Whaleship

“ Whichever way we cast an eye we see oil casks or whalebone, harpoons or lances, or some one or other of the various et ceteras belonging to the whaleman’s pursuit; in fact, the yield of the whale supports New Bedford, and is the nucleus around which clusters all the manufactures of the city; and its vitality as a community must ever depend upon the number of vessels it sends out in pursuit of the whale. ”

“ At two o’clock in the afternoon of October 11th we weighed our anchor, and, with a fair wind, stood out to sea. Twenty-four hours afterwards we sighted a school of sperm whales, consisting of cows and calves. After some little manœuvering, we lowered away all four boats; but the whales going to windward, the captain and mate, after an hour’s chase, deemed farther pursuit useless, and returned aboard. The other boats, however, continued the chase; and at about 5 P. M. the third mate’s boatsteerer fastened, killing the whale with his irons. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The following morning after his capture, we saw three other New Bedford ships employed in cutting in whales, making four of us successful in the war of extermination against the old squareheaders. The sperm whale, swimming in immense schools, and always pursuing a direct route, all ships that lay in their course have a chance at them. ”

“ This race of whalemen has, however, been supplanted by another of younger men, who were brought into the field by the prolific grounds of the Arctic Ocean and Ochotsk Sea, inhabited as they were by myriads of bowhead whales that had never been chased or interfered with by whalemen; consequently, they had not learned from the past to use all the expedients furnished them by nature to avoid and combat against the wiles and stratagems of men. ”

“ And to me, steeped in the old whaling traditions, primed with the picturesque accounts of real whaling, it was subject for sadness to think of these huge and nowadays helpless creatures being preyed upon so mercilessly. Once the whale-ship has secured as many whales as can conveniently be towed—each dead whale being buoyed and marked until the tale is complete—full steam is made for port, and the catch is hauled ashore on to a sloping plane, where the blubber is rapidly and scientifically stripped from the unwieldy corpse and conveyed to the try-pots to be converted into the oil of commerce. ”

“ Let me make a clean breast of it here, and frankly admit that I kept but sorry guard. With the problem of the universe revolving in me, how could I—being left completely to myself at such a thought-engendering altitude—how could I but lightly hold my obligations to observe all whaleships' standing orders, "Keep your weather eye open, and sing out every time." ”

“ A whale can throw a stream from its snout for about five rods, but when it strikes land that way under heavy ballast it chucks all its load, water and solids, like a torpedo hitting a ship. I have experimented with small whales—say from ten to twenty feet over all, and never knew one to miss when he bumped land. The whale was prepared especially to do that—to release Jonah, and does it with wonderful automatic economy—the same that we scientific men note throughout nature. ”

“ Our houses are built of their skins.”
“Is that a dead whale on the beach?”
“It is one of our whale boats,” replied he, “but formed, as you supposed, from the skin of a whale, hardened by frequent applications of oil and lime. We use them to catch the whales when we want them.”
“You do not use the harpoon, then?”
“Only when we kill; in general we noose the tail, and fasten the rope to one of these boats, which are so buoyant, that the whale cannot take it down, and soon tires with his own exertions. ”

“ Having got our wood and water on board, we again put to sea, cruising in various parts of the ocean known to be frequented by whales. A bright look-out was kept for their spouts as the monsters rose to the surface to breathe. The instant a spout was seen all was life and animation on board; the boats were lowered, generally two or three at a time, and away they pulled to be ready to attack the whale as it again rose to the surface. I remember, the first time I saw one of the monsters struck, I shouted and jumped about the deck as eagerly as if I myself were engaged in the work. ”

“ The whale sounds deep, and the line is almost out; a signal is made to the other boats, which are coming down. They come near enough, and bend on their lines; but presently it ceases running out and slackens; the whale is coming to the surface again. All hands now commence to “haul in line” as fast as he rises, and the boat-steerer coils it away, as fast as hauled in, in the stern sheets. He soon breaks water, and the boat is gradually hauled up to him. Another boat now fastens, and he again attempts to sound; but, being weakened by loss of blood, he is soon at the surface again. ”

“ A "sucker" who happened to be disporting round the British Isles when Alfred the Great was burning those historic cakes and prefiguring with candles the eight-hour day may still be chasing whale-brit round an Arctic iceberg. The whale mates, we are told, once and for keeps. Jogging along from one ocean end to another with the same wife for a thousand years without turning fluke to look at an affinity! Shades of Chicago and Pittsburg, hide your wings! Whales follow their annual migration as regularly as do moose and caribou on land, the seal and salmon in the Pacific. ”

“ When a whale is perceived floating on the surface of the ocean, and spouting up torrents of water, the boats approach, and a harpoon is discharged. The wounded fish plunges into the deep; and, if the rope belonging to one boat be run-out, that of another is speedily fastened to it, to prevent the little bark from being carried down with the whale. As soon as the unwieldy creature re-appears, another, and, if necessary, a third harpoon, is discharged, till it rises to the surface, and at length expires. The whale-bone is then taken out, the blubber cut to pieces, and stowed in hogsheads. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ But what do the whales do at this garden party of theirs? Sail quietly round and look at each other? Discuss the possibility of uniting in a body, and driving all the whaling fleet to the bottom of the sea? Consider the prospects of the shrimp harvest, or debate upon the best methods of extracting a harpoon from fin or tail, and the easiest method of capsizing a boat? No; nothing of the sort. They have met together to enjoy themselves, and in their own exceedingly cumbersome way they do enjoy themselves. They enjoy themselves with a force and a vengeance that is terrible to witness. ”

“ It may appear strange to you, that so slender a vessel as an American whale-boat, containing six diminutive beings, should dare to pursue and to attack, in its native element, the largest and strongest fish that nature has created. Yet by the exertions of an admirable dexterity, improved by a long practice, in which these people are become superior to any other whale-men; by knowing the temper of the whale after her first movement, and by many other useful observations; they seldom failed to harpoon it, and to bring the huge leviathan on the shores. ”

“ At all events, he now found himself in comparatively deep water, from eight to ten fathoms, without any visible means of retreat from his coral trap. All hands crowded into the rigging to see the whale floundering about; till at length some one proposed—rashly enough, certainly,—to pay him a visit in one of the ship’s boats, with no better implements, offensive or defensive, than the ordinary boat-hooks. ”

“ Hearing, as I fancied, a whale spouting nearer than usual—these monsters of the deep making a noise as they eject the water through the spout-holes on top of their heads in a fountain of spray, after drawing it with their gills, like surf breaking on a distant shore—the sound somehow or other took back my thoughts to the chart, and I suddenly remembered what I had told the mate about the danger of the ship approaching the Islets of Saint Paul. ”

“ The securing of one is an event celebrated with limitless feasting and rejoicing. A New England whale-ship captain told the writer 120that he had seen these natives cut long strips of blubber from the body of a stranded whale, which had been so long dead that it was with difficulty he could breathe the atmosphere to leeward of the carcass, and chew upon the same with the greatest relish until it had entirely disappeared down their throats, the oil dripping all the while in small streams from the corners of their mouths. ”

“ Eventually the whale, weakened by loss of blood and by fright, would die and then came the chore of hand pulling the whale ashore for feasting and reprovisioning 38 the village’s storehouses. The captain of the boat and his crew were considered the most skilled and important of the hunters. Whaling was an ancestral skill which was passed on generation to generation with great care. ”

“ The drowning men are picked up by their companions, and the whale is again pursued. He is now in the death-flurry, spinning round and round, and lashing the sea into foam with his broad tail. He is still; and now the boats venture to come close up to the carcase, and fixing grapnels in it, with tow-lines attached, they form in a line, and commence towing their conquest to the shore, singing as they row, their measured paeans of victory. ”

“ Then the whale changed his mind, decided that the South Pole was nearer than the North, and, veering round, came charging down upon the boats.
There was consternation among the whalers!
One flip of the monster's great tail would have sent them all to a watery grave. They could not separate because of their twisted ropes, so, with a few more compliments to each other, they got ready for the fight.
Before the whale had had time to do any serious harm, an old man, who had fought many such big fish in his day, seized another harpoon, plunged it into the whale's side, and finished the business. ”

“ When a whale is sighted they paddle up as close as possible and the harpooner thrusts the harpoon into him. The whale dives, with the floats attached to him, and the shaft, which is retained, is rigged for striking him when he rises again. The other boats, if any are near, join in the chase until the whale is so wearied that he can be lanced or a favorable opportunity occurs for shooting him. All boats in sight at the time the whale is struck, as I understood, are entitled to an equal share of the whalebone. ”

“ Formerly great numbers of these animals were seen upon land; but the vessels which every year resort to those seas for the whale fishery, have so frightened them, that they are now retired to more sequestered places; and those that remain no longer go on shore in troops, but either continue in the water, or disperse themselves on different parts of the ice. ”

“ Olaus Magnus, too, tells of sleeping whales being mistaken for islands:—“The Whale hath upon its Skin a superficies, like the gravel that is by the sea side; so that oft times when he raiseth his back above the waters, Sailors take it to be nothing else but an Island, and sayl unto it, and go down upon it, and they strike in piles upon it, and fasten them to their ships: they kindle fires to boyl their meat; until at length the Whale feeling the fire, dives down to the bottome; and such as are upon his back, unless they can save themselves by ropes thrown forth of the ship, are drown’d. ”

“ Because of the great shouting and the closing together of the boats, the whales become frightened and frantically rush to the shore where most of them are stranded, few ever escape. From the boats, from the shore, and in the water, the slender harpoon is hurled with deadly aim. ”

“ Greenland whaler, from Hull, for a summer trip, hoping to be back with my friends by the end of October. The old “Grampus” was barque-rigged, 350 tons burden, carried six whale-boats, three [36] hung up on each side, and a crew of fifty men, all told—consisting of harpooners, boat-steerers, line-managers, coopers, carpenters, foremast-men, landsmen, and apprentices. Each man was to have a share in the profits on every whale caught, so that all were interested. The ship was very strongly built, with ice-knees to withstand the pressure of the ice. ”