Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/606

 582 WHALEBONE WHALE FISHERY in clay strata, one of the great number of proofs of an ancient distribution of land and water upon this continent very different from the present, and of remarkable changes of level. The grampus, a cetacean of the dolphin fam- ily, is generally called the killer, from the be- lief, probably well founded, that it attacks the baleen whale in herds, biting it to death. WHALEBONE, or Baleen, the horny laminated plates or blades in the mouth of the balcena or right whale. These plates, which number about 300 in the month of a full-grown animal, are from 10 to 15 ft. long, and serve the purpose of retaining the small fry which compose the food of the right whale. The whalebone is not properly bone, but bears a strong resem- blance to the horns of cattle, the hoofs of the horse, or the nails and hair of the human species. It is almost identical in structure with the horn of the rhinoceros. Three kinds are distinguished in commerce, though there is little difference in the quality: the Green- land, the South sea, and the N. W. coast bone. It is used for the ribs or stretchers of umbrel- las and parasols, for stays, brushes, whip handles, the manufacture of hair cloth, for hats and bonnets, canes, and other articles. The increasing price has led to the substitution for it of steel, vulcanite, and rattan. WHALE FISHERY, the pursuit of whales for their oil or whalebone. In the United States the principal whaling ports are New Bedford and Provincetown, Mass., and New London, Conn. The business as now conducted requires a large amount of capital, the sperm whale fish- ery needing more than that of the right whale. A whale ship once saturated with oil does not rot; and in several of the whaling ports vessels are still in use which were built half a century ago. They seldom measure over 500 tons, and the average of those in the business on Jan. 1, 1876, was 230 tons. The outfit for a whale ship is from four to seven boats of peculiar construc- tion, to each of which is assigned its crew, with casks for oil and apparatus for taking whales and trying them out. The crew is divided into boats' crows of five or seven. Each man, from the captain to the cabin boy, has an interest in the future cargo, called a " lay." With the common sailors this is from T-J^j- to TJry, or if the vessel is large -^ of the proceeds of the cargo. The boat steerers re- ceive from ,)- to, ]. .. according to the size of the vessel, and the higher ofiicers more. The voyage of a sperm whaler usually lasts three or four seasons or years; that of a right whaler one or two seasons, and occasionally, if luck is poor, three seasons. The implements used for the capture of the whale are the har- poon, the lance, and the harpoon gun. The harpoon is a heavy barbed iron, very sharp on the cutting edges, having a shank partly of wood 2 i or 3 ft. in length, and attached to a strong rope carefully coiled in a tub ; it is hurled by the boat steerer. The lance is a long ipear-liko instrument, the head oval, and the blade 5 or 6 in. long and 2$ to 3 in. wide, not very thick, but with keen cutting edges, the shank fitted with a long wooden handle ; it is used only when the whale rises, and is thrust if possible into a vital part. The harpoon gun hurls the harpoon by the force of powder in- stead of muscle; all ships carry bomb guns, from three to ten each. When the ship ar- rives in the vicinity of a whaling ground, a lookout is stationed at the masthead. As soon as a whale is discovered, the boats are lowered, and each crew exerts its utmost strength to reach the whale first. In the bow sits the boat steerer or harpooner with his tub at his feet. At the proper moment he seizes the harpoon in his right hand and the coil of rope in his left, and, as the bow of the boat touches or nears the whale, hurls his harpoon with all his force, aiming at a vital point, and crying, "Stern all." The crew instantly back the boat, and the whale in its terror plunges be- low the surface, and dives with such velocity that water must be constantly poured upon the line to keep it from setting the boat on fire by its friction. The line, often 100 fathoms in length, is soon exhausted, and a second attach- ed, and sometimes a third. The whale stays under water from 20 to 60 minutes, and when it rises the boats hasten to it and again strike it with the harpoons, and it descends again, usually striking as it goes down with its for- midable tail in the hope of destroying its foes. It stays below the surface but a short time, and on rising again spouts bloody water or blood alone through its blow-holes. The boats again approach and endeavor to lance it in a vital point. If they are successful, it sometimes turns upon its side or back and dies quietly ; oftener its death struggle is terrific, the water being dyed with blood and beaten into foam. If it dies upon the surface, its body can be se- cured; but if in its last agonies it again de- scends, the body sinks, and does not rise per- haps for months, if at all. In this way almost every whale ship loses some of its game. The sole weapon of defence of the right whale is its tail, a blow from which would crush the stoutest boat like an egg shell. But the sperm whale, while its tail is equally formidable, can stave in a ship's side with its snout, or crush a boat in its mouth. Its power of running is also superior, and its ability to remain below the surface greater. The whale when captured is towed to the ship, and made fast to the side by chains. A part of the crew with cutting spades descend to the platform rigged over the snip's side, cut into the blubber and loosen one end of the strip from the whale, while one of their number is lowered to attach to it one of the immense hooks which are fastened to the masthead, and the remainder of the crew hoist it to the deck, the cutters aiding with their spades in severing the skin as broad strips 20 or 30 ft. long are hoisted in. The carcass of the whale is rolled over and over till entirely stripped of blubber. These masses of blubber