Greenland whale

“ The only whales of commerce were at one time the great sperm-whale of southern latitudes, and ‘the right’ or Greenland whale, both of which are animals of gigantic size and great power, the latter being undoubtedly the larger. No British vessels take part in the sperm-fishery, their operations being confined to the arctic regions. Dundee is now the chief whaling port, sending out annually sixteen ships to Greenland. The Greenland whale, which our British whalemen endure such dangers to procure, seldom exceeds sixty feet in length, and is about half that number in circumference. ”

“ They are supposed to go in the meantime, to the southward, off the mouth of Hudson strait and along the northern Atlantic coast of Labrador, but the weather then is too severe to permit of the use of open whaleboats.
The Greenland whale, commonly called a ‘fish’ by the whalers, is, as all know, a mammal, warm-blooded, reproducing and suckling its young like any of the land mammals. Its outward resemblance to a fish is merely a provision of nature, whereby its shape is adapted to the conditions in which it lives ”

“ It used to be thought that the great whales—the cachalot, the rorqual, and the Greenland whale—were the largest of ocean’s dwellers, but if evidence is of any value whatever, there is one marine creature that is larger even than they—indeed, so much larger and more powerful that he is able to make them his prey, conquering them—even the mighty sperm-whale himself—by main strength put forth in single combat. This portentous monster is, of course, the great sea-serpent, which has been seen, at intervals, probably from time immemorial, and recorded also from, at least, as far back as 1734. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Of these sea-mammalians, the most important to civilized man is undoubtedly the Greenland whale (Balæna mysticetus) , or smooth-back, thus called from its having no dorsal fin. Formerly these whales were harpooned in considerable numbers in the Icelandic waters, or in the fiords of Spitzbergen and Danish Greenland; then Davis’s Straits became the favorite fishing-grounds; and more recently the inlets and various channels to the east of Baffin’s Bay have been invaded ”

“ The capture of a single whale repays the expenditure incurred in outfitting a steam whaling ship, and if more than one is killed on the voyage, it means large dividends to the owners and small ones to the officers and crew of the ship.
Several species of whales are found in the waters of the northern ice-laden seas, but there is only one prize, known amongst other common names as the Greenland whale, Right whale and Bowhead whale, and scientifically called the Balaena mysticetus, L. From its mouth is obtained the precious whalebone. ”

“ It is seldom that one meets anyone who understands the value of a Greenland whale. A well-boned and large one as she floats is worth to-day something between two and three thousand pounds. This huge price is due to the value of whalebone, which is a very rare commodity, and yet is absolutely essential for some trade purposes. The price tends to rise steadily, for the number of the creatures is diminishing. In 1880, Captain Gray calculated that there were probably not more than 300 of them left alive in the whole expanse of the Greenland seas, an area of thousands of square miles. ”

“ In destroying the southern whale (like the Greenland whale, an inoffensive creature) , your traders do a culpable action, Master Land. They have already depopulated the whole of Baffin's Bay, and are annihilating a class of useful animals. Leave the unfortunate cetacea alone. They have plenty of natural enemies—cachalots, swordfish, and sawfish—without you troubling them."
The Captain was right. The barbarous and inconsiderate greed of these fishermen will one day cause the disappearance of the last whale in the ocean. ”

“ A stage beyond, and we reach the shoveler's condition, "in which the lamellæ would be two thirds of the length of the plates of baleen," in a species of whalebone whale (Balænoptera) possessing a slight development of these organs. And from this point, the further gradations leading onward to the enormous developments seen in the Greenland whale itself, are easily enough traced. Hypothetically, therefore, the path of development is clear enough. ”

“ What would become of a Greenland whale, say, in those shuddering, icy seas of the North, if unsupplied with his cosy surtout? True, other fish are found exceedingly brisk in those Hyperborean waters; but these, be it observed, are your cold-blooded, lungless fish, whose very bellies are refrigerators; creatures, that warm themselves under the lee of an iceberg, as a traveller in winter would bask before an inn fire; whereas, like man, the whale has lungs and warm blood. Freeze his blood, and he dies. ”

“ Steam has also been to a great extent the ruin of the Greenland whale-fishing. The whales are receding farther and farther into the ice, where it is impossible to follow them. So far as can be judged, there are probably no fewer whales now than there were forty years ago, but they are more inaccessible, as they are being yearly frightened farther back by the noise of the steam-engines. ”

“ The smaller toothed whales, the killers, dolphins, and porpoises (though one of them—the bottle-nosed whale—is being killed out) , are not as yet seriously threatened by commercial man. But the whalebone whales are in a parlous state. The Right whales, as they are called, are the chief of these. They are huge creatures, 60 ft. in length, with an enormous head: it is as much as one third of the total length in the Greenland whale. Besides the Greenland species there are four other "right whales," which may be considered as four varieties of one species. The head is not quite so large in them. ”

“ The discovery in 1596 by the Dutch navigator Barents of Spitzbergen, followed by the voyage of Hudson in the “Hopewell” in 1607, may be said to have inaugurated the second phase in the whaling industry; these adventurous voyages bringing to light for the first time the existence of the Greenland whale (B. mysticetus) , a species of much greater value than any that had been previously hunted. ”

“ Of late years a single large Greenland whale would bring £900 for its whalebone and £300 for its oil. These two great Right whales having been practically exterminated, the merciless hunt has now been turned on to the wilder and less valuable Finback whales or Finners. In these days of steam and electric light the Arctic night is robbed of its terrors, and the whale chase goes on very fast. The shot harpoon was invented in 1870 by Sven Foyn, a Norwegian, and is the most deadly and extraordinary weapon ever devised by man for the pursuit of helpless animals. ”

“ Contrary to the usual habits of the Greenland whale, this individual, instead of occasionally seeking the depths of ocean for its protection, especially on receiving a fresh and painful wound, remained mainly at the surface. Its natural energies, but yet little acted on by the exhausting influence of the pressure of water, were consequently very little impaired; for the superficial wounds of harpoons produce no immediate effect upon life. ”

“ In the Greenland Whale this whalebone hanging from the center of the jaw is sometimes twelve feet in length, and as there are from two hundred and fifty to four hundred in number, the great value of the baleen is readily seen. When the great animal opens its mouth, a row boat with its oarsmen could easily be taken in, yet the animal eats only small crustaceans, mollusks, worms and minute forms of life. ”

“ The Limacinas eat little crustaceans, the Cliones eat the Limacinas, and both are consumed by the ton by whales. The Greenland whale appears to live almost exclusively on the two species of sea-butterfly, which it has to swallow in immense quantities to fill its capacious maw. It eats also other pelagic small fry and crustaceans as side-dishes.
These are only indirect relations in which the sea-butterflies inhabiting all seas stand to man. But they are important enough. Without whale-food, no whales ”

“ Greenland Whale (Balæna mysticetus) .—This whale is greyish black on its upper parts, and white beneath. It is from forty-eight to seventy-two feet long, and weighs upwards of twenty thousand pounds. It is the largest of all living animals; a boat with six persons could enter its jaws. Its tongue is nine feet broad, eighteen feet long, and weighs about eight hundred pounds.
The whale inhabits the northern parts of the Atlantic and Pacific. ”

“ Whales have always been very numerous in the Greenland seas. A grand object of desire to those to whom oil is a thing of the very first necessity! The fish give it by drops, the Seal in waves—the Whale in mountains! ”

“ I afterwards learned that this Greenland shark is not really blind, though the sailors think so because it shows no fear at the sight of man. The pupil of the eye is emerald green; the rest of it is blue, with a white worm-shaped substance on the outside. This one was upwards of ten feet in length, and in form like a dog-fish. It is a great foe to the whale, biting and annoying him even when alive; and by means of its peculiarly-shaped mouth and teeth it can scoop out of its body pieces as large as a man’s head. ”

“ While a fifth, the SOUTH PACIFIC WHALE (B. antipodarum) , occupies a strip from the South American coast to New Zealand and Australia. The two latter have points in common with the others, and are only distinguished as separate species by supposed structural variations.
The habits of all these animals are exceedingly alike, and only in the first two is there very decided distinction in appearance. Such being the case, we may refer in detail to the Greenland Whale, Bowhead, or great Polar Whale of the Americans. ”

“ We continued our course to the southward, Dec. 29.amongst numerous icebergs and much drift ice. A great many whales were seen, chiefly of the common black kind, greatly resembling, but said to be distinct from, the Greenland whale: sperm, as well as hunchbacked whales, were also observed; of the common black species we might have killed any number we pleased: they appeared chiefly to be of unusually large size, and would doubtless yield a great quantity of oil, and were so tame that our ships sailing close past did not seem to disturb them. ”

“ In such openings in Greenland white whales and other small whales are often enclosed by hundreds, the natives thus having an opportunity of making in a few hours a catch which would be sufficient for their support during the whole winter, indeed for years, if the idea of saving ever entered into the imagination of the savage. But here in a region where the pursuit of the whale is more productive than in any other sea, no such occurrence has happened. ”

“ THE Greenland Sea abounds in different sorts of animals, fowls, and fishes, of which the whale bears the sway, and is of divers kinds, shapes, and sizes. Some are called the finned whales, from the fins they have upon their back near the tail; but these are not much valued, yielding but little fat or blubber, and that of the meaner sort; they consist of nothing but lean flesh, sinews, and bones. They are of a long, round, and slender shape, very{67} dangerous to meddle with, for they rage and lay about them most furiously with their tail, so that nobody cares to come at them, or catch them. ”

“ Provisions here of all kinds are excessive dear, especially fish; this we impute to the great number of whales that come into this bay, even where the ships lye at anchor; the whale-boats go off and kill sometimes seven or eight whales in a day, the flesh of which is cut up in small pieces, then brought to the market-place, and sold at the rate of a vintin per pound; it looks very much like coarse beef, but inferior to it in taste. The whales here are not at all equal in size to the whales in Greenland, being not larger than the grampus. ”

“ These sea monsters are as shy and timorous as they are huge and bulky, for as soon as they hear a boat rowing, and perceive any body’s approach, they immediately shoot under water and plunge into the deep; but when they find themselves in danger, then they shew their great and surprising strength; for then they break to pieces whatever comes in their way, and if they should hit a boat, they would beat it in a thousand pieces. According to the relation of the whale-catchers, the whale, being struck, will run away with the line some hundreds of fathoms long, faster than a ship under full sail. ”

“ One of the laws of the fishery universally adhered to, is, that whenever a whale is loose, whatever may be the case or circumstances, it becomes a free prize to the first person who gets hold of it. Thus, when a whale is killed, and the flensing is prevented by a storm, it is usually taken in tow; if the rope by which it is connected with the ship should happen to [Pg 38] break, and the people of another ship should seize upon it while disengaged, it becomes their prize. The following circumstance, which occurred a good many years ago, has a tendency to illustrate the existing Greenland laws. ”