WHALE FISHERY. 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 C.facony. Whales' tongues were then an im portant article of commerce, and in 1261 were subjected to a special tax. The Biseayan fishery finally died out throuph lack of whales, but meanwhile the northern fishery prosecuted by the English, French. Spanish. and Dutch came into prominence. The coasts of Spitzbergen be came 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 be gan to decline. In the eighteenth century Great Britain took the lead, encouraging the sending out of sailing vessels to engage in whale-hunt ing by a generous bounty, the object being quite as much the training of seamen as the develop ment of the whale fishery. The industry was in its most flourishing condition in 1815, when 164 ships were in it. pilling the nineteenth century the 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 Eng land and France. The whalers ventured into the Paeilic in 1787, lint the famous Radial: 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 whal ing industry. For years she Was the greatest whaling port in the world. In 1846 there were 785 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 lige univer8a1 use of mineral oils and cheap substitutes for whale bone 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 bur den, or screw steamers of somewhat greater ton nage. Each vessel carries from four to seven boats and a crew of 35 to GO 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. Har poons and lances were formerly the only means of capture, but in recent times rifles with ex plosive 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 dan ger 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 prohably, instead of at once de,cending, it strikes violently with its tail, to destroy its enemies, when great caution is requi site. It cannot now' remain long below the sur face. and when it comes up it often sports blood through the blow-holes if the lungs have been jured. When it is lanced. it sometimes dies al most at once, but occasionally there is a terrific f*truggle—the water is lashed into foam and dyed with blood. It not infrequently happens that, instead of dying at the surface of the water, the whale descends. and does not rise again. so that it is lost to the whaler. The carcass of the whale is towed by the boats to the ship. and made fast to the ship's chains. Should the prize prove to be a right whale. the process of •flensing' is then commenced. Some of the crew, their boots armed with iron spikes. to pre vent them from slipping, descend upon the carcass, and cut into the blubber with 'blubber spades.' removing a broad strip or 'blanket' of skin. 20 or 30 feet long, which is hoisted to the deck by means of a hook and tackle. Great cubical pieces of blubber, of half a ton or a ton in weight. are then cut out and hoisted on deck. In this way the process is carried on, the whale being turned over and over, that every part may be reached; till in three or four hours the whole mass of blubber is removed from it—probably amounting to 20 or 30 tons. :Meanwhile others of the crew have descended into the mouth of the whale and removed the baleen. The remainder of the car cass is then flung adrift, and sometimes sinks, but. often floats. in consequence of incipient putre faction. The blubber, after being hoisted on deck, is cut into smaller cubical pieces, and sub jected at leisure to a process by which the cellu lar tissue is separated from it. This is called 'making off' or 'trying out ;' and to accomplish it, the blubber is heated in a large pot, and after wards strained, the scraps or cracknels from one pot serving as fuel for another, and the ship being made filthy with smoke, soot, and grease. The product is finally stored in casks, to be conveyed home and boiled for oil. A ton of blubber yields nearly 200 gallons of oil. A single whale has often furnished blubber and whalebone to the value of $3500 or $4000, The pursuit and capture of sperm whales is not essentially different from that of the right whale, hut after their capture the carcass is handled somewhat differently, as the head is the most valuable part. The whale is first secured by the head and then the whole 'case' with the attached blubber is cut away and hauled up be side the vessel and made fast. The contents of the 'ease' are then bailed out with a bucket and the .spermaceti separated from the oil by cooling. The blanket-strips are then removed from the body and the blubber is tried out as in the right whale.