William Scoresby

“ I now subjoin a few instances of the dangers which accompany the whale-fishery, most of which presented themselves within the sphere of my own observation. Those employed in the occupation of killing whales are, when actually engaged, exposed to danger from three sources, namely, from the ice, from the climate, and from the whales themselves. Of these, the casualties on the ice are the most uncommon, and the least fatal; those from the climate the most fatal, but not the most frequent; and the whale itself is the source of a great proportion of the accidents which occur. ”

“ Each division, consisting of a harpooner, a boat-steerer, and a line-manager, together with three or four rowers, constitutes a boat’s crew. The harpooner’s principal office is, as his name implies, to strike the whale, also to guide the line, or to kill an entangled whale with his lances. When in pursuit he rows the bow-oar. He has the command of the boat. The boat-steerer ranks next to the harpooner; he guides the course of the boat, watches the motions of the whale pursued, intimates its movements to the harpooner, and stimulates the crew to exertion by encouraging exclamations. ”

“ The fishers prefer a cloudy to a clear sky, because, in very bright weather, the sea becomes illuminated, and the shadows of the whale-boats are so deeply impressed in the water by the beams of the sun, that the whales are very apt to take the alarm, and evade the utmost care and skill of their pursuers. South-east or east winds, though disagreeable, cause a violent agitation of the pieces of ice, and so annoy the whales as to induce them to leave their retreat and appear in the open sea. ”

“ The holy psalmist, when considering the power and goodness of God in the creation, exclaimed, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him; and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” And, in contemplation of the glory and honour put upon man by the Almighty, in the power given him over created nature, he adds, “Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: ... the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. ”

“ The temperature of the air was 15° or 16° of Fahrenheit, when these poor men were left upon a detached piece of ice, without food, without shelter from the inclement storm, and deprived of every means of refuge, except in a single boat, which, on account of the number of men, and violence of the storm, was incapable of conveying them to their ship. Death stared them in the face whichever way they turned, and a division in opinion ensued. ”

“ Success in the whale-fishery has been very generally supposed to depend, not upon the exercise of talent and industry on the part of the masters and crews of the fishing-ships, but solely upon the freaks of fortune. ”

“ When any opening occurs in the ice of a tempting appearance, it frequently happens that a number of ships enter it together. The fastest sailers lead the way, and often procure a whale or two or more before the heavy sailing ships can perform a navigation, and by the time the latter accomplish it, the run of fish is frequently over. Not a little depends in the fishery on the confidence the sailors have in the skill of their captain, and the efficiency of the personal talents and exertions of their officers. ”

“ An oar is used for steering, in preference to a rudder, in consequence of its possessing many advantages: an oar does not retard the velocity of the boat so much as a rudder; it is capable of turning the boat when in a state of rest, and more readily than a rudder when in motion; and it can be used for propelling the boat in narrow places of the ice, where the rowers cannot ply their oars, by the process of sculling, and in calms for approaching a whale without noise, by the same operation.
The crew of a whale-ship are separated into divisions, equal in number to the number of the boats. ”

“ Dangers which occur unexpectedly and terminate suddenly, though of the most awful description, appear like a dream when they are past; but horrors which have a long continuance, though they in some measure decrease in their effect on the mind by a lengthened contemplation of them, yet they leave an impression on the memory which time itself cannot altogether efface. ”

“ The crew of a whale-ship usually consists of forty to fifty men, comprising several classes of officers, such as harpooners, boat-steerers, line-managers, carpenters, coopers, etc., together with fore-mast men, landmen, and apprentices. As a stimulus to the crew in the fishery, every individual, from the master down to the boys, besides his monthly pay, receives a gratuity for every size fish caught during the voyage, or a certain sum for every tun of oil which the cargo produces. ”

“ During fine weather, when there is great probability of finding whales, a boat is generally kept in readiness, manned and afloat, sometimes towed by a rope astern, or, if the ship be still, at a little distance. There are several rules observed in approaching a whale, as precautions, to prevent the animal from taking the alarm. As the whale is dull of hearing, but quick of sight, the boat-steerer always endeavours to get behind it, and, in accomplishing this, he sometimes takes a circuitous route. ”

“ The most appropriate dimensions of a ship intended for the northern whale-fisheries, seems to be that which is so large as to be capable of deriving the greatest advantage from the best opportunity, and no larger. A vessel of 250 tons requires nearly the same number of men, the same quantity of provisions and stores, and the same expense of outfit, as a ship of 350 tons’ burden ”

“ Such is the advantage of this description of sails, that on one occasion, when all the rest of my crew were engaged in the capture of a whale, with the assistance of only two men, neither of them sailors, I repeatedly tacked a ship of 350 tons’ burden under three courses, top-sails and top-gallant sails, together with jib and mizen, in a strong breeze of wind. ”

“ The wounded whale, in the surprise and agony of the moment, makes a convulsive effort to escape. Then is the moment of danger. The boat is subjected to the most violent blows from its head or its fins, but particularly from its ponderous tail, which sometimes sweeps the air with such tremendous fury, that both boat [Pg 75] and men are exposed to one common destruction.
The head of the whale is avoided, because it cannot be penetrated with the harpoon; but any part of the body between the head and the tail will admit of the full length of the instrument, without danger of obstruction. ”

“ It is, however, a dangerous fishery. The nights being long and dark on their first arrival, they are obliged to use lanterns in their boats, when fish happen to be struck, or to remain unsubdued at close of day, for the purpose of keeping the ships and boats together; on which occasions the stormy weather that frequently occurs at this season exposes them to continued danger. Those who prosecute the northern fishery, after making the ice at the “south-west,” as the neighbourhood of the Labrador coast is usually denominated, proceed almost immediately up Davis’s Strait towards Baffin’s Bay. ”

“ In this case, all that can be done is, to break the line or draw the harpoon out. But when the fish can be observed blowing in any of the holes in a field, the men travel over the ice, and attack it with lances, pricking it over the nose to endeavour to turn it back. This scheme, however, does not always answer the expectations of the fishers, as frequently the fear of his enemies acts so powerfully on the whale that he pushes forward towards the interior to his dying moment. When killed, the same means are used as in pack-fishing to sink it, but they do not always succeed ”

“ 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. ”

“ Among the British whale-fishers, it does not appear that any particular laws were ever expressly laid down for the adjusting of differences; yet custom has established certain principles as constituting the rule of right, the legality of which is sufficiently acknowledged by their being universally respected. The fundamental articles are two. First, that a fast fish, or a fish in any way in possession, whether alive or dead, is the sole and unquestionable property of the persons so maintaining the connection or possession; and secondly, that a loose fish, alive or dead, is fair game. ”

“ Experience proves that the whale has its favourite places of resort, depending on a sufficiency of food, particular circumstances of weather, and particular portions and qualities of the ice. Thus, though many whales may have been seen in open water when the weather was fine, after the occurrence of a storm perhaps not one is to be seen; and, though fields are sometimes the resort of hundreds of whales, yet, whenever the loose ice around separates entirely away, the whales quit them also. ”