Fin whale

“ Hence the account given by some naturalists, that the whale supports its young by its fins, on its back, must be erroneous. The fins, after death, are always hard and stiff; but, in the living animal, it is presumed, from the nature of the internal structure, that they are capable of considerable flexion. The whale has no dorsal fin. The tail, comprising, in a single surface, 80 or 100 square feet, is a formidable instrument of motion and defence. ”

“ And whether large or small, toothed whales or whalebone whales, active as the dolphin and the huge fin-whales or rorquals, which dash through the water although some are nearly a hundred feet long, or lazy and harmless as the Greenland whale is unless attacked, in one thing all the whale family betray their high place in the animal kingdom. Nowhere, either on land or in the water, can mothers be found more tender, more devoted, or more willing to sacrifice their lives for their children than whale-mothers. ”

“ In approaching the whale, every effort is made to Page 145come up to him at the point of least danger. This point is determined partly by the lines of the whale's vision, partly by his methods of defense. The right whale can only see dead ahead, and his one weapon is his tail, which gigantic fin, weighing several tons and measuring sometimes twenty feet across the tips of the flukes, he swings with irresistible force and all the agility of a fencer at sword-play. He, therefore, is attacked from the side, well toward his jaws. The sperm whale, however, is dangerous at both ends. ”

“ The dorsal fin, like that of the Atlantic pilot whale, is one of the species' most distinctive characteristics. It is low in profile, has a long base, and is set far forward on the animal's back.
Short-finned pilot whales are all black on the back sides and most of the belly with an anchor-shaped patch of gray on the chin and a gray area of varying extent and intensity on the belly. These areas are less vivid and extensive than those on Atlantic pilot whales. Younger animals are lighter, often medium gray. ”

“ In spite of its great size the whale is so perfectly adapted to its surroundings that it is a highly active animal. It swims without apparent effort and on account of the great strength of the enormous horizontal tail fin, it can jerk itself above the water and take long leaps. The smoothness of the skin facilitates the passage of the immense bulk through the water and the thick layer of fat diminishes the weight so that a whale can move with the rapidity of a steamship. ”

“ There are three species of large whales without a dorsal fin in the western North Atlantic Ocean. Two of these, the bowhead or Greenland whale, and its more widely distributed close relative the right whale, are baleen whales. The third, the sperm whale, is a toothed whale. The first two have relatively smooth backs without even a trace of a dorsal fin. The sperm whale has a humplike low, thick, dorsal ridge, which, from certain views, particularly when the animal is humping up to begin a dive, may be clearly visible and look like a fin. ”

“ During our crossing I saw numerous baleen whales belonging to the three species unique to these southernmost seas: the bowhead whale (or “right whale,” according to the English) , which has no dorsal fin; the humpback whale from the genus Balaenoptera (in other words, “winged whales”) , beasts with wrinkled bellies and huge whitish fins that, genus name regardless, do not yet form wings; and the finback whale, yellowish brown, the swiftest of all cetaceans. This powerful animal is audible from far away when it sends up towering spouts of air and steam that resemble swirls of smoke. ”

“ A whale is a warm-blooded, air-breathing, milk-giving animal. Its fins are hands with finger-bones, having a large number of joints; its tail is a piece of cartilage, and not a fish's fin with bones and rays; it has teeth in its gums, even if it never cuts them; and it gives suck to its little one just as much as a cow does to her calf. Nay, the whalebone whales have even the traces of hind legs entirely buried under the skin, and in the Greenland whale the hip-joint and knee-joint can be distinguished with some of their muscles, though the bones are quite hidden and useless. ”

“ Most whales have more or less of a dorsal fin on the median line of the back, but it is simply an outgrowth of the integument, and even in those forms where it is most highly developed it has no bony supports. The head of a whale is very large proportionately, in some species as much as one-third of the total length. The eyes are small, as is the ear-opening; there are no external ears. ”

“ Occasionally we were called to look over the rail and see the fin-back whale sending his spout in a spiral column towards the clouds; or the blackfish, grampus, or porpoise, gambolling amongst the great waves. At times the scene was diversified by the appearance of the shark, dolphin, benita, and flying-fish, each preying on the other. The last three mentioned are easily caught, and are eagerly angled for by seamen. The manner of catching the dolphin and skip-jack is to bait the hook with a piece of white rag, and allow it to sway with the vessel’s motion. ”

“ This kind differs much from the sperm, in color and skin, and is said to be fiercer. We was a few sperm whales; but most of the whales that come upon the coast are fin-backs, hump-backs, and right-whales, which are more difficult to take, and are said not to give oil enough to pay for the trouble. For this reason whale-ships do not come upon the coast after them. Our captain, together with Captain Nye of the Loriotte, who had been in a whale-ship, thought of making an attempt upon one of them with two boats’ crews, but as we had only two harpoons and no proper lines, they gave it up. ”

“ No dorsal fin; a large one under each eye. Body tapers gradually towards the tail, which is often above twenty feet broad, semilunar, and horizontal in respect to the body. Female larger than the male; her teats placed in the lower part of the belly.
The colour of the whale varies with its age; the back of some being black, of others black and white, and some are all white; under jaw and belly generally white, whatever may be their age. Some [Pg 99] old whales have a broad white strip over their back down to the belly. ”

“ Greenland Right whale, Balæna Mysticetus, up to 60 feet in length, generally found near Arctic ice. The smaller whalebone whale of the Atlantic and Southern oceans is somewhat similar in shape; it runs to 50 feet; shows tail as it dives; has no fin on back. It is called the Nordcapper or Biscayensis and Australis.
2. The Sperm or Cachalot, Physeter Macrocephalus. A toothed whale 50 to 60 feet; shows tail when it dives; sometimes breaches, i.e. leaps several times in succession as it travels; blast low and projected forward.
3. Seihvale, Balænoptera Borealis, 40 to 50 feet; blast about 10 feet ”

“ though the only spout in sight was that of a Fin-Back, belonging to the species of uncapturable whales, because of its incredible power of swimming. Nevertheless, the Fin-Back’s spout is so similar to the Sperm Whale’s, that by unskilful fishermen it is often mistaken for it. And consequently Derick and all his host were now in valiant chase of this unnearable brute. The Virgin crowding all sail, made after her four young keels, and thus they all disappeared far to leeward, still in bold, hopeful chase.
Oh! many are the Fin-Backs, and many are the Dericks, my friend. ”

“ Or, turning to the other half of the world of life, picture to yourselves the great Finner whale, hugest of beasts that live, or have lived, disporting his eighty or ninety feet of bone, muscle, and blubber, with easy roll, among waves in which the stoutest ship that ever left dockyard would flounder hopelessly; and contrast him with the invisible animalcules—mere gelatinous specks, multitudes of which could, in fact, dance upon the point of a needle with the same ease as the angels of the Schoolmen could, in imagination. ”

“ The Whale makes use only of the tail to advance itself forward in the water. This serves as a great oar to push its mass along; and it is surprising to see with what force and celerity its enormous bulk cuts through the ocean. The fins are only made use of for turning in the water, and giving direction to its course. The Mother-whale also makes use of them, when pursued, to bear off her young, clapping them on her back, and supporting them, by the fins on each side, from falling. ”

“ Certainly, when once a boat is smashed, it is rare for a whale to deliberately try to destroy the men in the water. The sperm whale tries to bite; the right whale—it is from him your whalebone comes—strikes with his vast flukes. He will lie quietly in the water and brush his flukes back and forth across the surface, feeling for his enemy. If his flukes touch a floating tub, an oar, a man, they coil up like an enormous spring, and slap down with a blow that crushes utterly whatever they may strike. The whalemen have a proverb: "'Ware the sperm whale's jaw, and the right whale's flukes." ”

“ It is upon these creatures that the whale feeds. Opening its mouth wide, it rushes through the sea, and takes in a crowd of these soft-bodied animals, along with the water in which they are swimming. Closing its mouth, it drives out the water through its plates of whalebone, and the little creatures are caught in the bristles as in a net. Its great tongue is lifted up, and crushes them all into soft pulp, which is easily swallowed, even down the whale's small throat. ”

“ Whales don't spout water. It is their hot breath which, like the breath from a horse's nostrils in winter, shows white against the sky and looks like water.
The body of the whale which had broken water beside us bore many a scar, and his back was all covered with barnacles.
"Now, boys, give way to your oars, and you, steward, lay me right on to him!" spoke Captain Coffin, and as each man gave a steady pull steward, with a skilful turn of the steering oar, brought the head of the boat round, and the next instant her bow brought up against the body of the whale. ”

“ The full-grown males, or “large whales,” almost always go alone in search of food, and, when they are seen in company, are supposed to be migrating from one feeding-ground to another. The large whale is generally very incautious, and if alone, he is without difficulty attacked and easily killed, as he frequently, after receiving the first blow from the harpoon, appears hardly to feel it, but continues lying like a “log of wood” on the water before he rallies or makes any attempt to escape from his enemies. ”

“ His eyes, too, set obliquely, enable him to command the sea at all points save dead ahead, and it is accordingly from this point that the fishermen approach him. But however stealthily they move, the opportunities for disappointment are many. Big as he is, the whale is not sluggish. In an instant he may sink bodily from sight; or, throwing his flukes high in air, "sound," to be seen no more; or, casting himself bodily on the boat, blot it out of existence ”

“ 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. ”

“ He rolls over heavily and slowly; a few convulsive movements shake his mighty frame; then he floats motionless on the water—and the whale is dead!
Ropes are now made fast round him, and he is slowly towed away to shore, opposite the whaling establishment. A crowd is collected to see his huge body hauled up on to the beach, and to speculate on his size and value. In two days all his blubber is cut away and melting in [Pg 846] the coppers. Vultures are feeding on his flesh, and men are cleansing his bones. ”

“ It would not bear the confinement of an aquarium, for it would leap out of the tanks or dash its brains out in trying to do so; but, once placed in a tank of either salt or fresh water, the white whale starts to circle it, always to the left, with the sun, and contentedly blows at intervals of from five to fifteen minutes, and seems as contented as a canary bird in its cage.
The whale does not always swim in circles to the left when free, and why it does so in confinement is a question. I merely assert the fact. ”

“ They are the most hideous fish of the whole whale species, having a head that is enormously thick, and one third of their entire size, the spout-hole being at the fore end of it.
"In less time than I have taken to tell you all this, we were dragged out of the fiord; its rocks of black basalt and its sombre pine woods lessened astern; its entrance seemed to close like a gate as it blended with the coast; and the schooner, with her loose foretopsail all aback against the mast, was dragged in the wind's eye (whales usually swim so) for more than twenty miles out to sea. ”

“ The bones serve as timber for [Pg 103] roofing their houses, and other domestic purposes; and fishing-rods of the best quality are made from the whalebone. [29]
The common whale, notwithstanding its magnitude, swims with surprising agility, and generally against the wind. The flat position of its tail enables it to ascend suddenly to the surface of the water to breathe, which it is frequently obliged to do. Whales are very harmless and timid; but, when attacked, frequently strike the boats a dangerous blow with their tails, in which their greatest strength lies. ”