Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/541

WHALE. as is sometimes the case in the bays and inlets of northern coasts.

A closely related and very important species is the southern right whale (Balæna australis), which has a smaller head, shorter baleen, and a differently shaped under lip. It has fifteen dorsal vertebræ and ribs, while the Greenland whale has generally only twelve. The southern right whale is found in all temperate seas in both the northern and southern hemispheres, although generally wanting in the tropics, and is not known to occur in the Antarctic Ocean. The right whales of the North Atlantic have been separated from those of the South Atlantic, and both from the Pacific Ocean forms, as distinct species, but the differences are slight and inconstant. All of the right whales have been, and are still to a certain extent, pursued by whalers, and their numbers accordingly have become greatly reduced during the past century, and the North Atlantic form is now very rare. The smallest of the whalebone whales is the New Zealand right whale (Neobalæna marginata), which reaches a length of only about 20 feet. Other whales of this same family are the gray whale (Rhachianectes glaucus) of the North Pacific, the baleen of which is very short and coarse; the hump-back whales, of the genus Megaptera, which are nearly as large as the Greenland whale and have black baleen; and the rorquals of the genera Balænoptera and its allies. The (q.v.) are the largest whales and have a distinct and falcate dorsal fin. The pectoral fins are rather small and the skin of the throat is plicated, as is the case with the hump-backs, which, however, have very large pectoral fins. The rorquals are the most abundant and widely distributed of whales at the present time, as it is only recently that they have been sought by the whalers. The blue whale (Balæna Sibbaldi) is the largest of the North Atlantic forms, while the sulphur-bottom, already referred to, replaces it in the North Pacific. The fossil remains of whales occur in the Pliocene and later strata. See.

. The beginnings of the whale fishery are obscure, but it appears that in the ninth century the Norwegians sent out vessels in pursuit of whales, perhaps even as far as Greenland. The Biscayans, however, seem to have been the first to make a regular commercial pursuit of whale-hunting, in order to profit by the sale of oil, whalebone, etc. Between about 1300 and 1500 the hunting of whales in the Bay of Biscay and adjoining waters was one of the principal industries of the Basque provinces and Gascony. Whales' tongues were then an important article of commerce, and in 1261 were subjected to a special tax. The Biscayan fishery finally died out through lack of whales, but meanwhile the northern fishery prosecuted by the English, French, Spanish, and Dutch came into prominence. The coasts of Spitzbergen became the centre of a very successful industry carried on mainly by the Dutch, who, it is said, supplied all Europe with oil during the latter half of the seventeenth century. In 1680 they had 260 ships and about 14,000 men employed in the whale fishery, but after that their fishery began to decline. In the eighteenth century Great Britain took the lead, encouraging the sending out of sailing vessels to engage in whale-hunting by a generous bounty, the object being quite as much the training of seamen as the development of the whale fishery. The industry was in its most flourishing condition in 1815, when 164 ships were engaged in it. During the nineteenth century the United States became the great centre of the whale fishery, and it is to-day the principal producer of whale products. Nantucket was the original centre of the American whaling industry, and sent her boats to Newfoundland, the Gulf Stream, West Indies, and even as far as the Cape Verde Islands and Brazil. The Revolutionary War paralyzed the industry and many of the interests were transferred to England and France. The whalers ventured into the Pacific in 1787, but the famous Kadiak ground on the coast of Alaska was not discovered until 1835. New Bedford fitted out her first vessel in 1755 and soon became the centre of the whaling industry. For years she was the greatest whaling port in the world. In 1846 there were 735 vessels engaged in the fishery, valued at more than $20,000,000, and 70,000 people were more or less directly dependent on whaling for their livelihood. With the discovery of the abundance of whales in the Pacific and the growth of San Francisco, that city became a small centre for the whalers, but the universal use of mineral oils and cheap substitutes for whalebone has relegated the whaling industry to a comparatively unimportant place.

The vessels engaged in whaling are usually sailing vessels of three to five hundred tons burden, or screw steamers of somewhat greater tonnage. Each vessel carries from four to seven boats and a crew of 35 to 60 men. each boat requiring at least six. The crew, from captain to cabin-boy, have their wages regulated, at least to a certain extent, by the number of whales taken and the amount of oil brought home. Harpoons and lances were formerly the only means of capture, but in recent times rifles with explosive bullets have been considerably used. The introduction of prussic acid or strychnine into the body of the whale with the harpoon or bullet has been tried, as it results in a more rapid death for the animal and consequently less danger of loss; but it is said that the sailors object seriously to the use of such poisons.

When the ship arrives at the whaling-ground a lookout is stationed at the mast-head. As soon as a whale is discovered, the boats are lowered, and a competition ensues among their crews, all exerting their utmost strength to reach the whale first. The harpooner is ready, as soon as the boat is sufficiently near the whale, to hurl his harpoon with all, his force; the crew instantly back the boat, and the whale generally plunges in terror to a great depth, sometimes carrying out more than 200 fathoms of line. It remains below for 20 minutes or more, and when it rises the boats hasten to it again; it is struck with a second harpoon, and probably, instead of at once descending, it strikes violently with its tail, to destroy its enemies, when great caution is requisite. It cannot now remain long below the surface, and when it conies up it often spouts blood through the blow-holes if the lungs have been injured. When it is lanced, it sometimes dies almost at once, but occasionally there is a terrific struggle—the water is lashed into foam and dyed with blood. It not infrequently happens that,