can be expected in the winter months. Upstate freshets and northerly gales sometimes operate to kill the flood current off Hoboken and to cause a continuing ebb current. Such a condition has happened, making it impossible to point the ship correctly downstream, and it has been necessary to yield to the elements and to permit her to turn the ship. There is always an apprehension in entering and leaving New York Harbor lest merchant vessels carelessly anchor themselves in the Leviathan’s fairway. ”

“ For more than two centuries we attempted to regulate our maritime commerce by means of the Navigation Laws and their innumerable additions and amendments, the fallacy of which I have endeavoured in these volumes to expose; yet we are now following the same course our forefathers adopted by attempting, by means of a library of Mercantile Marine Laws, to regulate the details of the business of our Shipowners. Commerce, in all its branches, flourishes most when left alone. Leave our Shipowners alone, except when they do wrong. ”

“ Now, though both countries have every reason to be much satisfied with that treaty, the want is to me very apparent. Free navigation must accompany freedom of commerce. The ramifications of commerce are so numerous and the competition so close that the slightest hindrance to its natural flow, or the smallest increase of freight, either retards, paralyses, or destroys vast branches of it. The trade which your people are now carrying on with England and its colonies and possessions is greatly retarded by the restrictions of the Navigation Laws. ”

“ These are all calamities inseparable from navigation, and seem to be great impediments that clog the wheels of foreign commerce. How happy would a merchant think himself, if his ships should always have fine weather, and the wind he wished for, and every mariner he employed, from the highest to the lowest, be a knowing experienced sailor, and a careful, sober, good man! ”

“ It robs society by the subtraction of its productive forces; taking off from productive labor nineteen-twentieths of the agents of trade who are mere parasites. Thus, not only does commerce rob society by appropriating an exorbitant share of the common wealth, but also by considerably diminishing the productive energy of the human beehive. The great majority of traders would return to productive work if a rational system of commercial organization were [51] substituted for the inextricable chaos of the present state of things. ”

“ If the Legislature should decide that it was no longer necessary to keep up the Navigation Laws as a means of national security, no doubt the consumers of foreign articles could purchase at a cheaper rate, since this would be the natural consequence of admitting imports in the ships of foreign nations. ”