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diff --git a/78974-0.txt b/78974-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..785df6a --- /dev/null +++ b/78974-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7131 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78974 *** + + + + + _16. WHALERS AND WHALING_ + + + _The Nautilus Library_ + + + + +_THE NAUTILUS LIBRARY_ + + + 1. MYSTERIES OF THE SEA _by_ +J. G. Lockhart+ + 2. SEAMEN ALL _by_ +E. Keble Chatterton+ + 3. PERIL OF THE SEA _by_ +J. G. Lockhart+ + 4. SEA WOLVES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN _by_ +E. Hamilton Currey+ + 5. SEA VENTURERS OF BRITAIN _by_ “+Taffrail+” + 6. THE CRUISE OF THE “ALERTE” _by_ +E. F. Knight+ + 7. THE STORY OF H.M.S. “VICTORY” _by_ +Professor Geoffrey Callender+ + 8. STRANGE ADVENTURES OF THE SEA _by_ +J. G. Lockhart+ + 9. SMUGGLING DAYS AND SMUGGLING WAYS _by_ +H. N. Shore+ + 10. SEA ESCAPES AND ADVENTURES _by_ “+Taffrail+” + 11. THE BUCCANEERS _by_ +A. H. Cooper-Prichard+ + 12. THE LOSS OF THE “TITANIC” _by_ +Lawrence Beesley+ + 13. GREAT STORMS _by_ +L. G. Carr Laughton+ _and_ +V. Heddon+ + 14. A GREAT SEA MYSTERY _by_ +J. G. Lockhart+ + 15. THE DIARY OF A RUM-RUNNER _by_ +Alastair Moray+ + 16. WHALERS AND WHALING _by_ +E. Keble Chatterton+ + + + + + WHALERS AND WHALING + + + _by_ + + E. KEBLE CHATTERTON + + + [Illustration: Nautilus] + + + _London_ + PHILIP ALLAN & CO. LTD. + _Quality House, Great Russell Street, W.C.1_ + + + + + _First Edition_ _1925_ + _Second Edition_ (_Nautilus Library_) _1930_ + + + _Printed in Great Britain by_ + UNWIN BROTHERS LIMITED, LONDON AND WOKING + + + + +PREFACE + + +I have endeavoured in this volume to present as vivid a picture of +whaling ships, and the lives of those serving in them, as I can obtain +from contemporary accounts, with the object of showing to the reader, +whilst still one sailing-ship whaler survives, what were the adventures +and enterprise of an industry which forms one of the most romantic +sections of maritime history. + +This is the story of ships and men whose business took them out not +on a few weeks’ trip, but on long cruises often lasting for several +years north, south, east and west, up to the Arctic, down to the +Antarctic, and round the world. Whaling is at once an ancient and a +modern profession of the sea, which has called forth some of those high +qualities of courage and seamanlike skill which have been exhibited by +Britons and Americans, Dutchmen, Norwegians and others in different +generations and varying vessels. + +I have laid particular stress on the hard experiences and mode of life +which these seamen have been compelled to undertake, and have tried to +show the brilliant successes as well as the great depressions through +which the occupation has had to pass. Finally, in the chapters which +deal in detail with that very recent but highly prosperous steam +whaling, the reader will be able to see an amazing revival which links +the Norsemen of a thousand years ago with their descendants to-day. + +It is hoped that this record may help to encourage still further that +deep sea call which has sounded throughout the ages, and has become +clearer still during the last ten years. So many letters continue to +reach me from readers all over the world that it has become impossible +to answer them save a few: but with the passing of the last days of +sail it is a joy to know that a new and fresh enthusiasm for the sea +and its ships has grown up so lustily. + +I have to acknowledge my indebtedness to Scoresby, Bennett, Weddell and +other authorities of the past; to Mr. Robert McNab’s _The Old Whaling +Days_; and to the interesting Interdepartmental Report published by +H.M. Stationery Office dealing with the Dependencies of the Falklands. + + E. KEBLE CHATTERTON + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + PREFACE 5 + + I. INTRODUCTION 9 + + II. THE NORTHERN QUEST 23 + + III. WHALING ENTERPRISE 31 + + IV. FLUCTUATING FORTUNES 41 + + V. IN THE DAVIS STRAITS 52 + + VI. THE OLD WHALE-SHIPS 62 + + VII. “THERE SHE BLOWS!” 72 + + VIII. WHALERS AND SEALERS 83 + + IX. ABOARD AN AMERICAN WHALER 99 + + X. CREWS AND CAPTAINS 115 + + XI. WHALING ADVENTURES 122 + + XII. THE PERSONAL ELEMENT 132 + + XIII. THE WAY THEY HAD IN THE WHALERS 139 + + XIV. IN THE SOUTHERN SEAS 150 + + XV. WAR AND THE WHALERS 159 + + XVI. THE THIRTY-TWO SHIPS 173 + + XVII. FINDING THE NEW WHALING GROUNDS 181 + + XVIII. THE SOURCE OF WEALTH 191 + + XIX. PROBLEMS AND PRACTICE 201 + + XX. MODERN WHALERS AND THEIR METHODS 215 + + XXI. THE PRESENT WHALING INDUSTRY 226 + + XXII. COLONIAL CONTROL 244 + + + + +WHALERS AND WHALING + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTION + + +The story of whaling is really linked up with that of exploration, +especially of the northern regions, from the very first. Greenland +had been discovered by the Norse in the ninth century, and during the +following century two colonies had been founded there, but later on +there ensued a long interval. However, towards the end of the sixteenth +century there was a wonderful burst of commercial ambition in Northern +Europe and a desire to find both new markets as well as new resources. +The solution lay in discovering fresh territories and unknown sea +routes. Merchants banded themselves together into small companies, +fitted out ships and placed their goods aboard. + +Now the Dutch were fired with similar motives to the English. During +long years of herring fishing they had both become wealthy and built up +a fine race of seamen, to say nothing of a splendid fleet of ships. The +desire was to reach China and tap Chinese wealth; but instead of going +all the way down the Bay of Biscay and round the Cape of Good Hope or +the Horn, it was desired to find a route north about. For this reason +we find the Dutch fitting out a squadron of four ships which were +despatched with William Barentsz, a distinguished Dutch navigator, as +pilot, starting off in 1594 to seek for the North-East Passage. This +voyage was fruitless and the ships returned home. Another expedition +under the same pilotage was attempted, and this also failed. But in +1596 by the munificence of Amsterdam a third expedition was sent out, +consisting of two ships, and during this voyage Barentsz discovered +Spitzbergen, doubled the north-east cape of Nova Zembla (which had +already been discovered by the English navigator Willoughby), but +unfortunately one of the two ships became embayed in the drifting ice, +and this was Barentsz’s vessel. + +It became necessary to leave her, and the crew built a hut ashore, +where they suffered much cold, many hardships, and the unwelcome +attention of Polar bears. Barentsz died in those winter quarters at +Nova Zembla during 1597, and it was not until 1871 that a Norwegian +explorer came upon these winter quarters and discovered part of +Barentsz’s journal. There arrived in Amsterdam, however, by way of +Lapland, some of his crew. Now the value of these expeditions lay in +the news which was brought back concerning, among other things, the +whales which were to be found in those northern regions, and this +information was presently to be made use of by Barentsz’s countrymen. + +But in the year 1630 one of the English syndicates, the Russia Company, +sent out from London three ships to go whaling off the coast of +Greenland. One of these ships was the _Salutation_, and when she had +reached her destination, she sent her boat ashore with eight men to get +venison, having provided them with a couple of dogs, a firelock, lances +and a tinder-box. The _Salutation_ brought up off the shore, but next +day the weather came on thick, the wind blew hard from the north, and +the ship was compelled to clear out to sea. Left behind, these eight +men found themselves in a difficult situation, but they were able to +shoot their deer. They came across a rough house which had been built +by Dutch whalers who fished off here and had been used to protect +the coopers whilst employed making casks for oil. A number of old +unserviceable ships’ boats which other whalers had left behind on the +shore were used as firewood. By means of their harpoon the crew were +able to kill walrus, and they could roast the meat. As the weeks sped +by and the cold increased, and their clothes became tattered, they made +needles out of whalebone, made thread out of rope-yarn and thus sewed +their rags together. For a lamp they found a piece of lead, put in some +rope yarn as wick, filled the lead utensil with whale oil left behind +by the coopers, and thus were able to have a light and make themselves +fairly comfortable. + +When the food began to run low, they limited themselves to one flesh +meal a day, but on Wednesdays and Fridays ate of such scraps of whale +fat as had been thrown aside by the previous whalers after the oil had +been pressed out. Finally this also ran short and they killed a bear +and ate that for three weeks. But after months of this kind of life +there arrived off the coast a Hull whaler. And the latter, realizing +that in the previous year eight men had been left behind, sent a boat +ashore to inquire. To their mutual joy the Hull whalers and the eight +men met, but the latter presented a strange, uncouth sight, black with +soot and smoke, and their clothes in tatters. Presently the rescuers +took them aboard, and thus the men reached England, where the Russia +Company made awards to them for the distress endured during those long +nights and days. + +During that seventeenth century the Greenland Company of Holland took +great pains to continue their peaceful penetration in that northern +region, and even left there seven volunteer sailors in order to get +definite data concerning the weather and keep a careful journal of +their observations. This was in August 1633, and the whaling fleet then +went back to Holland, and the journal was kept faithfully until the +following April, when it ended on the last day. For when some Dutch +whalers arrived in Greenland in June they found each of the seven men +lying in his own locker dead, since they had perished of scurvy and +cold: so whilst the whaling fleet fired a volley from their guns the +men were buried on Midsummer Day. In that same year 1633 the fleet +which had landed these seven men in Greenland landed seven other +sailors to winter at Spitzbergen. The latter happily survived and were +brought home in the year following. + +But seven other volunteers now took their place and kept a journal of +their observations as long as possible, and these men recorded the fact +that there were plenty of whales about. But when once more the whaling +fleet came out from Holland in 1635 they found all the seven men dead, +some of them having apparently died in agony, for their knees were +drawn up to their chin. This seems to have been the last occasion when +the Dutch left winter observers behind, but the information obtained +was to add to the slender knowledge then possessed. It was in 1646 that +a dramatic surprise awaited a Dutch whaling ship that had been sent off +to the Spitzbergen district under John Cornelius. + +Leaving the Texel in May, the ship was near Spitzbergen a month later, +but owing to the presence of ice was prevented from anchoring. On +putting out to sea two whales were sighted in the offing, so Cornelius +sent his boat with a good crew after the mammals. But whilst the boat +was rowing up and down, awaiting an opportunity to attack one of +the big creatures, they discovered a large ice shoal floating some +distance away, and something thereon which they supposed to be bears. +The harpooner, however, insisted that these were no bears and persuaded +the rest to row alongside. There was a certain amount of reluctance and +argument, but, behold, when the boat approached it was found that there +was no bear but a man waving a signal of distress! + +Thereupon everyone pulled as hard as he could, and finally, to their +utter amazement they discovered four living men and one dead. By the +former’s language they realized that here were four Englishmen, so they +took them into the boat and rowed them back to the ship. The condition +of these men was pitiable, for they had eaten nothing for a long time +except a leather belt, which they had divided up amongst themselves. +The whaler’s surgeon took charge of these four who had suffered so +terribly from cold and hunger, and in spite of his best endeavours, +three of them died within a week, but the fourth was brought back +safely to Delft and so got a passage home. It was from him that the +story was learned, how his vessel had been wrecked on that ice shoal +with a crew of forty-two. Seventeen of them with the captain had +started off in the ship’s boat to make the land, and it was then to +return for the rest: but nothing was ever heard of her, and as a gale +of wind sprang up soon after she had started, the boat unquestionably +foundered before reaching land. The remaining twenty-four on the ice +lived on the provisions as long as they lasted, some of the two dozen +separating on to different ice shoals in the hope that at least one +might drift ashore and so preserve life. But not one of these other +parties was ever seen again, although Cornelius sent his boat to cruise +in search of them. It was indeed a real miracle that even one man had +been picked up: and it would be difficult to imagine any surprise of +the sea more enthralling than when this poor sailor was seen waving +to the whaleboat. But still the whale-ships continued to come north +to these waters, and if we cannot trace every voyage, at least we +know that the rewards were sufficiently tempting and the knowledge +sufficiently reasonable to make the risks worth while. + +Modern whaling is just sixty years old, for its period is carefully +marked by the introduction of the harpoon-gun, which was made +successfully in the year 1865. The effect of this was to revolutionize +the industry, which has had a most varied and a most romantic life. +Originally the harpoon, as used for capturing whales and large fish, +was just a flat piece of iron, triangular in shape, with sharp barbs. +This was attached to a wooden handle, and to the latter was made fast +the long rope. But the toggle-iron came as an improvement with its +pointed shaft and pivoted crosspiece, so that after the shaft had +pierced well into the fibrous tissue below the blubber, the crosspiece, +at the pulling of the rope, instead of lying up and down the shaft was +set at right angles and thus prevented the shaft from being withdrawn. + +The harpoon-gun, whether fired from the shoulder or from a swivel-gun +mounted on a pivot, enabled the harpoon or toggle-iron with line +attached to be aimed with accuracy and to strike with such force that +the rorquals or finbacks, which had previously been left untouched, +could now be hunted. For in that order of mammals which we call +cetacea, the larger members of the family are the whale, and these +are subdivided into the whalebone whales and the toothed whales. The +whalebone whales, again, are further divided into the right whales, the +finbacks or rorquals, the humpback, the grey whale of the Pacific, +and that rare pigmy whale whose whalebone is so valuable. The right +whale has no dorsal fin, and its cervical vertebræ are fused into a +solid mass. The Greenland right whale, with its great head and arched +mouth, made itself well known in the Arctic, being about 50 ft. long. A +smaller species, known as the southern right whale, became known in the +waters of the southern seas. + +The toothed whale class have no whalebone but they have teeth, whereas +the whalebone genus has not. Now in the toothed whale class are +included such species as the cachalot, the bottlenose, the grampus and +the narwhal. The cachalot, or sperm whale, with its great head itself +measuring about one-third of its total length, is sometimes as much +as 60 ft. long, and has over a score of teeth on its lower jaw. It +is a characteristic of this cachalot that he can remain under water +for twenty minutes at a time. The sperm whale goes about in schools, +does not frequent either Polar region, but is commonest in tropical +and sub-tropical seas. And just because it was hunted with great zest +during the earlier part of the nineteenth century it naturally became +scarce. The late Frank T. Bullen in his sea classic _The Cruise of +the Cachalot_ has left for us a most entertaining description of the +methods employed during the old sailing-ship days for hunting this +mammal. The impelling motive which sent those old-time whalers to sea +after the cachalot was the great commercial reward; for the sperm oil +from the blubber, and the spermaceti contained in a cavity of the great +head, are valuable as an ingredient of ointments and in the making of +candles. The use of gas and electric lighting, however, during the +nineteenth century somewhat modified this use. Sperm oil, none the +less, is a well-known lubricant in great demand. Ambergris was yet +a third of the important entities found in the cachalot, and this, +after extraction from the whale’s intestine, was found of great value +as a basis for the manufacture of perfumery. The teeth, too, make +valuable ivory. Thus, in a word, the hunting of the cachalot was a most +important industry. + +At the beginning of the twentieth century whaling seemed to be drawing +to its close by reason of the cachalot’s scarcity. But in the year +1904 the discovery of a new whaling ground in sub-Antarctic seas gave +such a fresh impetus that the industry reached a success hitherto +unprecedented. The rorquals have declined alarmingly in numbers, and +it was because of this that at the present time the industry in those +waters depends almost exclusively on the blue whale, which is the +largest animal known, measuring up to 100 ft. There are still a certain +number of sperm whales being caught off the South African coasts. + +It is, however, to be noted that the zeal with which the industry was +carried on in the north led to the reduction in the number of whales, +so that no other animals of this class returned to the areas which had +once been so plentiful. The Greenland whaling, for instance, has for +that reason long since become extinct, yet at one time it was very +famous. Spitzbergen, where the whale was once found in great numbers, +has been similarly deserted. But at the date of writing it is quite +possible that the ancient whaling occupation, which has trained some +of the finest of the world’s seamen under sail, may receive a still +further development: for by an arrangement between the British Colonial +Office and the Government of the Falkland Islands an expedition has +been organized for a most detailed study of the whaling problem, and +that historic ship _Discovery_, which Scott used for polar work, +was specially selected, and then in the spring of 1925 fitted out +at Portsmouth. The results of this new expedition, with a mass of +scientific facts, may quite conceivably give an entirely new life to +whaling hitherto undreamed of. + +Certainly English ships had been engaged in this important occupation +of whale-hunting ever since the end of the sixteenth century. The +port of Hull was especially noted for this trade right away down till +about 1868, when, owing to the scarcity of the mammals, the industry +died a natural death. The very last whaling voyage from that port was +made by the _Truelove_, which had been built in Philadelphia 104 years +previously. This vessel was one of the most remarkable craft that ever +sailed the seas, and it would be difficult to find many ships in all +maritime history which so ably justified the builders. Seventy-two was +the number of whaling voyages which the _Truelove_ made, and 500 were +the whales which she captured. And besides all this activity she put +in a good deal of time in such voyages as the Oporto wine trade, and +even as a “Letter of Marque.” During the American War of Independence +she was captured by the British and that was how she came to be owned +in Hull and in 1784 began her career from the Humber as a whaler. It +was in 1806 that at the age of forty-two she made her first trip to the +Davis Straits, and went off there again in 1831. Her last voyage as +a whaler was in 1868, but five years later she visited Philadelphia, +where she was given a hearty welcome and returned across the Atlantic +to be broken up. + +In these days of steam it is a little difficult to realize how +important was this whaling industry when those old ships with their +somewhat heavy lines went lumbering along to the northern waters. +Whitby, Scarborough and London used to send whalers to the Arctic, +and in the year 1821 no fewer than sixty-one whalers sailed out of +Hull, thirty-two for that area between Greenland and Spitzbergen, and +twenty-nine for the Davis Straits. But it was the English colonists +in America who first got the whaling fishery on a systematic basis, +when they began the sperm whaling about the end of the seventeenth +century owing to the proximity of Greenland and other prolific +breeding grounds. The result of this was to build up a whole chapter +of history and romance which will ever be regarded as one of the most +interesting in the whole maritime development of Northern America. It +is only comparatively recently that the great American people in their +literature, their pictures, and even in their cinematograph films have +awakened to the wonderful importance of that old whaling period, which +did so much towards attracting easterners to the sea and shipbuilding. + +Formerly England was chiefly content to import from American colonists +such products of this whaling fishery as she required. But then arrived +the War of Independence, and it became necessary for the old country to +obtain those commodities direct which hitherto she had largely left to +her colonies to supply. Thus it was that even from the year 1775 ships +were sent out from British ports to engage in the sperm whale fishery. +They were only ten in number, and owned chiefly by the firm of Messrs. +Enderby. But in the following year this trade was encouraged by a +Government bounty ranging from £100 to £500, and the number of whaling +ships went on progressively increasing until the year 1791. + +In one of Edmund Burke’s speeches of the year 1775 on the subject +of conciliation with America he addressed the House of Commons on +the matter of the New England fisheries, and I cannot resist quoting +here his remarks, for they shed a most illuminating light on what was +the British attitude at the period. With reference to the remark +concerning the Falklands, we must remember that these islands had been +discovered in the sixteenth century, but at first were regarded as not +worth having; in fact, two years before Burke’s speech was delivered +Britain temporarily occupied West Falkland but abandoned it, and +eventually the growth of the Falklands’ importance was attained owing +to the increase of the whale fishery. It was by the irony of fate that +off this territory was to be fought in 1914 the only decisive naval +battle of the Great War. + +“As to the wealth which the Colonies have drawn from the sea by their +fisheries,” Burke told the House, “you had all that matter fully opened +at your bar. You surely thought those acquisitions of value, for they +seemed even to excite your envy. And yet the spirit by which that +enterprising employment has been exercised ought rather, in my opinion, +to have raised your esteem and admiration. And pray, Sir, what in the +world is equal to it? Pass by the other parts, and look at the manner +in which the people of New England have of late carried on the Whale +Fishery. Whilst we follow them among the tumbling mountains of ice and +behold them penetrating into the deepest frozen recesses of Hudson’s +Bay and Davis’s Straits, whilst we are looking for them beneath the +Arctic Circle, we hear that they have pierced into the opposite region +of polar cold, that they are at the Antipodes and engaged under the +frozen Serpent of the south. Falkland Island, which seemed too remote +and romantic an object for the grasp of national ambition, is but a +stage and resting-place in the progress of their victorious industry. +Nor is the equinoctial heat more discouraging to them than the +accumulated winter of both the poles. We know that whilst some of them +draw the line and strike the harpoon on the coast of Africa, others run +the longitude [i.e. steer due south] and pursue their gigantic game +along the coast of Brazil. No sea but what is vexed by their fisheries. +No climate that is not witness to their toils. Neither the perseverance +of Holland, nor the activity of France, nor the dexterous and firm +sagacity of English enterprise ever carried this most perilous mode of +hardy industry to the extent to which it has been pushed by this recent +people, a people who are still, as it were, but in the gristle and not +yet hardened into the bone of manhood.” + +But so inexperienced were British seamen in sperm fishing that for +some years it was necessary to appoint an American commanding officer +and harpooner to each ship until competent officers could be trained. +At this period whaling was carried on principally off Greenland and +Ireland, off the Western Islands of the Azores, the coast of Africa, +Brazil and the Falklands. It was not till 1788 that the Enderby whaler +_Emilia_ rounded Cape Horn and was the first to inaugurate sperm whale +fishery in the Pacific. It was a brief but successful voyage, and thus +she was a pioneer in that ocean for future profit. For the cachalot +grounds were gradually discovered, and to such an extent that in 1819 +the British whaler _Syren_ first revealed that unexplored and valuable +tract off the Japanese coast. So prolific with the sperm whale was this +locality that even after its yield had been considerably diminished by +frequent whaling, it was possible to obtain 40,000 barrels of oil there +by the fleets in the early nineteenth century. + +The next spheres of whalers to be hunted were in the Indian Ocean. The +industry went on prospering, and there were few seas in the world that +did not see either British or American whalers cruising. It was these +or none other: for the other nations were now making but feeble efforts +to engage in this work. But by about the time Queen Victoria came to +the throne whaling in the South Seas had already passed its prime. +Money was scarce in those days and the return from the heavy investment +of capital in South Sea whalers was both slow and already risky, so +that not more than thirty or forty whaling ships were cruising the +warmer waters by the year 1840. An additional reason for this lay +in the fact that the colony of New South Wales was now engaged in +obtaining the sperm oil from its fishery at a much less cost of time +and capital, and able to export it into England. + +Leaving out the great changes which have taken place in the value of +money during the last eighty years, it is worth while noticing some of +the details of cost. To fit out a whaler in London for the southern +seas--“South-Seaman” was the name they were wont to give her--used to +require anything from £8,000 to £12,000. She was seldom away less than +two and a half years, but this was not infrequently exceeded. And if +the result, as latterly had become the case, were unsuccessful, all +that capital had been tied up uselessly. On the other hand, a whaler +might come back from the South Seas to London with 250 tuns of sperm +oil which would realize £80 a tun: £24,000 in return for the capital +expended, but with the ship still afloat and some of her stores +remaining. + +An average cargo in the prosperous times amounted to 160 tuns of +oil, and the largest cargo which an early nineteenth-century British +whaler ever brought into the country was 330 tuns. This was in the +_Rochester_, Captain Smith, the year being 1830; but the largest sperm +oil cargo ever taken into the United States up to that date in one +whaler was 4,050 barrels, or more than 500 tuns. The British whaler +_Tuscan_ was away from 1833 to 1836, and during those three years +sighted sperm whales on 90 different days. She was able to kill and +secure to the ship no fewer than 78 of them, and arrived home with +1,953 barrels, or 244 tuns of oil, which was a remarkably good cargo. +But if we select the period from 1820 till 1832 we find that the amount +of sperm oil brought into Britain by British whalers rose from 2,264 +tuns to 5,576 tuns. + +We have to remember that the use of lamps and machinery was increasing +during those early nineteenth-century days, and this gave a greater +demand for the sperm oil. One author writing on this subject in the +year 1840 remarked: “The very general adoption of gas for the purpose +of illumination, and which might reasonably be expected to lessen the +demand for oil, has not had that effect--on the contrary, it would +appear that the increased light of the shops and streets rather induces +persons to add to their domestic illumination in a proportionate +degree.” + +During those early years of the nineteenth century the American whalers +numbered a fleet of about 350, many of which were engaged exclusively +in hunting the sperm whale. Such an American ship was owned by a +syndicate of small capitalists which included the master and officers. +In Britain the custom rather was for one merchant to own several of +these craft. The size of whalers at that time varied from 250 to 400 +tons burthen. The “South-Seaman” and the Greenlander had to go out +light and return with their cargoes already consisting of the produce +separated from the non-lucrative parts of the whale. It was a series of +long voyages, and unlimited time was essential both for the searching +of indefinite areas and for the extraction of the oil when the capture +had been made. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE NORTHERN QUEST + + +The desire to find both the North-East and the North-West Passages has +at various times and in all sorts of ships attracted the sailors of +Northern Europe towards the Arctic Seas, but with long lulls. Thus, +after the times of Hudson and Fotherby there ensued an interval until +the zeal for Polar discovery was kindled in the reign of George III. +Papers were read before the Royal Society, and eventually two vessels +of the Royal Navy, _Racehorse_ and _Carcass_, were despatched, the +young Horatio Nelson serving in the latter. Hitherto all these northern +expeditions had been fitted out by merchants with a desire to find +either a passage and trade route for their goods, or areas suitable +for capturing whales. But this Georgian enterprise was the first +effort which had the pursuit of science as its sole object. Starting +out in 1773, it was away only from May to September, but the resultant +information was hardly such as to enthuse the desire for discovery, and +those northern regions again fell into oblivion until there came into +notice a man named Scoresby. + +William Scoresby was born in 1789 at Whitby, that historic port which +at one time harboured a fleet of whalers, and also those famous Geordie +brigs which used to fetch the coal from Newcastle to London. Cook, the +great explorer, was apprenticed to one of these Whitby colliers over +forty years before Scoresby saw the light, and from this Yorkshire +haven some of the finest English sailors set forth in the eighteenth +and early nineteenth centuries. Now Scoresby’s career is a most +interesting one, for he was a product of a severe school of seamanship; +he was made to rough it on board from an early age, he became one of +the greatest whaling captains in history, a distinguished explorer, +and was given that unique distinction of being elected a Fellow of +the Royal Society, publishing some valuable matter dealing with the +practical side of whaling and the scientific study of the Arctic +regions. + +He was only eleven when he made his first Greenland voyage, he was but +seventeen when he made the nearest approach to the North Pole that had +ever been fully authenticated, being at that time mate of his father’s +Greenland whaler. It was the information which Scoresby and others of +this industry accumulated that provided the necessary data for the +great explorers of the nineteenth century: we can never be too grateful +to those pioneer whalers who risked their lives and ships among the +ice in uncharted seas. Sailing, towing, boring, warping, they opened +up a track with the object of pursuing the whale: but each voyage +brought back more and more intelligence concerning winds and tides +and ice-barriers. Scoresby used to land at Spitzbergen and elsewhere, +climbing summits, making observations, studying the bird life and +doing many things quite outside the sphere of mere whaling. After he +became of age he continued to make these Greenland voyages annually, +but the most important of his discoveries were made in the year 1822 +when he sailed in the 321-ton ship _Baffin_, with a crew of fifty. He +left Liverpool on March 27th bent on whaling, but never an opportunity +was missed of adding to scientific knowledge, and after passing the +eightieth degree a month later, he reached the main northern ice. The +first whale was caught on May 6th, but soon his ship became involved +in the floating ice and only with difficulty was she extricated. + +Now these waters had been fished for many generations and were +therefore becoming unproductive, so the only satisfactory results were +to be obtained on the eastern shores of Greenland. Along here Scoresby +penetrated to parts that had never been explored, and after naming +these bays and forelands and peninsulas, he went further east in search +of his whales. It was during one of these attempts that a harpooner had +just got his weapon into the whale when the latter started off with +such speed that the line was jerked out of its lead and the boat nearly +swamped. The harpooner, a real expert, tried to catch hold of the line +and replace it in its proper position, when he got caught by a sudden +turn, dragged overboard and drowned. + +Several more whales were taken, and after further exploration, being +surrounded by icebergs, Scoresby altered course, and on August 15th +had the good luck to sight and strike five whales, of which three were +taken. This completed his cargo and the _Baffin_ returned home after a +voyage that was successful both financially and scientifically. And to +that knowledge which Scoresby brought home, other venturers added in +subsequent years. But Scoresby was just one of a long line of seamen +who had been attracted by the magnetic north. The opening up of the +waters in these high latitudes, even if there was neither a north-east +nor a north-west passage for the English merchants’ goods, set going +a new industry whose profits had not even been suspected. It had been +really a lucky find whilst searching for a route to India north-about. +The news spread, and thus there had come English, Dutch, French and +Spanish ships by the early seventeenth century, with the inevitable +jealousies too. Each nationality tried to elbow the others out of +these valuable waters, and occasionally there was an actual encounter. +It would be difficult to support the claim of the seventeenth-century +English whalers as “lords of the northern seas,” and we can well +understand how much foreign nations resented this exclusive claim. + +The Dutch Whaling Company even sent out seven stout, well-armed ships, +and in 1618 there came a crisis when an English whaler was captured +and sailed off to Amsterdam. However, the Dutch Government deemed it +prudent to restore this vessel, her cargo and crew: but those who had +made the capture were also rewarded. And finally, since there was +room for all, since there were just as big whales in those northern +seas as ever came out, it was decided to divide up the areas in the +neighbourhood of Spitzbergen among the various national whaling +fleets, in order that the industry might flourish peaceably. The Dutch +especially found in this activity a great source of wealth, and it is +largely due to their diligence and resource that whaling progressed. +Some of their methods and actual words (for example “flensing”) are in +use to this day. This applies especially to the operations employed in +getting the oil from the whale after capture. + +English and Scottish fishermen of all kinds have, especially since the +sixteenth century, learnt much of their art from the Dutch: even their +very vessels for years were unquestionably influenced by the fishermen +the other side of the North Sea. Let us, then, not forget the debt we +owe to Holland in regard to our present subject. The difficulty was as +follows. Having arrived in Spitzbergen waters, those ships were of such +small tonnage that after harpooning two or three big whales, the vessel +was full up. Therefore the Dutch evolved the practice of extracting the +oil and bones, in fact concentrating all the valuable products into +such a space that not three but numerous whales could be used. It was +for this purpose that they installed ashore boilers and tanks, coolers +and all necessary apparatus of a factory. The whales had only to be +killed, brought ashore, and then the produce was compressed out of them. + +Here the dead mammals were “flensed,” that is to say, cleared of +blubber and bone. Here, in these isolated latitudes, collected during +the summer months quite a village population from Holland. Here were +furnaces and stores and everyone hard at work, and the bay full of +whaling ships. Such, indeed, was the activity that in 1697 there were +no fewer than one hundred and eighty-eight of these vessels, having on +board the extracts of nearly two thousand whales. But as has happened +over and over again in the history of whaling, all this excessive +fishing had the result of frightening the mammals so that the latter +forsook the neighbourhood and migrated from Spitzbergen to near that +great bank of ice in the Greenland Sea. It was this which caused +Spitzbergen to lose its flourishing existence. To bring the captured +whales two thousand miles across such an ocean was impracticable: so, +as the whale would not come to the furnaces, the furnaces had to be +brought across to Greenland together with all the rest of the plant. +Thus, as we have seen in Scoresby’s voyaging, the vessels had to skirt +the frozen icefields--and even anchor to this barrier--in order to +capture the elusive mammoth of the sea. + +So it was that by the end of the seventeenth century Spitzbergen, which +had been discovered by Barentsz only a hundred years previously, had +become practically denuded of whales. But in addition to the other +nations mentioned, the Russians also showed an interest in this means +of wealth. It was in the year 1743 that, in spite of this diminished +condition which had been reached, a vessel was sent out from Archangel +whaling to Spitzbergen with a crew of fourteen hands, and had got +within a couple of miles of the eastern side when suddenly their ship +became surrounded by ice. The position became critical, and then four +of them resolved to make for the shore leaping from one ice floe to +the other. On land they found a ruined hut that had once been used by +former whalers, and next day they were about to inform their shipmates +when to their horror it was seen that the ship had disappeared. A heavy +gale had dispersed ship and ice floes. Nor was she ever seen again. + +Now these four men, left to their own resources, lived on that island +for the next six years and three months. They had neither clock nor +watch, nor navigational instrument, but they made a cross-staff and +were able to take an altitude of the sun when it was visible. They +succeeded in keeping such good reckoning of time that after all those +months they were not more than four days out. On that craggy island, +where there was not so much as a tiny tree, nor a blade of grass, three +of the four men lived and survived. They had a gun and shot wild deer +until their ammunition gave out. They then made themselves pikes out +of some pieces of iron which they found, and thus killed an aggressive +Polar bear whose flesh fed them, whose skin clothed them, from whose +entrails the string was made to complete a bow which had been fashioned +from a bit of wreckage that came ashore. Thus armed, they were able to +fill their pantry with reindeer meat. One of the men did not die till +the end of six years, and the three survivors then became despondent +and wondered how long it would be before they would be eaten up by the +bears. + +But then a marvellous thing happened on August 15, 1749; for to their +utter amazement a ship was seen to seaward. These three men now set +to work, lighted fires on the hills, hoisted a flag-staff with a +reindeer’s skin as flag, and thus attracted the ship, which came to +anchor. Now the arrival of this vessel was miraculous, for she had +encountered head winds, been unable to make her destination, and +therefore altered course to East Spitzbergen just opposite to where +these men happened to be. Then, after placing on board her reindeer +fat, hides, fox skins, their bow, arrows, spears and lances made with +their own hands, they were brought back to Archangel after having been +long since given up for lost. + +It so happened, when this vessel came in, that the wife of one of these +three survivors was standing by the water. Suddenly she recognized her +long-bewailed spouse, and unable to wait till the ship was secured to +the pier, the woman threw herself forward to embrace him, fell into the +water, and was saved only with difficulty. + +Who was the very first ever to catch a whale in northern waters it +would be impossible to say. The Vikings, who colonized Greenland and +afterwards withdrew, certainly hunted these mammals. In the early +part of the eighteenth century the Esquimaux used to go whaling in +their canoes, whose frames were made of wood or whalebone, covered +over with the skin of seals except for a hole large enough to receive +the steersman. Thus decked, these little craft used to go out with +primitive harpoons pointed with teeth of walrus. To the barb was +attached a thong, at the extremity of which was a bladder which served +as a buoy. All that the hunter had to do was to get up to the whale, +hurl this simple harpoon into him and then leave the whale to tear +about in his agony till he bled to death. The bladder-buoy indicated +his position, and the creature was then towed ashore to be stripped, +and thus there were food and light for another long winter’s season. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +WHALING ENTERPRISE + + +The effect of over exertion in the Spitzbergen area had been to break +up that sectional monopoly arranged between nations. The whale had gone +elsewhere, the hunting was now of the free-for-all kind, and the scene +had shifted to Greenland. + +This free trade naturally caused a greater number of ships to be fitted +out than before, both in Holland and England. In the latter country +there had been formed “The Company of Merchants of London trading to +Greenland” with a subscribed capital of £40,000, which was presently +increased. But within less than a decade every penny was lost owing +to bad management and lack of supervision. The eighteenth century +was hardly a period of high ideals, and morality was at a pretty low +ebb. Honour and trustworthiness were conspicuous enough by their +absence. What then could you expect? If you sent men in such an age +to the desolate regions of Greenland, at a fixed salary, without any +interest in the business, and simply ordered them to get whales, how +can you wonder if these men, far away from the vigilance of their +owners, preferred to come ashore, hunt the deer and make themselves +as comfortable as they could without chief consideration for the +shareholders? They were sure of a certain pay whether they got a +thousand whales or none. Thus it was that financial disaster came to +the company, and by the irony of fate the last ship, after having made +the really excellent catch of eleven whales, got wrecked. + +But this unfortunate company’s failure was of national importance, +seeing that other countries were becoming rich by the industry. You +will remember that this was a period of reckless finance. The wealth +of the country was beginning to increase, thanks to overseas trade and +the growth of the Mercantile Marine, principally in respect of the +Honourable East India Company. But in those days investment was not +easy, and it was difficult to get interest for one’s savings. Then came +the South Sea Scheme in 1720, and the resulting “Bubble,” when sane +men seemed suddenly to go mad, all save Walpole. The South Sea Company +was dealt with leniently in the end, it was not even dissolved, and +carried on a legitimate business. Turning its attention now to whaling, +it placed a great deal of its capital in this enterprise; for the +Government was encouraging, and exempted from all tax the produce of +the country’s whaling. + +In the year 1725 the South Sea Company built a dozen fine large +whalers, and gave them a thoroughly good equipment with all the +necessary cordage, casks and gear. In the spring this squadron set +forth and returned with only twenty-five whales, which hardly paid +the cost of equipment. In 1730 twenty-two ships were sent out, but +they returned with only a dozen whales, so that the loss this year +was £9,000; and eventually after eight years the company had to give +up whaling altogether. It was a sad blow to British enterprise, and +the more so since it concerned the sea. The very existence of the +nation during the next critical hundred years was to depend on ships +and crews; whatever could be done by way of encouragement must be +attempted, but who was likely to invest his money where so much had +already been lost? + +In 1732 the Government again tried to help, by offering a bounty of +twenty shillings a ton to every ship engaged in the whaling trade +exceeding two hundred tons. This caused several private individuals to +come forward, but the success was not great. In 1749 the dying industry +was still further helped by increasing the bounty to forty shillings, +and this made the undertaking worth while, so that three years later +there were forty whalers sailing out, and their number even rose to +eighty-two after still another three years had passed. That which was +at the back of the Government was the value of whaling as a nursery for +seamen, of whom the country possessed a comparatively small number. If +crews could be trained in merchant ships, there was always at hand a +large crowd which could be impressed for the ships of war. + +But this bounty system, like all such arrangements, was an artificial +stimulant; and it was very costly. Thus, when about £600,000 had +been expended by 1769, it was thought that whaling was now able to +support itself; so eight years later the bounty was reduced to thirty +shillings. The effect of this was to show that the industry was not +yet sufficiently strong to exist unsustained, for the number of ships +dropped to about a third, and the forty shillings had to be granted +as before. But by this time, as we have already seen in a previous +chapter, the War of Independence had made a great difference, and +British whalers were about to use the southern seas to great advantage. +So well did whaling now prosper that in 1787 the bounty was able to be +reduced to thirty shillings, and eight years later to twenty shillings, +but still the industry went on increasing. + +Thanks to American tuition at first, British sailormen now relearned +the art which their forefathers had excelled in. Continental politics +wiped out Holland as a rival in fishing and whaling for twenty years, +and this period was too long to allow of the old habits and the old +Dutch whaling crews to return. The future, therefore, in respect +of whaling lay between British and American ships until the firm +establishment of steam vessels. And that which may be called the golden +age of whaling followed during the next fifty or sixty years. We shall +now be able, with this outline clear before us, to consider the whalers +in far greater detail. + +The building and fitting out of whaling fleets was no small matter, +and it is a matter for deep regret that with the extermination of +the Greenland right whale these fleets gradually diminished, and +with them disappeared in time those fine builders of strong wooden +ships. These artists of the adze must not be forgotten, for on them +and the designers depended the very safety of the ships. These early +nineteenth-century whalers no longer carried on their work in bays and +on the outer rim of the icefields. Starting out early in the season, +they would penetrate into the heart of the Arctic, and had to be able +to withstand the crushing and collision by the ice pressure. Every +whaler was of the nature of a discovery ship, specially strengthened +externally by iron plates at the bows and hardwood sheathing, with +stanchions and cross-bars inside the hull so as not to locate but +spread the ice pressure over the whole construction. + +Dundee became at last the final British whaling port as long as it was +possible. Even after the Greenland industry fell on evil days, stout +wooden whaling vessels were built at this port, and as late as the +period 1893 to 1911 right whaling was still undertaken by an average +of seven or eight vessels from here. By the year 1912 there was only +a single whaler sailing out of here, and I believe that to-day Dundee +commissions not even her. When Captain Scott’s Antarctic Expedition +of 1900-4 was being got ready he had for this venture built the +_Discovery_ at Dundee, practically on the lines of a whaler. And for +this purpose some of the veteran shipwrights came back to their old +work in order to construct this special type of ship. No riveter of +steel plates could have done the job. + +On Derby Day, June 1910, I was on board Scott’s last ship, the _Terra +Nova_, and watched her start half an hour later from the Thames for +his final expedition to the Antarctic. This auxiliary steamship was +a genuine whaler, barque rigged, of 399 registered tons, built at +Dundee in 1884 of wood by A. Stephen & Sons. That great whaling expert +Scoresby used to recommend 350 tons as the most desirable size for a +whaling ship on the grounds that its hold would normally be filled +with whale produce, and it could carry the requisite crew and boats: +but that it was usually difficult to fill a vessel of greater tonnage, +and thus there would be empty, unearning space for the proprietor. The +Dutch held the opinion that the ideal whaler should measure 112 ft. +long, 29 ft. beam, and 12 ft. depth, carrying seven boats and about +fifty men. The _Terra Nova_, which is representative of the finest +achievement of the whaler after auxiliary steam had been introduced +into these ships, measured 187 ft. long, 31.4 ft. beam, 19 ft. depth. +The engines were placed right aft, the funnel abaft the mainmast, and +the bows were specially strengthened. The modern steel-built steam +whaler measures from 98 to 115 ft. in length over all, 18 to 22 ft. +in beam, with moulded depth 11 to 12 ft. 9 in. But we shall deal with +these in a special chapter. + +Most noticeable, of course, in these old-time wooden whalers was the +crow’s-nest placed high up on the main topmast or t’gallant-mast. It +was made of canvas or light wood, from which a careful look-out was +maintained for the whales. Here, too, the captain when farthest north +would sometimes remain with spy-glass and speaking trumpet, conning the +ship as in a temperature many degrees below freezing-point he watched +the surrounding ice through which his vessel must needs thread her +way. The Greenland whalers usually left their home port so as to make +a departure from the Shetland Isles about the first week in April and +arrive within the Polar Seas before the end of that month. + +Scoresby’s Land is still shown marked in modern maps of Greenland, and +it was customary at one time for the whalers to spend a few weeks along +this coast in what was known by the crews as the Seal-fishers’ Bight. +They would go farther north among the icefields a little later. But in +the early nineteenth century it was the practice to sail straight away +north without delay. Let us follow with them and see their methods, +which are so different from modern whaling but resembled the custom of +the South Seamen already noted. + +Having once reached the Greenland icy seas, the seven boats were kept +ready for immediate launching, and aloft a constant watch was kept for +ice and whales. These boats, whose design can be traced right back to +those early Viking craft, and is largely copied in the oared “whalers” +of the Navy to-day, were 25 to 28 ft. long, and about 5-1/2 ft. in +beam. Sometimes in rowing off to the unsuspecting whale a circuitous +route was taken, and strict silence was maintained to prevent the +mammal becoming alarmed. We mentioned on a previous page the importance +of the harpoon-gun which was made in the year 1865. But even by 1830 a +gun of sorts was in use, though not generally employed. When the first +boat had got the harpoon fastened into the whale and the line was about +to be run off entirely, the boat would signal to one of the other boats +by holding up one, two or three oars to indicate the need of more line. + +The handling of the line once fast was the work of an expert, like the +playing of a fish by a skilled angler. It had to be veered in such a +manner that the bows of the boat were not pulled below the level of the +water. And the turns round that bollard had to be done smartly without +any bungling. The way the line went whirling round the bollard was +likely to surprise a novice, and the friction was so severe that water +had constantly to be poured over it to prevent it catching fire. So, +also, the boat that was signalled to come along for his line to be bent +had to be equally smart: for if it was not in time, then the first boat +having come to the end, might be compelled to cut, and thus lose not +merely the whale but harpoon and lines too. + +The activity with which the city fireman to-day tumbles out and rushes +to his fire-engine on the ringing of the bell was rivalled only in +the old whaler days when the look-out from aloft had sighted a whale. +The watch on deck would rouse those below by stamping with their feet +and shouting “A fall! A fall!” This word was taken from the Dutch +“val” meaning a whale. And out the men would tumble in their sleeping +garments, with no time to dress, in spite of the atmosphere being well +below zero. To a fresh hand this first experience was alarming, and he +imagined that the ship was foundering. + +These early nineteenth-century British whalers were self-contained +without a shore station; and having caught the whale, his tail was +pierced after death with two holes through which ropes were passed, +and then the mammal was towed to the ship. He was secured alongside +and then the flensing began. There is a Dutch word “spek,” which means +blubber or fat. And the leading hands in this flensing operation were +known as “speak koning” or blubber kings. Another important personage +was the “speksioneer,” who directed the cutting. To each seaman the +captain would go round with a dram of grog, giving a double allowance +to the blubber kings and speksioneers. Under the direction of the last +named the harpooners set to work with their blubber spades and great +knives to make long parallel cuts, and the two kings on deck stowed +the pieces in the hold, the carcase being turned round as convenient +by blocks and the windlass. Of course as long as the station at +Spitzbergen lasted all the oil was extracted ashore: but when the whale +migrated to Greenland it was customary to take the blubber back to the +home port. + +The dangers to the Greenland whalers were increased by the fact that +the cetaceans were mostly found on the very borders of the ice-barrier, +and in the heyday of prosperity the wonderful sight of a hundred +vessels has been seen along this ice-margin. Multiply this by the +number of the boats, and you can picture what a sight it was in those +latitudes with several hundred craft strung in a continuous line, +making it almost impossible for any whale to escape: for he was hemmed +in from diving below the ice and he was surrounded by boats as soon as +he showed himself in the clear water. The height of the sport was when +the ice was not solid but broken up into numerous small islands: for +then the men would have to leap on to the frozen surface, run along +with harpoon and lance, and attack in the opening wherever the whale +came up to breathe. In such chases anything might happen before the +whale was killed, possibly with the loss of a man or two. And then +would come the difficult and arduous task of cutting the creature up +small enough to be dragged across the ice to the ship. + +But besides the Greenland whaling there was also the region of the +Davis Straits which began to be hunted by the Dutch at the beginning +of the eighteenth century and by the British ships somewhat later. The +Davis Straits whaling was found very remunerative, but it was found +also very dangerous, for many fine vessels got wrecked. In the year +1814 the British whaler _Royalist_ was here lost with all hands, and +three years later a similar disaster overtook the _London_. Icebergs, +of course, were the great peril here. + +Possibly no section of the Mercantile Marine ever ran so many +continuous hazards as the whalers of the North. Quite apart from the +usual perils of the sea were the special risks arising from boat-work, +and the dangers to the ship itself in uncharted seas with bergs and +ice of all kinds. Add to this the incessant bad weather with bitter +cold, and you can appreciate that only tough, hard-case seamen were +likely to make a second voyage. But those who persisted, after the +manner of Scoresby, amassed such Arctic knowledge as would have filled +a whole shelf full of books. Perhaps these men could hardly realize +it at the time, but they were building up a national seamanhood whose +descendants were to form the backbone of our steamship companies and +trawler fleets. As to the value of these to a country we can wish for +no better evidence than those long eventful years of the Great War, +when troops and material were moved all over the seven seas, when +thousands of mines were swept up and enemy submarines chased and sunk. +It takes generations to build up a race of seafarers, but when once the +tradition has been set going, when once it has become the thing for the +son to follow in his father’s steps aboard a vessel, you have one of +the most valuable national possessions imaginable. And in those ports +there grow up a number of yards, with slips and docks, building better +and better types of ships as the years go by. The whaling industry was +certainly responsible for a great deal of good to Britain, quite apart +from the amount of money obtained from the whale produce. And on the +Atlantic coast of America, is it not true that the home ports of the +whalers have always been those of the finest seamen in the country? +Certainly it was the English colonists and their zeal for the Greenland +fisheries which were responsible in that country at the first. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +FLUCTUATING FORTUNES + + +In certain parts of the east and north-east coasts of Britain one still +comes across old buildings, such as in King’s Lynn, which remind us of +their intimate connection with the Greenland whaling occupation of more +than a century ago. Leaving in April, the ships would as a rule start +back not later than August. But, just as the whale had migrated west +from Spitzbergen after being mercilessly hunted, so that area between +Spitzbergen and Greenland which the crews called the Greenland Sea had +begun to show signs of thinning by the second decade of the nineteenth +century. + +And since the Davis Straits area was found to yield a more ample +return, it was to this neighbourhood that the centre of interest now +shifted gradually. This necessitated longer and therefore more costly +voyages, and certainly far more dangerous. But the results were so good +as to outweigh these drawbacks. Up to about 1820 three-fifths of the +northern whalers were still using the Greenland Sea, and two-fifths +were trying the Davis Straits. But ten years later there were not more +than four ships fishing in the former, and thus we come to a fresh +development in our subject. And here at last Government exploration +was to do something for the fisherman. Strictly speaking, of course, +the whale is not a fish: but by time-honoured custom generations of +sailors, statesmen and others have spoken of the whale-_fisheries_, and +with this proviso it is permissible so to refer to the matter. + +In 1818 Ross’s naval expedition went north through the Davis Straits +and explored Baffin’s Bay. With him went Parry, who was to make further +Arctic voyages in the next and some subsequent years. So far as the +whalers were concerned one important result from these Government +expeditions was to make known a number of admirable localities which +had previously been scarcely frequented. The first man to have +discovered this bay, or rather sea, was William Baffin, who after going +whaling in 1613-1614 off Spitzbergen, joined Captain Bylot in 1615 +aboard the _Discovery_ to look for the North-West Passage by Davis +Straits. This passage was never discovered until in our own time when +the 70-ton _Gjoa_ set out from Christiania in 1903 and after three and +a half years navigated safely that which had frustrated three centuries +of seamen, and then arrived at San Francisco. + +But if Baffin failed in his primary purpose he discovered and charted +what we now call Baffin’s Bay. His observations were discredited during +the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but were verified by Ross +in 1818, and actually used by the Franklin expedition. It is a huge +area over eight hundred miles long and about a third of that wide; and +thanks to the information confirmed by Ross and Parry there was now +available a whaling ground just at a time when it began to be needed +most. So the whalers soon began sailing from the east and north-east +coasts of Britain, usually in March, and crossed the Atlantic to the +Davis Straits, and then till the beginning of May hunted the whale off +the north coast of Labrador or by the mouth of the Cumberland Sound. +This was known as the south-west fishery. They would next cross to +the eastern side of Davis Straits and fish along the western side of +Greenland: this being done, they moved further up in July to Lancaster +Sound and even to Barrow’s Strait, which is right in the Arctic regions +in lat. 74° N. On their way down Baffin’s Bay they used to fish the +western shore, especially at such places as Pond’s Inlet and Home Bay. +Three or four whales made quite a fair average catch in one season, but +as many as nine were sometimes caught by one ship. + +If a ship had been unlucky she might remain in Baffin’s Bay as late as +October looking for whales. The expression used by the crews when a +vessel had captured none was to say she was “clean.” Now one of these +ships from Peterhead was clean on the last day of September, having +been out all those months, but by October 27th she had caught five +whales and got back to Peterhead with an average cargo. But the toll of +losses in those lonely seas naturally mounted up. In the year following +Ross’s voyage there were lost up there ten whalers out of sixty-three. +In 1821 eleven out of seventy-nine, and in the following year seven out +of sixty whalers never came back. These disasters were brought about +principally owing to having been crushed by the ice or squeezed out of +the water on to the ice whilst trying to get across to Lancaster Sound. + +Owing to the necessary doubling of the strength in building these +northern whalers; owing also to their equipment of boats and cordage +and casks and implements, the capital needed was greater than that +for sending a merchantman to sea. On the other hand, no cargo was +required to be taken out, no capital needed for purchasing homeward +freights, for it was there in the sea for the asking. And in good +seasons the reward was well worth the money expended. Moreover, if +these staunch-built vessels could possibly avoid accidents, they were +good for an exceptionally lengthy service. The initial cost of a +350-ton whaler varied in different decades. In 1813 the 354-ton _Esk_ +of Whitby, including the sum of £1,700 expended on her outfit for her +first voyage, cost £14,000. Ten years later £10,000 would have covered +the entire outlay, and by 1830 such a ship could have been provided for +£8,000. Half the amount went to pay for the hull and spars: the balance +being for sails, rigging, casks, line, and fishing gear. The sum of +£1,700 just mentioned covered the provisioning, insurance, advance +money to the seamen; but prices varied at different ports, Leith being +cheaper than Aberdeen and Hull being the most expensive of all. + +The master and harpooner received no pay but were wisely given a +certain sum for every whale struck and for every tun of oil extracted. +The seamen, in addition to their wages, were allowed a bonus if the +voyage were prosperous. About the year 1830 quite one-third of British +whaling belonged to Hull, and thirty-three whaling ships sailed out +from the Humber that year to the Davis Straits. These averaged about +330 tons: but in this season, which was a very bad one, eight of the +thirty-three came home “clean,” that is to say, without having killed +a whale, and six never came home at all, having been lost in the ice. +Thus fourteen of the fleet failed to earn a penny dividend. The return +on the owners’ capital fluctuated in ninety years according to the +market price of the oil: which was £18 a tun in 1742, £60 in 1813, but +£24 in 1830. There was, therefore, always something of the gambling +element in the whaler industry. It was only by an average number of +seasons, and with fair luck in regard to sighting whales and avoiding +ice, that such ships could ever be expected to pay their way. + +On the other hand, a whaler might be fortunate beyond all expectation, +as the Peterhead _Resolution_, which in 1814 made (including bounty) +about £11,000. Again, the personal practical knowledge and the skill +of a good skipper had a lot to do with success. Scoresby’s father +in twenty-eight seasons brought home oil and bone to the value of +£150,000 from the North. During the eighteenth century London had been +the principal whaling port, but by 1830 there were only a couple of +ships which used to leave the Thames for the northern whaling seas. +Decentralization was going on and other ports, almost exclusively +on the North Sea, were usurping this trade. The reason is not hard +to find, for the two biggest ports of London and Liverpool were now +concerned more with the vessels carrying cargoes to and from the +Indies or America. Presently the China clippers and the Australian +packets, and, later, the newly built ocean steamships, were to occupy +the attention of these two ports. Thus in the year 1818 there were +eight English whaling ports--Hull, London, Whitby, Newcastle being the +principal--with Berwick, Grimsby, Liverpool, and Lynn all about equal, +but Hull being far and away the leading centre. By 1830, however, when +London owned only a couple of whalers, Liverpool had none and Lynn had +none, nor had Grimsby any; Hull having thirty-three out of the total of +forty-one. But in Scotland matters were different, and in 1818 Aberdeen +was the chief whaling port, with Leith second, Dundee third, and +Peterhead fourth. By 1830 Peterhead owned thirteen whalers, Aberdeen +ten, Dundee nine, Leith seven: the other Scotch ports sending ships to +this fishery being Burntisland (Firth of Forth), Greenock, Kirkcaldy, +and Montrose. + +Where the fortunes by whaling depended so entirely on the movements +of the mammal, to say nothing of the sea’s own perils, it was natural +enough that not merely local but national enterprise should have varied +from epoch to epoch. As I have shown in another volume, the migration +of the herring into the North Sea was responsible for bringing that +wealth to Holland which enabled her to rise to the importance of a +great sea power. In like manner the whale has played pranks in the +careers of communities and individuals. And, without boring the reader +too much, we may illustrate this by a few facts from history. Many +people in our own time have often asked the question what is the +practical good of all those Arctic and Antarctic expeditions which we +have recently seen go forth. Apart from their exhibition of gallantry +and endurance, what is likely to evolve for the good of the human race? + +The answer is that a large mass of scientific data has been brought +home, which may be of untold value at any future stage in the world’s +development. Exactly in what respect these facts can be applied cannot +always be immediately apparent. But the demand for whale oil in modern +social life, such as in soap-making, glycerine for explosives, and the +manufacture of margarine, is likely to increase rather than otherwise. +Now these expeditions have thrown light on the habits and the homes of +the whales from which these essential products come, and the sending +forth by the British Government of a further research expedition in +1925 is evidence of the economic belief in the whale’s possibilities. +The information which Ross and Parry were able to bring from Baffin’s +Bay largely revolutionized the industry, and there is no reason why +the possession of the largest and best whaling steam fleet in the +future may not be of the highest value to a country in need merely of +those three articles alone, quite apart from the other products which +are available. And in these days of many inventions who can limit the +possibilities or foresee the value of this old-time pursuit? Who can +say whither the whale will wander? Where has he not wandered in the +past? + +We know from Hakluyt that already by the ninth century the Norwegians +were hunting this animal off their coast. In the twelfth century +whaling was being carried on in the North Sea off the east coast of +Scotland, for Malcolm IV granted to Dunfermline Abbey one-tenth of all +the whales and “marine monsters” which might be taken in the Firths of +Forth and Tay: and in the following century Alexander II allowed half +the blubber of these whales for providing the altar candles in that +abbey. We know, too, that as early as 1575 the Basques used to hunt +whales in the Bay of Biscay, and afterwards went north even to Iceland, +Greenland and Newfoundland, so that within twenty-five years it was no +strange sight to find fifty or sixty Biscayan and Icelandish whalers at +work in northern waters. + +From 1598 Hull sent regularly for some years whalers to Iceland and the +North Cape, and, after Hudson had rediscovered it, to Spitzbergen in +the seventeenth century. It was from 1610 that the English syndicate +known eventually as the “Russia Company” began. Two discovery ships, +the _Marie Margaret_ of 160 tons and the _Elizabeth_ of 60 tons, were +both lost, but a Hull ship managed to bring home the cargo. At that +time, you see, whaling was like finding a gold mine. It was untapped +wealth; the mammals had not been scared, and the rewards were immense. +So, also, in 1594 an English whaling expedition had been sent from the +west country to Cape Breton. There are references among the Pepysian +manuscripts during the seventeenth century, too, in regard to English +whalers proceeding for this purpose to Greenland seas. + +But we see vessels being sent out from Bayonne, St. Jean de Luz, St. +Sebastian, Bremen, Hamburg and Amsterdam--in the latter case, of +course, by way of the Zuyder Zee and the Texel. The importance of +whaling to Holland rivalled that of the herring, especially during +the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and many people have failed +to realize how for generations this helped to build up that country’s +wealth. If ever a nation raised itself by the sea it was the Low +Countries, and the three main sources were--the herring fishery off +their very coasts, the whale in northern waters, and the spice trade +in the Dutch East Indies. Let us consider the whaling. In 1671 they +sent no fewer than 155 vessels to Greenland which brought to Holland +630 whales’ produce. During the years of 1672-4, until the signing of +the Peace of London, they were so busy with naval operations that the +whaling men could not be spared from the fighting fleet: but in 1675 +there were 148 Dutch whalers at work, and that brief rest to the whale +was rewarded by the ships bringing back the produce of 881 mammals. In +some seasons they killed as many as 1,600 and even 2,000. + +Now, unfortunately, the English had in the meantime allowed their +rivals to go on helping themselves to these riches, and practically +retired from the industry. This is just one of those intermissions +which have characterized the occupation throughout its history. We +alluded in a previous chapter to the sudden interest in the first +quarter of the eighteenth century by the South Sea Company after the +“Bubble” had burst. How this came about is as follows. It was Henry +Elking who drew up a report for the Court of Directors of that company +in the year 1722. At this time the Dutch were in practical possession +of that trade which the English had at one time so enthusiastically +pursued. Other nationalities were a bad second, but our forefathers had +lost heart. Elking felt very deeply on the matter and submitted his +opinions to the Company plainly and with restraint. + +“It will be found upon Examination,” he wrote, “a very great Mistake, +that the English cannot manage this Trade, which the Hollanders, +Hamburgers, Bremers, French and Spaniards, all carry on to Advantage, +and by which means they are made rich, even out of our Pockets, who sit +still and buy those Goods of them for our ready money.” Elking worked +up the feelings of jealousy that all this wealth should be passing to +our late enemies and sea-rivals. He contended, even, that whaling was +more advantageous to the Dutch than were their East Indies, seeing that +whaling took no money out of the country to purchase imports in the +East, but brought home wealth without paying. It was the Dutch, let us +remember, who had as recently as 1719 been the first to send whalers +into the Davis Straits, and only two years later there were 355 foreign +ships at work on these plentiful grounds. Why should the English be +so despondent and unenterprising when the Dutch and other seamen were +enriching themselves? + +Elking made out a strong case, claiming that English-built ships if +more costly were stronger and lasted longer. In Holland living and +labour were cheaper than with us, and so vessels could be built more +inexpensively. But, on the other hand, the Dutch whalers had to import +many of their skippers, harpooners, steersmen for the boats, and even +seamen from such localities as Jutland, Holstein, Scotland, Norway, +Bremen and Friesland. These were taken on for the season and then +returned to their homes. Numbers of Englishmen had also served in these +Dutch whalers, and were quite as expert as their employers. This lull +which had been going on in English whaling enterprise since the last +quarter of the seventeenth century was most unfortunate for England. + +What was the kind of craft to employ? Elking considered that the most +suitable whalers were flyboats, cats or hagboats; “and should be very +strong built, and doubled at the Bow, to resist the Shocks of the +Ice.” The size varied from 200 to 500 tons, the former carrying four +boats and twenty men and boys, while the latter had seven boats with +a crew of fifty men and boys. The complement of a 300-ton whaler at +that time with six “shallops” as they used to call the boats, consisted +of one chief harpooner who was the whaling expert in command of the +whole expedition; one master of the ship, five other harpooners, +six boat-steersmen, six “managers of the Lines,” one surgeon, one +boatswain, one carpenter, two coopers, sixteen “common sailors” and two +or three boys: total, forty-two or forty-three to the ship. + +These ships were worked in three watches, except that when a whale was +sighted all hands were called. When the ship reached the ice-barrier +she was anchored to the ice by a great “nose-hook.” The word “cachalot” +was introduced by the French fishermen, the English whalers employing +the word “pot-fish” or spermaceti fish. But though there was some +sort of whaling industry off the east coast of Scotland in the early +seventeenth century, and a hundred years later it extended north from +the Orkneys, yet it had become unprosperous and languished as in +England. But the revival of British whaling dates from 1725, when the +South Sea Company, convinced by Elking’s arguments, sent their dozen +ships which they had caused to be built specially on the Thames for +this northern trade. They were each of about 300 tons, and at Deptford +a wet dock was reserved for them, where also the boiling houses were +erected for extracting the oil. + +The unhappy result of this South Sea Company’s northern whaling +adventure we have already observed. But the fact remains that the Dutch +and foreign monopoly was from now seriously contested. There were +periods of depression and despondency again, but the bounty offered by +the Government saved the industry from dying a natural death. Thus if +we take the year 1788 we find that, in spite of everything, British +whaling had been so resuscitated that 255 vessels of under 300 tons +were now sailing north from London, Hull, Liverpool, Whitby, Newcastle, +Yarmouth, Sunderland, Lynn, Leith, Ipswich, Dunbar, Aberdeen, Bo’ness, +Glasgow, Montrose, Dundee, Whitehaven, Stockton, Greenock, Scarborough, +Grangemouth, Queensferry, and even from Exeter. + +A great recovery had been made and this list of ports shows how +universal was the interest now taken. The founding of the Dundee Whale +Fishing Company at this time was to give that town a special importance +which was to last for several generations. For it was the introduction +of steam into the Dundee whalers during the year 1858 which was to +alter the whole future of whaling. At the close of the eighteenth +century the manufacture of jute had been introduced to British +industrialists, though it was a long time before it became popular. +About the year 1850, after being introduced to Dundee for less than +twenty years, jute manufacturing in that town became extensive, and it +was the large consumption of whale oil required in the jute fabrication +which gave to Dundee the leading position in that trade. Thus it was +that the building of whaling ships so long survived at this Scotch port. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +IN THE DAVIS STRAITS + + +The Government bounty to encourage British whaling ceased in 1824; +the wealth which was coming in exceeded that of the Dutch even in the +latter’s most prosperous year, and there seemed every likelihood of +the pursuit becoming most satisfactory. The produce in 1814 obtained +from Greenland and Davis Straits had amounted to over £700,000, but +this was an exceptionally good year. In 1829 the figure had dropped to +about half that, but the price of oil had also fallen. In addition, +about £50,000 must be added for the revenue from that newer South Seas +fishing. + +It was in that year there occurred an incident in the Davis Straits +which well illustrates the keenness and even the jealousies among the +whalemen. The date was August 23, 1829, and five or six boats of the +Peterhead whaling ship _Traveller_ were at work in the straits when +one of the boats harpooned a whale. Away darted the monster, so that +the _Traveller’s_ boat was quickly coming to the end of her line. The +“foregoer” or “foreganger” had been hove over by the harpooner, a turn +had been taken round the “billet head” or bollard, and the usual signal +indicating to the rest of the fleet that a whale had been struck was +made, and the jack hoisted. That line was revolving round the bollard +at such a rate that smoke was issuing with the friction. + +Of the boats in the vicinity, that of the whaler _Princess of Wales_ +from Aberdeen came alongside the _Traveller’s_ boat in friendly +fashion, as was the custom among whalers, and bent her line to the line +of the _Traveller’s_ boat. Eventually the whale diminished his fury +and was approached, but now a boat from the barque _Thomas_, owned by +the Dundee Union Whale Fishing Company, came up and also harpooned +the animal, which at once made off with such rapidity that one of the +men in the _Traveller’s_ boat was thrown under the thwart. The going +was terrific, for this boat encountered in its course an ice floe and +several of the men had to leap out and guide the craft past lest it +should be smashed to pieces: in fact, the pace was so fast that some +of the hands were left behind on the ice. A third turn had to be taken +round the bollard, but still the whale rushed on. + +It was about this time that a second harpoon from the _Traveller’s_ +boat got home, making three in all, and finally the whale was +killed. But then came a squabble, for the men in the _Traveller’s_ +boat naturally claimed the catch as theirs, but the _Thomas’s_ boat +violently opposed this and demanded the prize for themselves. In fact +they were so determined and threatening that the _Traveller’s_ men had +to withdraw and watch the other people tow it away. But the matter did +not end there, and the case came on for trial in Edinburgh during the +following March, when Joseph Hutchinson and other Peterhead merchants, +owners of the _Traveller_, brought an action against the Dundee Union +Whale Fishing Company. There was never much doubt as to the result, and +the _Traveller’s_ owners were awarded the sum of £600, which was the +agreed value of the whale. + +The year 1830 stands out as one of the most disastrous years which ever +happened to British whaling. After the Greenland Sea had been mostly +fished clean, the grounds used by the whalers had been shifted chiefly +to the entrance of Davis Straits. This was known as the South-West +fishery. But in course of time this, too, had become fished out and +the whales had departed for more distant corners of the Arctic. The +information brought home by Ross and Parry that whales had been seen +in large numbers further up Baffin’s Bay, and on the north-west side, +naturally soon attracted the ships to those remote latitudes. At the +same time a much greater degree of risk was undertaken by reason of the +ice, for at the beginning of the season the ice comes floating down +from the north. + +The whalemen’s custom was to take their ships up the eastern side of +Baffin’s Bay past the rocky promontory marked as the Devil’s Thumb, +and across that mighty Melville Bay where the snow and ice perpetually +cover the lofty shore. It was into this bay that the south-west wind +blew the loosened fragments of the barrier ice, which, unable to find +an outlet from this lee shore, created a tremendous danger to shipping. +In this year 1830, then, the whalers had left their British ports by +the end of March, but owing to head winds did not reach the entrance to +Davis Straits till the end of April. The sea this year was beautifully +open as they made their way up the eastern side of Baffin’s Bay, +sighting very few whales. + +Above Disko Island the ice delayed them a week, but at last the fleet +of fifty sail reached the opening of Melville Bay on June 10th, about +a month earlier than usual. From now on there follows a series of +incidents so thrilling and amazing that imagination could hardly invent +happenings more astounding: the record is more like a chapter out of +a boy’s adventure story. For the south-west wind had crowded Melville +Bay with ice floes so that whichever way those whalers looked it was an +alarming sight. What was to be done? The hope was to find an opening +to the westward and thus gain the intended fishing ground; and, as a +fact, an opening was discovered. Whaler captains, like all fishermen, +were in keen competition the one against the other, and every ship knew +that the first to get through this ice to the open water stood the +best chance of reaching the whales first. Thus it was that the _St. +Andrew_ of Aberdeen wriggled her way through, and she was followed by +twenty-two more. The rest of the fleet were coming along, too, but now +the ice closed and made an impenetrable bulkhead between the first +twenty-three and the rear, which tried independently but ineffectually +to get through. + +With the _St. Andrew_ were the _Baffin_ and _Rattler_ of Leith, the +_Eliza Swan_ of Montrose, the _Achilles_ of Dundee, and the French +whaler _Ville de Dieppe_. On June 19th there sprang up a fresh S.S.W. +gale which piled the masses of ice against them. The sight of these +six vessels with their heavy-built hulls and great yards against the +white ice hemming them in, unable to proceed further, was impressive +as a picture but indicative of future destruction. However, the little +squadron had taken what shelter they could under the lee of a large +floe and in water that barely floated them. They had also hauled +themselves so close in single line ahead, bow to stern, that it was +possible to walk along the six decks continuously. + +And then on the night of June 24th the sky became black, the gale +worked up to its full anger, and the ice began pressing against the +ships terribly. In order to relieve this pressure, hands were set +sawing the ice so as to form a wet dock, but soon came a great floe +which nothing could withstand. Lifting up the _Eliza Swan_, the floe +hurled her against the _St. Andrew’s_ bow with such force as almost +to wrench the former’s mizzen mast out in the ship: and then the floe +passed from under, damaging both stem and keel. It next struck the +_St. Andrew_ amidships, snapping about twenty of her timbers, and then +passing along the line dashed against the _Baffin_, _Achilles_, _Ville +de Dieppe_ and _Rattler_ with such energy that within fifteen minutes +these four strongly built, specially fortified whalers designed for +Arctic work were for the most part converted into mere fragments of +wood. + +With the grinding of the merciless ice and the crunching of stout +timbers; the shouts of the deep-throated men; the snapping of thick +masts; the crashing of yards; the howling of that bitter gale over the +icy white expanse, there was enough going on to unnerve most people. +Suddenly made homeless, many of these seafarers were but lightly clad +and just able to leap on to the frozen surface. The _Ville de Dieppe_, +partly filled with water, was the least unfortunate, for she touched +bottom, remained upright during the next fortnight, and from her were +salved stores and provisions. Some were also taken from the _Baffin_, +and boats were hauled on the ice to form some sort of shelter. + +We mentioned just now the _Princess of Wales_, belonging to Aberdeen. +This whaler, together with the _Resolution_ of Peterhead, the _Laurel_ +of Hull, and the _Letitia_, also of Aberdeen, had been able to get +further to the north-west, and cut out for themselves a wet dock in +the ice. They were lying side by side and imagined themselves quite +safe, but this gale drove the floes against them, piercing the hulls of +_Resolution_ and _Letitia_, filling them with the sea. The _Laurel_ was +lying between them and was so compressed as almost to be raised out of +the water: but for a while she remained, and quickly provisions and +stores were placed aboard her from the two wrecked whalers. On the 2nd +of July, however, the gale seemed to be worse than ever, and within ten +minutes the _Laurel_ and also the _Hope_ of Peterhead were destroyed. +But we have not yet completed the list. + +Other whalers of the twenty-three had penetrated in their eagerness +further north, even as far as lat. 76°. Among these were two ships, +the _Spencer_ and _Lee_, of which the latter escaped with only +shattered timbers, whilst the former had filled and become a complete +wreck. The Whitby _William and Ann_ was crushed to pieces quickly, +the _Dordon_ of Hull was raised up by the ice into safety, and the +_Old Middleton_ of Aberdeen was wrecked. So also of those which had +remained south of the ice barrier, many encountered disaster, but thus +far not one officer or man out of the whole fleet had been lost. Some +had narrow escapes in reaching the ice, some even found themselves +in the water before they could get time to snatch a few clothes. And +then on that glacial surface a thousand seafarers set to work making +themselves as comfortable as they could with bits of sail as tents. +Anyone who has ever been associated with shipwrecked sailors knows +how adaptable they are to sudden changes of circumstances: how they +will even joke and magnify any element of happiness that remains. +Nor were these whaler-men any different. They had been accustomed to +cold and the rigours of northern fishing, some of them for twenty or +thirty years. Tough, hard-case, plucky, ignorant of most things except +their seamanship and their whaling; rough, chafing against discipline, +easily tempted by a drop of alcohol, they were a strange crowd to be +responsible for, on that ice, beyond the immediate control of their +officers. + +Some of these sailors rejoiced that for once they were independent +beings, free from having to obey. Others treated the affair as a +holiday: but certain of them got hold of the salved wine and spirits +and became drunk. What with this newly sprung canvas village, the +roisterous alcoholic shouts of the British, the singing and dancing of +the French, no wonder that the wags named it Baffin’s Fair. There were +really two villages, in fact, that of the wrecked ships which had got +north of the barrier, and that of the vessels which had foundered to +the south. Between the two there was such regularity in communication +that the southerners used to call it the “north mail.” Possibly there +was more to drink in that southern section. + +But presently the deaths began to happen: some through exposure and +cold and fatigue, but some through too much alcohol, tumbling into the +holes of the ice intoxicated. On the whole, however, the discipline +was not bad. The third week of July passed, the _St. Andrew_ with the +_Eliza Swan_ and other ships at the northern end tried to get away to +the westward, and their crews towed the ships through gaps. But some of +these vessels were so unlucky as to be driven still further north even +above lat. 76° 2′ and the men employed their time catching a few whales +and dragging them through the holes. It was not till September 10th +that they succeeded in making open water: though others had got clear +a week or two sooner. The most depressing sight was when a certain +Greenock ship was thoroughly ice-surrounded and she watched other +vessels one by one move away out of their icy fastness. The captain +died and the mate began to despair of ever getting the ship clear till +the following year. The latter thereupon took one of the boats with a +dozen men and left the ship to look for some of the Danish settlements. + +But, after the mate had gone, the ice began to move, and after a +few hours’ sawing, the ship found herself in fairly clear water. The +position now was this. There were on board not merely the ship’s +own crew, but those of the wrecked _Princess of Wales_ and of the +_Letitia_. But the last of the officers had gone away in the boat, +taking with him the charts and log-glasses; yet still the crew decided +to carry on. For about a week this vessel, whose name was _John_, was +navigated cautiously, anchoring every night. But then the crew became +emboldened, and one night the watch on deck sighted a line of breakers, +but he came to the conclusion that it had been caused only by a stream +of ice: so no alteration in course was made. The next thing was that +the _John_ was ashore, and although built of teak she was a total wreck +by the morning. Fortunately there were sighted the _Eliza Swan_ and the +_Duncombe_ of Hull, who picked up the crew and brought them safely home. + +The net result of this season’s disaster to the whaling fleet in the +Davis Straits was the loss of twenty fine ships belonging to Hull, +Aberdeen, Leith, Dundee, Peterhead, Whitby, Montrose, Greenock and +Dieppe. The news reached Peterhead and Hull in October by returning +ships lucky enough to have survived. Throughout these fishing towns the +effect was pathetic. Financially the loss of these nineteen British +whalers, and the cost of repairing twelve which were damaged, the +details as to wages, stores and so on, amounted to over £142,600, quite +apart from the failure to bring home that produce which they were +sent to fetch. Thus the total loss this season was close on £300,000. +And having regard to the value of money a hundred years ago, these +figures are extremely significant. Whaling had begun to be a prosperous +concern, the bounties had been discontinued, the Baffin’s Bay area +had seemed to hold out excellent prospects. But such a universal +disaster as this to nine of the principal ports was such that many were +disinclined to risk their savings in such ventures again. The industry +fell on bad times, the shock had been too heavy, and by the year 1849 +there were only fourteen British whalers at work. But it was the United +States of America which especially kept the occupation going, for in +this last-mentioned year that country possessed 596 whaling ships of +190,000 tons manned by 18,000 sailors. Having regard to the English +pioneer work in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the vast +sums of money which had been expended, the enormous bounties, and the +years of persistent effort, the condition to which British whaling had +descended was thoroughly disheartening. Gradually the northern grounds +became deserted, and attention was turned more and more to those +southern seas about which Burke in the previous century had spoken with +such eloquence. The last voyage to Arctic seas had by no means been +made, but various efforts were taken to find the whale in areas of the +world less forbidding than those which had brought such disaster and +financial loss. + +But even outside the Arctic regions British whaling was to be spasmodic +rather than regular both as to area and continuity. It was Captain Cook +who in 1775 first reported whales in the southern seas, and then the +American and British whalers began their profitable voyages thither. +But in the year 1833 there sailed from London the 300-ton whaler +_Tuscan_ for a three-year whaling voyage round the world, and in her +was allowed to travel as passenger a surgeon named F. D. Bennett, who +was a Fellow both of the Royal College of Surgeons and of the Royal +Geographical Society. This scientist went in order to study the anatomy +and habits of the southern whales and the mode of conducting the +sperm-whale fishery--a subject which up till then had not been touched +in our literature. He has described the South Sea whaling ship and the +life on board so well that we may first look at the vessel through his +eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE OLD WHALE-SHIPS + + +“In external appearance,” says Bennett, “the South-Seaman is +principally distinguished from the ordinary merchant-ship by the number +and form of her boats; by the presence of some short spars, affixed to +one of her sides, to protect the hull when the blubber is being removed +from the whale to the deck; and, when cruising, by her lofty spars +being down, her sail shortened, and her mastheads manned. Interiorly, +one side of the deck, at the waist of the ship, has a platform, or +covering of planks, to receive the more bulky parts of the whale, +taken on board: an extent of 10 ft. of the corresponding bulwark being +adapted for temporary removal, to facilitate that object. To the head +of the mainmast are attached pulleys (‘cutting-blocks and falls’) +which communicate with the windlass, and which are employed to raise +the blubber, during the flinching of a whale. But the most conspicuous +and peculiar object on the deck is the edifice called the ‘try-works,’ +and used for boiling the oil. This is a square building, 10 ft. in +length by 5 ft. in height, extending across the deck, a short distance +behind the foremast, and constructed of firmly cemented bricks, and +strengthened with iron. Its summit is flat, and excavated for chimneys, +as well as for the reception of two iron cauldrons, or ‘try-pots,’ +beneath each of which there are corresponding furnaces. The entire +fabric is based upon a cistern of water; and an additional sheathing +yet further protects the deck from the effects of intense heat. Each +boiler, or ‘try-pot,’ is large enough to contain 136 gallons of oil, +and communicates, by a spout, with a large copper cooler, placed on the +corresponding side of the works. This building, which is erected on the +deck previous to the ship leaving her port, is retained only until the +cargo is complete, or whaling relinquished, when the whole is broken +up.” + +Of course she went to sea with plenty of casks, some of which for +convenience in stowage were in packs ready to be put together as +required. Others were filled with fresh water and served as ballast. +Four iron tanks, usually fixed between decks, could also carry oil. In +a South-Seaman the total number of officers and men was about thirty +and consisted of master, surgeon, mates, boat-steerers or harpooners, +boatswain, carpenter, cooper (for constructing the barrels), armourer +and steward. The boat-steerers were petty officers, holding rank +between the mates and the able seamen: their duties being to steer +the respective boats, look after the equipment and harpoon the +whale. In most cases captain and crew depended for their pay on the +profits of the voyage, or received as wages a share of the cargo’s +value when the latter reached London. A South-Seaman’s crew sailing +out of that port received among themselves a third or a fourth of +the cargo’s realization; the residue being divided up among the +owners and for the cost of the voyage. The captain received from an +eleventh to a fifteenth share, whilst an able seaman usually got a +one-hundred-and-sixtieth. + +Fully provisioned for three years with everything of the best, there +were very keen competition and much secrecy. But if two whalers +happened to sight each other on a cruising ground each scrutinized +the other to ascertain whether he had recently captured whales. The +practised eye could tell by glancing up at the cutting-falls; and if +there remained any bits of a whale’s skin in the strands, it was known +well enough that whales were not far away. Considerable latitude and +discretion were allowed by owners to the masters as to where they +should go. Obviously, as every captain was financially interested, it +was to his benefit that he should voyage where the chances were best. +Thus, some ships would go round the Horn to the South American coast, +thence westward along the neighbourhood of the Equator towards Japan, +thence back across the Pacific to work the Mexican and Californian +seas. Others would prefer sailing round the Cape of Good Hope to Indian +waters, whilst some small American whalers confined themselves to the +North Atlantic, especially off the African coast, the Western Isles, +and Equator, with great success. + +It is customary to see in an old whaler’s log-book or journal the entry +of the day’s work preceded by the figure of a whale’s head if a sperm +whale were sighted that day. If, however, whales had been captured, you +find as many flukes sketched erect as there had been mammals caught. In +the case of a whale found dead, and taken, the fluke in the book was +shown reversed. This was the British custom. In American journals the +capture of a whale was shown by a sketch of the mammal in the left-hand +column. If there were also a sketch of a ship in that margin, it +denoted that a vessel had been sighted that day. Thus, there was a kind +of primitive visual method of logging events. + +As to the gear of the British whaling ships, their boats were +necessarily of very great importance. Double-ended, steered not by +a rudder but by an oar on the port side secured by a grommet, the +steering oar was very long and needed a thoroughly experienced man. +These boats were from 27 to 30 ft. long and 4 or 5 ft. broad, of not +more than 1/2 in. planking. The double-ended design was not merely +for weatherly qualities but so that the boat could be rowed as easily +stern first as bow first. Speed, handiness and buoyancy were the +main features aimed at. The reason for these qualities will best be +appreciated from actual incidents. + +Thus, while cruising, the whale-ship _Tuscan_ one day sighted on her +voyage out in the Atlantic a school of small whales. Boats were lowered +away as quickly as possible in pursuit, and three whales were soon +harpooned. One of these mammals escaped by the harpoon drawing, a +second sank immediately after death, the third, however, was captured, +brought back to the ship and taken on deck. It measured only 16 ft. and +produced about thirty gallons of oil. That was a comparatively easy +catch. But on another occasion the same ship sighted quite a number +of cachalots moving so rapidly to windward that the oared boats were +unable to get near them. On a third occasion a couple of whales were +harpooned in the midst of a school, but one of the boats whose harpoon +had penetrated the mammal was, whilst securing the victim, so severely +lashed by the flukes of another whale that the officer and harpooner +were both thrown into the sea. Fortunately the rest of the crew had +the presence of mind to cut the rope, and the harpooned whale was +allowed to escape in order to rescue the two shipmates. But the boat +was too badly damaged to be of further service. The second whale, after +being harpooned, “sounded” to the depth of a tub and a half of line, +then rose fiercely to the surface of the sea and went off, towing the +boat in a wild, mad fury to windward. Before long two other boats had +succeeded in getting their harpoons into the beast, but the whale still +continued its pace alive, and could not be killed by nightfall: so, in +spite of all their efforts, the boats had to cut their lines and return +to the ship unrewarded. + +Often it was merely the handiness and good oarsmanship which saved the +men from disaster. On one occasion four of the boats were launched +after sighting a school of sperm whales, and three boats made their +captures satisfactorily. But the fourth cachalot was of the dangerous +fighting type and as mad as a Spanish bull. This young male had been +pierced by a couple of harpoons, but was in no mood to start flight as +desired. Instead, he attacked his attackers and rushed his head towards +the boat. By clever steering and hard rowing this onslaught was evaded, +but the whale next tried to crush the boat with his jaws, turning on +his back. The reception of a lance wound negatived this effort by +causing him to close his mouth. But the monster was still determined +and struck the boat with such a blow that it was nearly overturned, and +then he drove his jaw clean through the boat’s planking. Of course the +water came rushing in, and only by lashing the oars across the gunwale +could the half-immersed crew remain. The harpoon line was quickly cut +and the monster was allowed to escape. Scarcely visible in the waves, +the men were eventually picked up by the other boats and taken aboard +the ship, which came bearing down to them. + +Yes: whaling, especially when there was any sea running, was always +more or less risky, and there was no telling what might happen, any +more than the toreador knows what his animal is about to perform. There +was the instance when three boats had each harpooned a whale, while +the fourth had got his weapon into an adult bull whale. The latter +now went tearing along towing the fourth boat, but the line crossed +that of another whale already made fast, and so drew the second boat +towards the bull, which struck it a blow with his flukes. This capsized +the boat, keel uppermost, so that the crew were swimming about or +supporting themselves with the oars. Thereupon the men in the boat +which had been engaging the bull had to cut the harpoon line and rescue +their friends. + +Fortunately the capsized boat was undamaged and soon righted and +emptied. There followed another exciting chase after the bull, which +was so strenuous and fast that the boats soon got out of sight from +the ship. Finally, by the greatest exertion the oarsmen overtook the +bull, managed to secure the line which was trailing astern from the +whale, made fast to this, got right up to the bull and finally captured +him. It had been a long and thrilling day which did not end till ten +that night, when all the cachalots were brought back to the ship and +afforded 116 barrels of oil. Sometimes these incidents resulted in +fatal termination to men’s lives: but in any case it was only the fine +boatmanship and cool heads which enabled them to win through. + +Besides the steering, there were five other oars, fifteen feet in +length and named respectively harpooner, bow, midship, tub and after +oar. The row-locks were muffled with mats, and in order to secure the +oars across the gunwales when the boat was shattered and sinking, +lifelines were attached to the sides, the steering oar being lashed in +the centre. In the bow was a small platform, sunk below the level of +the gunwale, named the “box,” with a thigh-board to receive the lower +extremities of the harpooner as he stood to hurl his harpoon or his +lance. At either end of the boat mats were spread to afford a firmer +footing to steersman and harpooner, the former also having a small +platform. Axes and knives were placed ready for use to cut the line +whenever necessary. + +In the bows were placed a couple of harpoons and a couple of lances, +with reserves in other parts of the boat. The line had to be coiled +carefully in tubs which were placed on the floor between the seats. +This line led through a deep groove lined with lead, at the stem. Aft +it led to a stout pillar or bollard called a “loggerhead,” which was +used to take the strain when the line had been secured to the whale. +Woe betide any man if that line got foul whilst it was running out at +such furious pace! In each boat were provided a mast and sail, kegs of +fresh water, drogues of wood sometimes fastened to the harpoon line so +as to hinder the whale’s progress; and whifts of small coloured flags +in order to buoy the dead whale so that it could easily be sighted. + +There is an old chantey[1] which used to be sung by the British +whalers who were engaged in the Greenland industry, which relates the +operations of the whaler and the work of the boats in several verses. +Two of them run as follows: + + We struck that whale, the line paid out, + But she gave a flourish with her tail; + The boat capsized and four men were drowned, + And we never caught that whale, brave boys, + And we never caught that whale. + + “To lose the boat,” our captain said, + “It grieves my heart full sore; + But oh! to lose four gallant men, + It grieves me ten times more, brave boys, + It grieves me ten times more.” + +[1] Reproduced in _Roll and Go_, by J. C. Colcord. Boston, 1924. + +Mr. Arthur C. Watson, who recently published in the American monthly +_Yachting_ some interesting extracts from the journal of Captain +Ephraim Harding of the whaling ship _Arab_, gives the following entry +under the date of Thursday, June 15, 1843. It should be mentioned +that the island of Johannah was at the northern end of the Mozambique +Channel. + +“At 4 p.m. sent the boat in. Saw the _Sally Ann_ of New Bedford and +the _Bengal_ lying there. Captain Borden, of the _Sally Ann_, after +leaving here some days previous on a cruise for whales, fell in with +them to windward of this island. He lowered his boats in pursuit, and +after chasing them for several hours, came up with them. In the act of +striking the whale, he received a blow on his legs from the whale’s +flukes, which broke them both. His right leg was broken in two places +below the knee, and the upper bone of his left leg was broken. He +immediately left the whales and came on board the ship, crowded on +all sail for this place, where he arrived in fifteen hours after the +accident. He immediately had assistance from an English doctor who was +on board a vessel here. He is now getting along well.” + +The British South-Seamen whaling ships usually carried four boats +suspended over the sides of the vessel, their keels resting upon iron +cranes. These boats were stationed on the quarter, or waist, or bow of +the ship, and were commanded by the master and the three mates. When +the boats were launched, the captain of the boat took his place aft +with the steering oar, whilst the harpooner rowed the foremost oar: but +when the assault on the whale commenced, these two officers usually +exchanged stations. The whaling boats were capable of carrying twelve +people, so that they could always go to the rescue of a second boat +and then continue after the whale. Few sports or occupations connected +with the sea could afford more thrilling, wholesome excitement than was +found in these nice-lined craft. Manned with a sturdy, tough, hard-case +crew full of the experience of many a chase, it was a real man’s life +for those who were happy roving and roaming all over the oceans. No +one but a real sailorman could have endured it otherwise. Bennett, +the ship’s surgeon, wrote of the oared whale-boat with enthusiasm and +referred to her as “swift and handsome,” “buoyant and graceful in her +movements, she leaps from billow to billow, and appears rather to dance +over the sea than to plough its bosom with her keel.” + +But besides the fine seamen and the good boat, the harpoon line had +to be of the best possible cordage that could be manufactured. Tarred +hemp was selected, two-inch, three-stranded and extremely strong, the +complement for each boat being 220 fathoms, so that when the whale got +away with the harpoon in him there might be as much as a quarter of a +mile of line rushing through the sea and then the boat at the end of +that. Coiled with great care in two tubs in one long continuous line, +each end was kept exposed so that one end was ready to be attached to +the harpoon, while the other with a spliced loop could be connected +with the line of a second boat, should the entire length need to be +increased. And every additional fathom of course meant further drag +through the water for the whale to pull. + +The harpoon was three feet long, arrow-shaped, made of the finest +wrought iron and fixed to a heavy pole, five feet long. A dexterous +throw would plant this weapon up to its socket into the mammal and +would hold so tenaciously that when the whale was finally dead and the +harpoon withdrawn it would sometimes be found to have been twisted +throughout. The lance was kept keenly sharpened for destroying the +harpooned whale, and was secured to the boat by a seven-fathom line +and stick. The skill lay in quickly darting and withdrawing it from +the whale, sometimes killing the creature by a single wound at a vital +spot. The instrument used for separating the blubber from the whale and +cutting it into suitable portions was called a spade, being made of a +triangular steel plate and very sharp. + +So much, then, for the ships, their boats and equipment. Let us now get +a close insight into the technique which had to be employed before the +whale could be captured. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +“THERE SHE BLOWS!” + + +With a careful look-out being maintained from the masthead, the ship +was at all times ready to lower boats and begin. But there were signs +which indicated that the whales could not be far away. Such items as +floating pieces of cuttle-fish, or oily tracks left by the recent +passage of cetaceans, caused the look-out man to be doubly watchful. +But such obvious phenomena as a whale spouting summoned every man to +eager activity. “There she blows!” would go up the cry, “there again!” + +And then within a couple of minutes would be the boats properly manned +and pulling to windward. If the whales were to leeward, then the boat +would also hoist sail to run down. The whale-ship herself remained +directing operations from her masthead by an arranged code of signals. +And now watch the harpooner. Standing in the bow of the boat, he waited +until he was in a favourable position to strike. The first harpoon was +followed by the second immediately afterwards. At first the whale in +his painful shock would take violent plunges, throwing his dangerous +flukes high in the air, lashing the sea till it obscured the men and +threatened to overwhelm them. + +After that the animal would begin tearing along the surface of the +water at a great pace, towing the boat after him, oars “apeak”--that is +to say, resting at an acute angle with the gunwale, ready for use. The +line secured to the loggerhead, the boat, down by the stern as the bow +rose over the sea, went crashing, leaping, thudding over the waves and +throwing the spray to port and starboard. There was never anything like +that till the coming of the fast motor-boat days. A stern wave, high +above the gunwale’s level, threatened every moment to rush down into +the little craft. Harpooner and steersman now changed places, and the +lance was ready to give the knock-out blow as soon as the boat could be +hauled up close enough to the whale. + +But then the whale would get the notion to “sound,” or dive straight +down deeply, only to reappear: whereupon the boat approached and the +lance attack went on until the creature was surrounded by a crimson +sea. And then through sheer feebleness he seemed to be dying, until, +in a final flurry, he started off again towing the boat at an exciting +speed, lashing the waves with his tail, steering all over the sea. +But then death would come, and the great, inert mass would lie like +a billowed rock at the mercy of his captors. Sometimes these boats +would rush into action with sail still set and not lower away until +the harpoon had got deep into the whale. But there was a whaleman’s +expression “to be gallied,” meaning to be alarmed; sometimes the school +of whales became so “gallied” that they would all make off, or dive for +a time, not showing themselves till a long way ahead and in a totally +different direction--after the manner of tactics which enemy submarines +sometimes employed during the war. + +A female cachalot or a young male usually took out not more than a tub +and a half of line, though an adult was known to sound so deeply that +he needed three continuous lines. Sometimes, though not frequently, the +whale was killed immediately by the harpoon, or by a single lance-blow. +There was a certain amount of luck in finding the sperm whale, as +in any other pursuit. The American whaling ship _Arab_, which left +Fairhaven in the fall of 1842, had been at sea about a year, sailed +20,000 miles, crossing the North and South Atlantic and the Indian +Ocean, and during the whole of that voyaging had never once seen so +much as the spout of a sperm whale, only to find the latter in plenty +off the coast of Arabia, in one day killing as many as nine, and on +another seven. “There she breaches!” would go the glad cry, “there she +blows!” But then for several ensuing months sperm whales would not be +seen again, and the ship would be compelled to sail to another part of +the globe, only to find that a large number of other whaling vessels +were already cruising in that area. + +During those voyages dogged by weeks and months of ill-luck, everyone +on board from the skipper downwards was feeling in a state of +perpetual irritation as one whaling ground after another was tried +unsuccessfully. The Azores, the Crozets, Tristan da Cunha, Madagascar, +Ceylon and other equally distant localities would be visited with +heart-breaking failure. Sometimes whales would be sighted at dusk but +missed at daylight. Then there would be days of bad weather, the ship +labouring heavily, injuring those useful boats badly. Captain Harding +of the _Arab_ mentioned in his journal that on July 22nd the gale had +been blowing continuously for twenty-five days. + +The result of this kind of seafaring was that the men deserted often at +the very first opportunity, and for that reason stringent precautions +were taken to prevent them getting ashore. The ship would therefore +usually avoid inhabited islands, but on some lonely atoll the men would +be allowed shore leave for their health’s sake. If the ship did visit +now and again some island where the natives cultivated and prospered, +as likely as not small-pox would be found raging, and the whaler, still +short of drinking water, would be compelled to proceed elsewhere. On +this occasion the more daring seamen would remain till a native canoe +came out trading alongside, then wait for the great opportunity, get +out through the open porthole, hide at the bottom of the boat and so be +ferried ashore. But those less lucky than himself might have to serve +three monotonous years, and even then end the voyage with little reward. + +The discipline of a merchant ship and that of a whaler in the +eighteen-forties were two quite different things. In the former it was +strict: in the latter it was slack. But on getting clear of the port, +watches and boats’ crews were chosen for the voyage until the new +hands arrived at some Pacific harbour to replace those who had run. In +the boats the water breakers were always kept filled, and there were +biscuits. Every day whilst cruising the whaler’s boats were examined +to see that everything was ready--harpoons and lances as sharp as +razors, the lines in the tubs free from kinks and as supple as silk. +The look-out man would be aloft at the royal masthead. “There she +blows!” would be answered by the captain below bellowing, “Where away?” +“Two points on the lee bow, sir,” would answer the man. Up into the +rigging armed with his spy-glass would spring the skipper. “Keep her +off a couple of points,” he would order as every man began to forget +the weeks of monotony in that sudden excitement. Presently officers +and their boats’ crews would be away as soon as the ship got up to the +school of sperm whales that were swimming unsuspiciously along. The +main topsail would have been backed just before lowering the boats, and +in order not to scare the whales away, everything was done as quietly +as possible. + +But, just before getting up to the school, the steersmen would find the +cachalots had sounded, so there was nothing for it but to wait twenty +minutes till the mammals breached again: but then away went the boats +whilst the pursued, with a “Choo’o, choo’o, choo’o,” went spouting +from their blow-holes close ahead, and the harpooner was just about to +do his work. It was a tense moment, but when pulling towards a whale +no oarsman was allowed to look round. Eyes in the boat! Otherwise he +was given a tap on the head from the officer in charge that made the +oarsman see a whole constellation of stars. When the boat had got so +near to the whale that it was touching, the expression used was that +it was “wood and black skin.” And if the harpooner should fail to +avail himself of the opportunity he would be “broken” as soon as he +got back to the ship; for sometimes men, like whales, became gallied +either from nervousness or excitement. Moreover there was a difference +in technique, which had to be appreciated. The harpooner might have +only recently joined the ship, although anything but a novice in his +art. Perhaps he had been accustomed only to hunting the right whale and +not the sperm. In the former case a long dart was used, and the manner +of approach was towards the fore shoulder: then, after fastening the +harpoon into the whale, the boat was quickly backed out of the way of +the beast’s flukes or there was speedy disaster. + +The harpooner’s attack on a right whale was made from a distance of +from a couple to ten yards. But the sperm whale would be “fastened” +by running the boat to the corner of the flukes alongside, and then +attacking at from four to six yards. It was always a remarkable +fact that as soon as one whale had been struck all the rest of the +school were aware of it, and then the surrounding water became as if +an earthquake had disturbed it, and the whole gallied school were +rushing off to windward. Frantic with anger was the boat’s officer as +he exhorted, threatened, encouraged the crew to row after the whale +that had been missed by the unskilful harpooner. Perhaps for an hour +that boat would be pulled to windward till human strength could toil +no more, and then it would be turned round to go down wind towards the +hove-to ship, now almost hull down. + +On one occasion a cachalot had as many as seven English harpoons in him +and attached three entire boats’ lines, or about three-quarters of a +mile of cordage, together with one line-tub and numerous drogues. But +in spite of all this dragging him back, the whale succeeded in getting +right away solely by superior speed. Two days intervened, and then +this same whale was sighted again by a totally different whaler, who +managed to kill him. Later on, those two ships met in port, and the +victor returned to the original attacker those seven harpoons and lines +left in the whale. Usually if the harpooner were able to fasten solid +into one whale all the other boats would be able to fasten each on to +another whale: for it was an observed fact that when one whale had been +made fast, the school would remain and give the other craft also a +chance. Blackfish were especially lively creatures and wont to breach +out of the water right over a boat, but if no whales were about these +were captured, as they yielded several barrels of oil which fetched a +good price. + +Three years was by no means an excessive time for a whaler to be +away from her home port, and Captain J. D. Whidden mentions in his +_Old Sailing Ship Days_ that during the year 1848 he signed on at +Tahiti aboard the whaling ship _George_, which had already been out +forty-seven months, and had encountered such ill-luck that she had +taken only about 1,200 barrels of oil. It is hardly surprising that +during such a lengthy period most of her crew had at various times +deserted, so that only four of her original ship’s company now remained +in her. She took only one more whale, became so short of provisions +that she had to speak another whaler after rounding the Horn, and beg a +few stores, and there was not a bit of tobacco in the _George_ for over +a month. One such voyage as this usually cured a man of further desire +to go whaling. + +After the cachalot was dead it usually floated, but sometimes it could +be kept from sinking only with great difficulty. On certain occasions, +also, after the carcase had been secured to the ship’s side, it became +necessary to chop away the iron chain supporting the body: for in the +case of a big whale which suddenly began to sink, this was the only +way to prevent serious damage to the vessel. But normally, after the +boats had got the cachalot alongside and secured parallel to the ship, +the work commenced of removing the blubber and other valuable parts. A +staging was erected over the vessel’s side where the officers operated +after the bulwarks had been removed. The rest of the crew, having +overhauled the cutting-falls attached to the masthead, proceeded to man +the windlass. + +The ship was now hove-to, and presently the sea would become red with +blood, and a school of sharks for the next few hours would voraciously +devour the pieces of fat which got adrift, but never touching the +flesh of the whale itself. The work of removing the blubber was called +“cutting in,” and the first operation was to use the spade on the lard +between the eye and the pectoral fin. A large hook was then passed +through and connected to the tackles, one hand lowering himself down +for the purpose on to the dead whale, being careful not to let the +sharks get a chance at him. The windlass then began to revolve, and +assisted by spades, the blubber was separated from the carcase, and +then stowed in the ship’s hold. The blubber after being cut into slips +was then placed in the boilers in order to extract the spermaceti and +the sperm-oil, the refuse being utilized as the fuel for the furnace +in boiling, giving a clear, fierce flame. This boiling process was +technically known among whaling men as “trying out,” and on a dark +night following the day’s hunting, the sea would witness the strange +sight of a vessel exuding clouds of smoke, and flames bursting out +illuminating ship and rigging, whilst the vessel still went sailing +along and weird, stained figures with strange implements worked away +near the fires. At a date long before ever a steamer’s funnel was +seen on the southern ocean, a British man-of-war once came across a +British whaling ship thus engaged, and became alarmed at this flaming +picture. Coming up so as to speak the whaler, the naval vessel hailed +and inquired what the crew were doing. The latter’s master replied +laconically, “Trying.” “Trying?” repeated the man-of-war’s captain. +“Trying? Trying what? To set your ship on fire?” + +All the same there was danger during this boiling if a sea or shower of +rain caused the oil, already highly heated, to reach the fires below. +But if all went well, the oil was eventually placed in the cooler +adjoining the try-works, transferred to casks and stowed in the hold. +Three days was the average time for “cutting in,” “trying out” and +getting into casks the clear oil of the biggest species of whale. + +Every service has its own particular adherents and experts, but there +was a divided opinion amongst sailormen concerning these ships. The +clipper seaman was accustomed to the steady routine of a well-run +vessel; and unless he were a deserter, or for some reason was without +a ship, he was not attracted by the whaler with its long spells of +comparative idleness, its strenuous spells of disagreeable work, and +its long voyages of several years. On the other hand, the master of +the whaling ship was not anxious to take the clipper sailor. Provided +the whaler had its experienced mates, its skilled harpooners too, it +was preferable to train a raw crew than sign on a lot of disgruntled +hard-case fellows who would cause trouble during those long, monotonous +days away from land. + +But the sea always has called men to leave the land, and to some +there was an especial appeal to adventure which only a voyage in +these whalers held out: for it combined the love of fighting with +travel right round the world long before steam navigation came into +the sphere of possibility. There were two well-known mottoes which +the inexperienced soon learnt to know. “A dead whale or a stove boat” +warned him that though the whale was an ugly, clumsy, stupid brute +of some seventy tons displacement, yet he was sometimes nearly four +times longer than the length of the whaling boat; so that the vicious +fifteen-foot-wide cachalot’s tail and the twenty-foot jaw of the right +whale were remembered in the advice, “Beware of a sperm’s jaw and a +right whale’s flukes.” + +There is on record the incident of three boats having been destroyed +by one blow of the whale’s tail. But a sperm’s great lower jaw with +its twin rows of glistening teeth has snapped off the forward end of +a boat with two of its men with terrifying suddenness. In the year +1819 the American whaling ship _Essex_ of Nantucket had an experience +such as shows the sperm’s strength in an amazing manner. Owen Chase +was the name of the _Essex’s_ mate and he had been left on board in +charge of the ship whilst the master and second mate were out after a +whale. Chase was heading the _Essex_ down towards them when he saw the +sperm lying on the surface and apparently considering the ship. It then +settled just below the surface, as whales do when making an attack. The +cachalot now headed for the _Essex_, so Chase ordered the helm up to +avoid the brute. Unfortunately the ship had too little way on just then +to get out of the attack that was coming; for the sperm struck the ship +on the bow with such a collision as nearly threw all hands on their +faces, the impact being like the striking of the hull against a rock. + +This animal had now become the attacker instead of the intended victim, +and after passing right below the ship’s hull, scraping the keel, came +to the surface and exhibited his anger by thrashing the water with his +tail and snapping his jaws. But he had done the necessary damage, and +now the _Essex_ began to sink. Chase started the pump, signalled the +boats to return, and even as he was getting provisions ready for the +boats, along came the whale again at about six knots, flinging the surf +in all directions, thrashing about with his terrible tail, and again +struck the ship on the windward side just below the cathead, so leaving +the bows completely stove in. Thus avenged of man’s insults, the whale +made off to leeward, and was never seen again. But the unfortunate +_Essex_ was utterly done for and soon foundered. The crew then +underwent an appalling experience for ninety days in the boats, so that +some of them died by starvation and the rest kept themselves alive only +by eating their flesh and the flesh of one other who died after the +casting of lots: a dreadful situation that none the less has occurred +more than once in the days of the sailing ship. The mate’s boat was +subsequently picked up by the British brig _India_ of London; and the +captain’s boat a few days later by another whaler named the _Dauphin_. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +WHALERS AND SEALERS + + +Right away south of the line which joins Fremantle and the Cape of Good +Hope, in fact, so near to the Antarctic continent as to be in latitude +50° S., there lies one of the most lonely and desolate islands in the +world, mountainous, glaciated, wind-swept. Totally uninhabited, it +possesses any number of deeply indented bays and coves, and it is one +of those few spots on the map where depots have been placed in case +some shipwrecked mariners should have the misfortune to find themselves +cast away here. + +Its name is Kerguelen or Desolation Island--whichever you like to +call it. The former reminds one of its French discoverer, Kerguelen +Trémarec, who found it in 1772: but the other name is more suggestive +of the place’s true character. During the years that followed it +was visited by whalers and sealers, but otherwise no ship had any +attraction to call there. Still, in 1893 the French Government +established an unwatched depot at Hillsborough Bay in a cave at +the foot of a cliff, a black cairn against some grey rocks having +been erected to indicate the position. The entrance to the cave has +been closed by stones, and above it is the inscription: “Vivres et +Vêtements.” Thus the modern adventurer would be able there to find +boxes of preserved beef, barrels containing clothes and blankets, +biscuits, and boxes of matches. But now that the days of the sailing +ships are past, and steamships are able to keep to the trade routes, +it is very unlikely that this distress depot will be required. + +But this story begins just a hundred years ago and we shall see it +through the eyes of John Nunn, an Ipswich seaman who was born in 1803. +Nunn was a typical British sailor of the early nineteenth century, +brought up to the sea, longing to know something of the world beyond +the limits of the British Isles, and destined to have a whole chapter +of adventures before he should die. His father was an east-coast +smack-owner, but after helping him for a time, John served for a while +aboard one of those Revenue cutters which were employed on the look-out +for smugglers. Sometimes there were quite exciting chases, and even an +exchange of shots: but before long John found this semi-naval service +too restricted for his liking and wanted to go foreign. + +So it happened that he signed on aboard the 400-ton sailing ship _Royal +Sovereign_ in the year 1825. This vessel was about to leave the Thames +to look for seals on Kerguelen Island, but ever since Captain R. Rhodes +of the whaler _Hillsborough_ had visited the place in 1799 there had +been vessels going out there, after the whales and seals. Rhodes had +busied himself surveying many of the harbours on the lee (or east) side +whilst his crew were away sealing and whaling; for the right whale used +to frequent these bays and fjords in large numbers. One has to remember +all these many inlets in order to appreciate the somewhat unusual +method adopted by the early nineteenth-century pioneers who came +here. The nature of the coast made it too risky a business for these +unwieldy, unhandy ships to go smelling close to the land, so they used +to take out from England half a dozen of the usual whaling boats, but +also they carried in frame a 40-ton cutter. Having arrived at Kerguelen +the big ship would moor herself in some safe and sheltered bay, the +frames of the 40-tonner would be taken ashore, the pieces reassembled, +the craft rigged like a contemporary cutter yacht, and then the crew +would go cruising right round the island, in and out of the bays, +skirting the pinnacles, landing, capturing and flensing the seals, and +then boiling down the blubber. The whaleboats would also be employed +hunting the whales quite close in. + +Thus each of these voyages to Kerguelen was in the nature of an +expedition, since the ship would settle herself in her bay for two or +three years and be partly unrigged whilst the small craft went about +their business. And when the time came that the vessel had all the +oil on board, the 40-tonner would be hauled well above high water, +entrenched in a roughly made dry dock, and there she would remain until +the expedition returned for another spell. In this way, of course, +there were several of these deserted cutters left on the island at +various dates. They were not called cutters but “shallops,” that old +word which had come into seamen’s vocabulary from the Dutch and was +often used to indicate smaller fore-and-aft-rigged vessels. + +Now several years before the _Royal Sovereign_ set forth there had +reached Kerguelen a ship called the _Frances_ from London, and she +had taken with her in frame her shallop; and there was another vessel +named the _Favourite_ which arrived with her shallop about the same +time as the _Royal Sovereign_. After the departure of these two ships, +the shallops had both been hauled up the beach in a bight at the south +side named Greenland Bay--name enough to suggest that a British whaling +vessel had once been here. + +In August 1825 the _Royal Sovereign_ anchored herself in Greenland Bay, +and then proceeded to fit out these two shallops, which for convenience +we shall speak of by the name of their mother ships. In nine days both +the _Frances_ and the _Favourite_ were caulked and paid ready for sea, +each being launched by digging them out of their dry dock, and then by +bousing them down and hauling them along the beach they reached the +water. They were then towed alongside the _Royal Sovereign_, where the +masts were stepped and the little craft rigged. After the sails had +been bent, some of the _Royal Sovereign’s_ crew transferred to them, +and next morning, towing the whaleboats astern, they started off for +Royal Sound to the N.N.E., and the latter went ashore to slaughter the +seals and sea-elephants. + +Here the opportunity was taken of bringing off from the beach great +stones as ballast, the seal blubber being brought off also in rafts, +but each shallop had also a dinghy. Finally, when the seals in this +neighbourhood had been killed, the _Frances_ sailed back to put the +produce aboard the _Royal Sovereign_. The _Frances_ next proceeded +along the windward or western shore of Kerguelen, the crew consisting +of James Lawrence of Rotherhithe (one of the _Royal Sovereign’s_ +mates); John Nunn, and John Richardson and James Stilliman, both of +Burnham, Essex. There were plenty of suitable small harbours on that +west coast where the _Frances_ could anchor for the dark hours, and +one night whilst in Young William Harbour, when it was so still that +there was not so much as a ripple on the water, the crew were suddenly +alarmed by a fin-whale which rose alongside the shallop. His tail +came in contact with the _Frances’s_ hull, shook her violently, and +then disappeared. Perhaps there never were any people in the world so +superstitious as the old-fashioned seamen until the introduction of +steam navigation knocked many of these primitive ideas to bits. But, +any way, the shallop’s crew thought this whale incident was most +ominous, and later on Nunn dreamed that the shallop was wrecked. Gloomy +people? Well, no doubt the desolation of the island had got on their +nerves. + +It was at the beginning of November this year that the _Frances_, +after visiting the northern end of the island, got caught in a heavy +snowstorm and fog. And then, whilst trying to beat out of a bay of +Saddle Island, which is separated by a narrow strait from the main +island at the north-west corner, the _Frances_ missed stays: for these +old-fashioned cutters with their indifferent sail plan and baggy canvas +and bluff hulls were anything but handy, and before the shallop could +be persuaded to come round she was hard on the rocks of this ironbound +coast. She quickly started leaking, but the crew managed to get ashore +with a few things, and then she sank in seven fathoms. The position was +not a cheerful one, for as they looked up at the rugged, precipitous +scenery there was nothing to suggest the least comfort in that bitter +climate. However, they wandered about and presently discovered a cave, +which they entered with their scant provisions and secured the entrance +against the cold blasts by means of the _Frances’s_ jib. Here they +settled down as best they could, but walking further along they came to +a bay where there was another shallop named the _Loon_ which had been +previously left by a whaler or sealer. + +This roused hopes, and it was just possible that the _Favourite_ and +her whaleboats might one day come along here in the course of their +duties. They could hardly dare to hope that this might be the case, +but everything possible should be done. They accordingly chalked a +sentence on the bows of the _Loon_ in case anyone should come along. +“Look in the cabin,” were the warning words, and then inside the +shallop were left a description and the direction of the cave. In +the meantime a good look-out was being kept for the shallop to come +along, but the weather was bad and often thick. Day after day sped by, +until a whole fortnight had elapsed, and the provisions were running +desperately short; when one day these men heard voices on the beach, +and next there came running along some of their old messmates. For the +crew of the _Favourite_, commanded by the _Royal Sovereign’s_ third +mate, had landed in the bight at the strait, seen the chalked notice, +and then begun to search for the cave. It was sheer good luck, for the +_Favourite_ had not intended calling in there: but she had been caught +in a squall by Saddle Island and lost her main boom. She therefore had +run into the strait to take the _Loon’s_ mast for the purpose, the crew +had then seen the chalked marks, and so the others were found. + +After the new boom had been finished, the _Favourite_ with the +survivors on board proceeded south to Greenland Bay, where they came +alongside the _Royal Sovereign_. Now in the careers of most men this +wreck and those hardships which followed would remain the outstanding +experience of a lifetime. But there are some people who seem born +for adventure and cannot avoid exciting events. The _Favourite_ was +now sent on another cruise, and the old shipwrecked crew of the +_Frances_ went in her, except for Richardson. Sailing off again to the +north-west, they continued their work and went still further round +the island to the north-east corner, where they were compelled to +lie weather-bound in a bay called Christmas Harbour for eleven days. +They put to sea, but had to run back. Again they started, but had to +shelter in Africa Bay. They were without a dinghy, and it was always +a difficulty to get the craft hauled near enough to the shore for +fetching fresh water. But at last they sailed round the north-west +corner once more and found themselves anchored by Saddle Island, which +had been so unlucky for them in the past. + +And now an extraordinary thing happened. It was the day after +Christmas, the _Favourite_ was still at anchor, but she suddenly sprang +a leak. Possibly the cause was that she had been so badly knocked about +by the seas, and originally so hurriedly put together, that she was in +no sense of the word staunch. But any way she went down and left these +men for the second time in that neighbourhood without a home. They +hung on for a time, and since there was no dinghy they unshipped the +boom, the cabin steps, the main and fore hatches; and with these they +made a raft and reached the beach. Everything on the island was now as +miserable-looking as it could be. The sea was bitterly cold, and the +land was covered with snow: they therefore took up their abode in the +_Loon_, which was still there. The food ran out at once, but they lived +on the seals which they killed. + +The outlook, however, was not a pleasant thought. Seeing that both +shallops from Greenland Bay had now been lost, it was extremely +unlikely that the _Royal Sovereign’s_ captain would be able to send +anyone to find them. Moreover the surf was so bad in the neighbourhood +of Saddle Island that the boats would not be able to land. To this +dismal consideration had to be added the stern fact that there was now +nothing to eat: for after eight days not even a penguin was obtainable. +They managed, however, to find the 12-foot dinghy which the _Favourite_ +had on a previous occasion left at the island, and in her the men now +transferred themselves to the main island. Here there awaited them a +severe tussle. Weak through lack of food, they set out to look for +seals which they could kill with their clubs; and having with the +utmost difficulty crossed a high ridge or mountain they were just able +to descend to a beach where they found and killed sea-elephants. These +animals would afford both food and blubber for fuel: but the weather +was so bitterly cold that the men’s hands were benumbed from the +animals’ blood freezing over them a complete covering of ice. + +With great toil these weary, hungry men hauled themselves over that +mountain and got back to the _Loon_ with their food, but were too weary +that day to cook it, so they fell asleep till morning. Six more weeks +passed and they considered themselves lucky to have the shelter of this +shallop, but they could not think of remaining here for ever, so they +decided to try raising the _Favourite_, and thoughts of making for the +Cape of Good Hope in her even crossed their minds. Seamen are always +more or less versatile, but in those days, when their heads were not +crammed with mechanical knowledge and their brains were slow to reason +but their courage had not been affected by faring in ships of mammoth +tonnage, such sailors were accustomed to voyaging in quite small +craft, and thought little of it, as we shall see before the end of the +chapter. It is since the days of steam that we have got into our heads +the erroneous idea that the ocean is suitable only for big ships: but +the recent voyages of quite small fore-and-afters are bringing us back +to a right knowledge and correct judgment. + +So these men set to work on the _Favourite_ which had treated them so +badly. They began by removing the ballast at low tide, and then they +secured four casks to her, some pieces of timber, and the 12-ft. dinghy +with the idea of floating her off as the tide rose. But unfortunately +the _Favourite_ had sunk too deeply in the sand and there was not +a sufficient rise of tide, and it was soon evident that the task +was hopeless. They therefore contented themselves with turning a +whale-lance which they possessed into a saw, and thus managed to cut +away the mast close to the deck. Then, having unrigged her, they towed +all the gear and spars to the shore. + +And since the _Favourite_ was impracticable, they determined to start +away in the _Loon_. This was a long job; she needed repairing and +caulking and her seams had to be stopped. But the crew set to work +with a will, some oakum for caulking was made out of the shallop’s +hempen cable, pitch was obtained close to a volcanic burning mountain, +the mast was stepped by using the bowsprit as improvised sheers, the +rigging was set up, and at last with great difficulty she was floated +off, to their unmitigated joy. Aboard her were those much-prized +tools, lances, seal clubs (rather like a policeman’s baton), knives, +spears. The dinghy was secured astern, and at last with a northerly +wind blowing the _Loon_ sailed away to the southward past that burning +mountain and its hot springs, past the ice-covered scenery, anchoring +at night in different bays. And all this time they wondered and thought +about the _Royal Sovereign_. Would she still be waiting for them in +Greenland Bay? Would it still be possible to reach her before she +started back for England? The thought seemed too wonderful to realize, +and so the little _Loon_ continued on her way to the southern end of +the island. + +At last the shallop rounded the promontory and entered Greenland +Bay. Gone! The bight was empty: there was not a sign of the _Royal +Sovereign_. It was a grievous disappointment, yet it was really +inevitable. The next thing now was to settle on a site and make +themselves as comfortable as the circumstances allowed. For if they +were destined to live on Desolation Island they would still need +shelter and food. It was therefore resolved to build a hut near +Shoalwater Bay at the south-east corner of the island. Thither they +sailed in the shallop with their goods, such as they possessed, and +what they could find on the beach of Greenland Bay. That done, they +took the _Loon_ back to Greenland Bay, unrigged her and hauled her well +up the beach. + +A minor expedition now began, partly by land and partly by sea. For the +dinghy was hauled over a neck of land into the Royal Sound and then +launched again: the intention being by this amphibious journey to avoid +the open water outside. It was whilst this boat was crossing the sound +that a school of whales came in, giving the men a rare fright. One +whale passed right under the boat, lifted her out on his back and then +allowed her once more to float. Adventure after adventure! These men +had never been fated for a humdrum life in England! And now they rowed +as fast as they could, but the whale chased after them, and dived below +the boat as before. Nunn believed that the reason was found in the +white under-water of the boat’s hull, which resembled the underneath +part of a whale. + +After these excitements the boat reached the opposite shore in safety. +Here they landed, turned the boat up with its keel to windward, used +her as a temporary hut and slept. It was hard going after that, and the +distance was long: but at last they got the boat and themselves to Long +Point at the south-east corner of Kerguelen, where they set to work +and made a proper hut out of turf blocks. On the whole, considering +what they had come through, this habitation was not so bad, and the +blubber lamp burned inside cheerfully. There were any number of the +black-fish whales in the neighbourhood, and the little community might +have been worse off. But always at the back of their minds was the +possibility--even the hope--that before long some ship for whales or +seals would come to Desolation Island. They were keeping always a good +look-out where the hut was erected, but it was some distance round the +corner, in a bay called Shallop Harbour, that a vessel approaching from +the north-east was likely first to call. + +It would be a terrible tragedy if she were to visit Kerguelen without +the men knowing. And so this possibility was avoided by the following +precaution. It was now August 1827, and two long years had passed since +the _Royal Sovereign_ had arrived there. Surely a vessel might come any +time now: so they made a board, took it overland to Shallop Harbour +and stuck it up in such a manner that no ship entering there could +fail to notice and read the inscription which was cut out. That latter +directed the observer to “Hope Cottage,” as they had named their turf +hut by Long Point. It was forty-eight miles over rough ground and snow, +but after four days and nights on the journey the men got to Shallop +Harbour, erected the sign and came back to the hut. + +And so at last there came a dramatic incident, for one day an object +was observed seaward. “Look!” cried one of the survivors from the hut. +“Did you see that great albatross? Over that rock there!” The other +man looked. “Why, bless me,” he answered. “That’s no albatross: it’s +the peak of a cutter’s sail.” Thereupon with keen enthusiasm they ran +down to the beach and signalled in case they had not been seen: but the +cutter hoisted her Union Jack to show they had been observed, hove-to +and sent her boat ashore. The meeting need only be imagined, but there +was no time to waste as there was a nasty surf and the cutter was +anxious to get under way at once. The lonely men were not long in going +aboard, and as the cutter proceeded round the east side of the island +there was an exchange of yarns. + +To begin with, she was found to be the _Lively_, belonging to +one of Messrs. Enderby’s whaling ships named the _Sprightly_, a +schooner-rigged vessel which had recently arrived out from England +and was now lying at Howe Foreland. Her shallop _Lively_ on entering +Shallop Harbour had noticed that board with its message, and then, +after returning to the _Sprightly_, the captain had given them +permission to search the coastline with telescopes and find the +missing men. And as the _Lively_ came round the corner, every glass +was scanning the beach until these living objects were seen signalling +and answered by the Jack. It was thus that after two and a quarter +years the _Royal Sovereign’s_ men got back to better food and better +accommodation. But it was to be no picnic for them even now. Having +been taken into the _Sprightly_, the latter’s captain now split up +his men into two parties, so that in each division there should be +available the help and knowledge of the _Favourite’s_ late crew. The +_Sprightly_ had three five- or six-oared whaleboats, and these were +sent to various bays to bring back seals and sea-elephants. + +Now the right whales were wont also to visit Kerguelen’s bays and +natural harbours. And it happened that one day whilst in Whale Bay, on +the east side, a man aboard the _Lively_ suddenly cried out: “There +she spouts!” and pointed seaward. Every man on deck saw it at once--a +fine 90-barrel whale. Instantly all was excitement, as the men thought +of the fine addition the animal would make to their wages. A boat was +immediately lowered and gave chase with a fine enthusiasm. Frantically +the men pulled at their oars, and soon the boat was up to the whale. +The harpooner was unfortunately somewhat inexperienced, and though +he hurled the harpoon and struck the cetacean, it made fast in the +shoulder, which was too far for’ard. The correct technique was to +approach the whale by its tail and come along the animal’s starboard +side. Then as the boat got quite close, the harpooner, his legs against +the thigh-boards in those two semicircular openings of the bows, would +warn the boat’s crew to be ready. Immediately after he would endeavour +to strike the whale “between wind and water” just abaft his fore fin. +“Give way, lads,” would come the exhortation, and then the order “Shear +off,” at the very moment when he cast the harpoon. “’Stern--_hard_!” +would be the final instruction, and the men would start with their +oars backing the boat for all they were worth, just as the whale began +smacking things about with his tail. + +In the present instance the whale speeded up like the wind itself, the +line fairly leapt out of the oval tub between the after thwart and +the one just ahead. Through those chocks at the bows--iron-made to +prevent fire arising through friction--the line ran racing out from its +neat coils, the “line manager” (as he was called) supervising it at +the tubs, and all ready in the boat was the mop with a bucket to keep +wetting the line and prevent it catching on fire. Somewhere handy were +the blue lights ready in case night overcame the boat and she wished +to signal to the _Lively_. The pace was thrilling and the incident had +happened so suddenly. Jumping, banging, smashing against the waves, +cleaving the water with her fine bows and casting the spray on either +side, the boat went madly on as the 10-knot whale in its progress +spooned up a mass of sea foam which came roaring, swishing, curling, +hissing over his nose and sped by the boat’s gunwales all snow-white +and bubbly. + +But now the whale was like a wild horse with the bit between its +teeth, and mischief guided him to head straight for some rocks and a +cluster of barely covered pinnacles, which seemed certain to puncture +the boat, until at the last moment he altered course and made a tack +right out to sea. Speed? The animal never slowed up an instant, minutes +flew past, the miles added up and the whaler men began to get a little +anxious. How long could this be continued? How long could the whale +keep this effort going? Would they ever see the _Lively_ again? For she +had long since vanished out of sight. So they all got their weight on +to the line and endeavoured with their full strength to haul the boat +up to the whale that they might get the lances into the brute. But it +was an utterly futile effort at that pace. If you have ever tried from +a motor-boat to haul in the dinghy whilst travelling quickly, you will +know how impossible was their task. + +But now the crisis had been reached, three hours had passed, they had +travelled at least thirty miles from the land and night had come on. +It was dreadfully disappointing, but prudence insisted that they had +gone far enough in that lonely ocean and they might never get back to +windward. If a gale sprang up they would have a very small chance, and +some of them in the boat had experienced their full share of exciting +adventures. Thus, with deep reluctance they had to cut the line, the +boat gradually lost its way, but the whale with the harpoon still in +his shoulder went tearing off, raising a mountain of foam at his “bows” +just as before. + +Three hours of glorious life! There was nothing now remaining but to +pull back towards the shore, and it was as likely as not that the +_Lively_ would be missed. But finally they burned a blue light, and +to their great relief they were answered by the shallop, which came +running down the moonlight and picked them up after as fine a bit of +hunting as could ever be wished. For some months longer the _Sprightly_ +and _Lively_ continued to work around Kerguelen, and then the former’s +captain decided to visit the Crozet Islands--not in the schooner, +but in the shallop. This uninhabited group had been discovered only +fifty-six years previously, and the skipper was anxious to get any +seals that might be there. It was quite an undertaking to let that +shallop make such an ocean voyage, but leaving most of his men behind, +he set off in the _Lively_ to the north-west. + +This group is another of those lonely localities where there are now +provision depots in case a vessel gets wrecked. Actually in December +1906 the Norwegian whaling ship _Catherine_ was wrecked on these very +islands; yet the crew managed to find the depot, but it had been +almost demolished by the gales, and the food was practically unfit for +consumption; however, they managed to find plenty of seals and penguins. + +The _Lively_ returned safely to Kerguelen, and then at last both she +and the schooner _Sprightly_, having concluded their work, weighed +anchor and both of them sailed away across the South Indian Ocean to +Table Bay, a distance of 2,095 miles. There they remained only four +days, but Nunn and his fellow-adventurers, late of the _Favourite_, +were treated with some distinction. And then, passing up the West +African coast, they at length came out of the Atlantic into the English +Channel. Both ships reached the Downs safely, but after this long +voyage the little _Lively_ almost at the very end of her journey from +the other side of the globe got caught in bad weather. She had rounded +to and was close-reefing her mainsail when along came a heavy sea which +washed a couple of men over the side, drowning one, but the other was +saved. After this distressing incident as a finale, the two craft came +up the Thames and the expedition ended. + +That island, which was the scene of so many adventures, had been +discovered, as we have mentioned, by de Kerguelen Trémarec. This Breton +noble had sailed from Lorient in 1771, and then, passing by way of +Mauritius, reached his destination in the following February, yet the +vile weather and the perpetual fogs made his sojourn off the lonely +island quite short, and he returned home. But in the spring of 1773 +he started off again and landed at what he had named “South France” +in December of the same year. Although this was the local midsummer +he found the weather so bitter with gales and fogs, and the island +so desolate and barren, that he changed the name now to the “Land of +Desolation,” declaring that he would rather live in Iceland than down +there, and came home. However, posterity has shown its sympathy with +this disappointed explorer by calling it Kerguelen Island. He was not +the last Frenchman to visit there, for some of his own countrymen in +our own time sailed out there in a ketch, after calling at Brixham, +with the idea of engaging in whaling: but the expedition was destined +to end disastrously. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +ABOARD AN AMERICAN WHALER + + +Among the most important harbours in America from which the whalers of +the nineteenth century used to set forth must be mentioned New Bedford, +Nantucket, Fairhaven, Newport, especially. These names have become so +welded to whaling history that it is difficult to think of these ports +without conjuring up a mental vision of an old-fashioned ship with her +white-painted ribbon on a black hull cruising along the lonely ocean +under short sail ready to launch one of those conspicuous boats as soon +as the eager scanning look-out hailed the deck. + +At these places there grew up whole families of whaling people +whose life interest was wrapped up in this subject, who married and +intermarried those who built or sailed or part-owned the ships. At the +beginning of the nineteenth century there were eight or nine thousand +people living at Nantucket all practically dependent on the whaling +industry. Herman Melville wrote of Nantucket as “more lonely than the +Eddystone Lighthouse,” and amusingly suggested that the people here +“are so shut up, belted about, every way enclosed, surrounded, and +made an utter island of by the ocean, that to their very chairs and +tables small clams will sometimes be found adhering, as to the backs of +turtles.” “What wonder, then, that these Nantucketers, born on a beach, +should take to the sea for a livelihood!” + +And it is Melville who has enabled us to reconstruct for ourselves +those little mosaics, which, pieced together in their right places, +give us a true picture of what a Nantucket whaler looked like! “She +was a ship of the old school,” he says, “rather small if anything, +with an old-fashioned claw-footed look about her. Long seasoned and +weather-stained in the typhoons and calms of all four oceans, her old +hull’s complexion was darkened.... Her venerable bows looked bearded. +Her masts--cut somewhere on the coast of Japan, where her original +ones were lost overboard in a gale--her masts stood stiffly up like +the spines of the three old kings of Cologne. Her ancient decks were +worn and wrinkled.... She was a thing of trophies.... All round, her +unpanelled, open bulwarks were garnished like one continuous jaw, with +the long, sharp teeth of the sperm whale, inserted there for pins, to +fasten her old hempen thews and tendons to.” + +And the pride of service was never more eloquently expressed than in +Captain Peleg’s remark in connection with the merchant service as +opposed to his own. “Marchant service be damned. Talk not that lingo +to me. Dost see that leg?--I’ll take that leg away from thy stern, if +ever thou talkest of the Marchant Service to me again. Marchant Service +indeed! I suppose now ye feel considerable proud of having served in +those marchant ships!” Could anything be more discriminating? + +So we think of these veteran vessels as owned by well-to-do, retired +Quaker skippers of the most strict narrow-mindedness, yet possessed +of such a knowledge of ocean life as could hardly be surpassed by +any other seafarers in the world. Those lengthy voyages and their +Puritanical personality, and those long hours alone brooding and +entering up their journals, created a special type of humanity--strong, +independent, fanatically conservative, dominant, of an enclosed +kind of piety, yet most wonderfully wide-awake to the main chance +of remunerative whaling and a hard business bargain. The life of +such a part-owner could be divided into several well bulk-headed +chapters, each ending up one separate section of a full career. Cabin +boy, boatman, harpooner, mate, captain, ship-owner, sexagenarian, +retirement, capitalist. These nine would make chapter headings for the +biography of any of these whaler skippers. But right till the end they +were the keenest superintendents and the sternest critics of ships and +men. Taskmasters? Melville sums one of these old men up in a single +sentence. “They told me in Nantucket, though it certainly seems a +curious story, that when he sailed the old _Categut_ whaleman, his crew +upon arriving home were mostly all carried ashore to the hospital, sore +exhausted and worn out. For a pious man, especially for a Quaker, he +was certainly rather hard-hearted, to say the least. He never used to +swear, though, at his men, they said; but somehow he got an inordinate +quantity of cruel, unmitigated hard work out of them.” + +But if the largest owner of an American whaler were a retired skipper, +the other shareholders would consist of widows, fatherless children +and chancery wards, each owning “about the value of a timber head, or +a foot of plank, or a nail or two in the ship. People in Nantucket +invest their money in whaling vessels, the same way that you do yours +in approved state stocks bringing in good interest.” + +Whilst lying in her home port the whaler used to have a kind of wigwam +erected on deck abaft the mainmast, made of bone taken out of jaws +of the right whale. This tent was the last thing to be stowed before +heaving up the anchor; it was symbolical of the packing away of shore +authority. But when the vessel was about to leave Nantucket for her +three or four years’ voyage, and the last rigger had been sent ashore, +she was hauled out from the wharf and the skipper would tell the chief +mate to muster all the hands--“blast ’em”--whilst the pilot was busy +taking the ship out, his position being forward. Some profane chantey +would be presently heard reaching the shore as that mixed crew got +active to their work of walking round the capstan. The old man aft +would be stamping about in a rage, hating audibly with his Quaker +“thous” and “thees,” hurling at them insults and exerting his authority +from the very first. + +Then at last the pilot would drop over the side into his little +sailing-boat, the last tie with the land would be separated and it +would be a long time before any of the crew ever was allowed to +use his legs on solid earth. We in these days of quick passages in +steamships with wireless conversation going on all day and all night +hardly realize the utter isolation of a four-year whaling voyage under +a tyrannous martinet for skipper. If any man had the least feelings +of sentiment, if the comfort of a home port and the heart-strings of +affection meant anything at all to him, the beginning of these long +trips was something unforgettable. We find this home-sickness, this +desperate deep-burning loneliness coming out even in the skippers’ +journals, which would never be soiled by a glance from any of their +crews: but it is there right enough. The womenfolk would be there on +the wharf, tear-eyed, anxious, but hopeful that after a few years +the ship would come back full of a fortune. At last a shout from a +deep-throated retired captain, a warning to the harpooners not to +“stave the boats needlessly ... white cedar plank is raised full +three per cent. within the year. Don’t forget your prayers, either, +Mr. Starbuck, mind that cooper don’t waste the spare staves. Oh! the +sail-needles are in the green locker! Don’t whale it too much a’ +Lord’s Day, men; but don’t miss a fair chance either, that’s rejecting +Heaven’s good gifts.” And with this last expression of his crowded, +mingled thoughts, the principal proprietor would have watched his old +ship gradually get smaller as she made her way to the open sea. + +That night the long roll of the Atlantic would begin its game with +the ship, the blocks would whine and creak, the rigging would take up +its strains, the canvas would belly to the fresh breeze and the mast +heads swing backwards and forwards across the sky of stars as the +watch below was clewing up its harbour memories till they could be let +loose again after many months. Strangers began to size each other up, +enmities and friendships began to be formed: but both would be broken +and reconstituted long before the first man had deserted at the first +opportunity. + +As a general rule you will always find that islanders take to the sea +in some sort of way: for ships and seafaring can never be allowed +out of their minds for long. It used to be the custom for British +Greenland whalers on the outward voyage to call at the Shetlands and +fill up with the rest of their crew, and on the return trip leave them +where they found them. In the Nantucket whalers it was frequently +the habit to call at the Azores, outward bound, and ship quite a +few natives. American whale-ships had been calling there for years, +so you would find in a Nantucket ship North Americans, Portuguese, +coal-black niggers, Dutchmen, Frenchmen, Manxmen, Maltese, natives from +the Pacific Islands, Spaniards, and Britons, too. The ship might be +American but the crew were international--or without a nation. If half +the failures in this world are caused by men not knowing what they want +and not being able to identify it when they see it, then you might say +that the fo’c’sle of a whaler was full of failures. The ship attracted +men from all parts of the world as sensitively as the magnet affects +the compass needle. Some of these hands were just drifting about the +globe without any aim other than to remain alive. A ship was synonymous +with a home: a whaling voyage was a sort of guarantee that for three +or four years any way there would be grub, somewhere to sleep, and +possibly a tolerable amount of money to draw at the end. + +Bullen’s description of a New Bedford whaler bears out Melville +and the rest. “Truculent-looking men accompanied us to our several +boarding-houses, paid our debts for us, finally bringing us by boat to +a ship lying out in the bay. As we passed under her stern, I read the +name _Cachalot_, of New Bedford: but as soon as we ranged alongside, +I realized that I was booked for the sailor’s horror--a cruise in a +whaler. Badly as I wanted to get to sea, I had not bargained for this, +and would have run some risks to get ashore again; but they took no +chances, so we were all soon aboard.... A more perfect contrast to +the trim-built English clipper-ships that I had been accustomed to I +could hardly imagine. She was one of a class characterized by sailors +as built by the mile, and cut off in lengths as you want ’em, bow +and stern almost alike, masts standing straight as broomsticks, and +bowsprit soaring upwards at an angle of about forty-five degrees. She +was old-fashioned in her rig as in her hull.... I was rudely roused +from my meditations by the harsh voice of one of the officers, who +shouted, ‘Naow then, git below an’ stow yer dunnage, ’n look lively +up agin.’... Tumbling down the steep ladder, I entered the gloomy den +which was to be for so long my home, finding it fairly packed with my +shipmates. A motley crowd they were. I had been used in English ships +to considerable variety of nationality; but here were gathered, not +only the representatives of five or six nations, but ’long-shoremen of +all kinds, half of whom had hardly ever set eyes on a ship before! The +whole space was undivided by partition, but I saw at once that black +men and white had separated themselves, the blacks taking the port side +and the whites the starboard.” + +You can imagine this motley crew on the first night out. The +greenhorns, prostrate with seasickness, were wondering why they had +been such fools as to come aboard for an adventure of this sort. +The officers, often enough bullying and sometimes of Portuguese +nationality, were trying to get the ship into full working order, +yet half the crew were just waking up to the fact that this was no +home after all. But after a few days Portuguese and nigger, American +and Briton, would settle down to the life and to the salt junk, hard +biscuit and hot drinks sweetened with molasses. Only one thing aboard +the ship was really satisfying: and that was the long sleep after the +trick at the helm. Steering? This was a strange mechanism in the old +ships, for the wheel was fixed to the tiller and the whole affair was +moved athwart the ship, so that it needed no ordinary sailorman to +control her. + +But if she was aged and her fo’c’sle was foul, yet on deck she was +kept spotlessly clean. Flush-decked, she was of about 350 tons, with +the try-works measuring about ten feet by eight erected in the waist. +Right aft were the galley and skylight by the taffrail, the wooden +cranes for the boats being of course along the bulwarks. These boats +were each fitted with a centreboard, a mast and two spritsails in +addition to the oars and other gear, so that by the time her men had +launched and got into her she was already well loaded. Having slipped +across the Atlantic and reached the sperm grounds, there were plenty +of eyes looking out so as to earn that bounty of extra ’baccy which +went to the first man who should report a whale. Plenty of false alarms +came from the greenhorns, and it was usually the veteran who won the +prize. And then the comparative comfort of passage-making gave way to +frantic energy--hunting the whale in the boats for hours, then towing +him alongside, slinging him securely, flensing him, and keeping the +try-works going all through the night, and finally cleaning ship once +more. + +Out of a crew of say thirty-seven, twenty-four would be ordinary +seamen. Fresh water except for drinking was forbidden. After all +what was the sea for besides floating ships? But it is hope and +the expectation of the future which keep men going as it did in +those ships. The shares of profits, or as these shares were known, +“lays,” had been reckoned in accordance with each man’s duties +and usefulness. One two-hundredth share of oil at 200 dollars a +tun meant £4 a barrel, but a greenhorn might be allotted only one +two-hundred-and-seventy-fifth share of the clear net profits. This was +just better than nothing and referred to as “a long lay.” But from that +would have to be deducted the charge for that assortment of fairly good +but high-priced clothes which the captain issued from the ship’s slop +chest; in addition to the tobacco, matches and soap, also bought from +the ship at extortionate terms. + +Thus the whaler’s life was likely to appeal only to three classes of +men: those who had been compelled to leave the land to avoid gaol or +starvation, those who thought they were going to see the world and +gain adventures, and those who were determined to work their way up +till they owned a whaling ship of their own. It was only the latter +who ever stuck to the occupation for voyage after voyage. No one who +sympathizes with humanity can wish that those conditions should ever +return. Better education has raised the standard of living aboard all +kinds of ships: the difference between then and now is really much more +than merely half a century. + +You remember Melville’s account of how the Nantucket _Pequod_ whaler +met the British whaler _Samuel Enderby_ at sea and hailed her with +“Ship ahoy! Hast seen the White Whale?” and Ahab ordered his boat to +be manned and lowered with him in it to the water, and rowed alongside +the London vessel. Ahab had lost a leg, so how was he to clamber up the +English ship’s side? It was then that the English skipper took in the +situation. “I see, I see!” he shouted. Then to his men, “’Vast heaving +there! Jump, boys, and swing over the cutting-tackle.” The _Samuel +Enderby_ had only recently been cutting up a whale and the great +tackles were still aloft and the massive blubber-hook still attached to +the end. So this hook was lowered to Ahab, who slid his solitary thigh +into the curve and was swung on board and exchanged yarns with the +London skipper. + +Melville speaks enthusiastically about that name Enderby, which will +be found mentioned in our present volume more than once. He speaks of +this London ship as named “after the late Samuel Enderby, merchant +of that city, the original of the famous whaling house of Enderby & +Sons; a house which, in my poor whaleman’s opinion, comes not far +behind the united royal houses of the Tudors and Bourbons, in point of +real historical interest.” Ever since that memorable year 1775, when +this firm fitted out the first English ships that ever went hunting +the sperm whale regularly, it had sent ship after ship into southern +waters; though ever since 1726 the Coffins and Maceys had been sending +their whalers from North America into the Atlantic. When the Enderby +ship _Amelia_ rounded the Horn and was the first of all vessels ever +to harpoon whales in the Pacific and came home with a full cargo, she +was but setting the fashion which was soon to be followed by British +and American whalers. It was this same pioneering firm, too, which in +1819 sent out that exploration ship, the _Syren_, and made known the +Japanese whaling grounds. Her skipper, however, was Captain Coffin of +Nantucket. Melville refers to the _Samuel Enderby_ as a fast-sailing +ship, an hospitable ship. “Fore and aft, I say, the _Samuel Enderby_ +was a jolly ship; of good fare and plenty; fine flip and strong; crack +fellows all, and capital from boot heels to hat-band.” + +But the first American ship, says Mr. R. McNab in his interesting +monograph on New Zealand whaling, to take up bay whaling in the South +Island of New Zealand was the _Erie_, which sailed from Newport, Rhode +Island, bound for the South Pacific in April 1832, and got back to +Newport again in June 1835 with 200 barrels of sperm and 1,800 of +black oil. During the next few years, American whalers continued to +frequent these waters, and the trade became considerable, for the early +American whalers brought home such favourable news of their success. By +these ships letters from New England were taken to the South Atlantic +and New Zealand. So by 1836 such whalers as the _Samuel Robertson_, +_Favourite_, _Mary Mitchell_, _Jasper_, _Erie_, _Vermont_ and others +sailed across from New Bedford, Fairhaven, Nantucket, Poughkeepsie and +other ports. + +In the _Mary Mitchell’s_ journal of 1836, still in possession of the +Nantucket Historical Society, we are able to see into the mind of her +skipper day by day. Can we not almost see for ourselves the character +of this Captain Samuel Joy as he entered up his book after reaching +safely Cloudy Bay, on the north-east shoulder of South Island? The date +is Friday, April 22nd, and the punctuation is typical of this sailor +type: + +“Heavy S.E. gale bad Sea steered down past Cape Campbell looking for +the harbor. At 5 saw it bearing N.W. steered for it and at 6 happily +came to an Anchor. thus after much toil fatigue and Labour we are +happily Arrived at our port it now only remains for us to be thankful +to God for his preservation and safe Guidance of us thro these dark +times--I shall ever esteem it as a merciful interposition in my favor +that thro divine Providence I have been enabled to conduct this ship +thro this Passage on a Coast without any person on board acquainted +with it any more than myself and to the Lord be the Praise Amen Latter +strong S.E. wind. Employed Clearing Ship Ther 58 Bar. 30.30.” + +Two days later arrived the _Jasper_ and _Erie_. The _Mary Mitchell_ +having been moored, yards and topmasts were sent down, and boats were +sent out whaling. Lugsails were now made for the boats and the hands +kept busy. But we can see that there are always two aspects to ship +life: one is as it appears from the angle of the mates and men, the +other is as viewed through the anxious captain’s eyes. Everyone who has +had command of a vessel knows this well enough: the others are apt to +forget this fact. Thus under April 30th Captain Joy writes: “The Second +mate is no officer the fourth Mate is worse I can express my opinion +of the others hereafter.” Then apparently there was some friction with +some of the English whalers, for twenty boats had come into a bay. +“Commences with fine weather,” Joy writes under Saturday, May 7th, “at +4 boats returned at 6 heavy S.E. gale sent on shore 22 cedar boards +Latter went out myself with 4 boats saw nothing wind blew up from S +E heavy came into the Neck landed about 20 boats there and the most +Blackguard language used from 5 english boats there Sparing no person +at all in Short I hope I shall ever keep clear of English Ships again +as they have no Authority.” + +Joy was his name but sorrow was his experience, for these daily +entries are full of woes and disappointments. Thus Friday, May 27th, +was another disheartening day: “fore part fresh S E wind at 4 boats +returned 1 calf got today Latter part much fine rain went out with 4 +boats the 4 mate a lame hand one of our steersman stopped to Save his +oar and did not strike the whale O dear.” And even the next day when +his boats captured a whale and a calf he could but exert himself to +write: “We now have hope I live in hope Latter part fine weather went +out with 4 boats--Sick.” + +However, Joy must have withdrawn his animosity towards the British +whalers, for on June 2nd he was able to make a satisfactory bargain: +“fine weather at 5 boats returned I got an anchor from an English ship +for 40 lbs tobacco and a steering oar Latter fine weather went out +with 4 boats and the Captain Got a large whale wafted and anchored +him.” Other ships arrived from New England, but apparently Joy was not +anxious for the society of his fellow humans. Whales were again killed, +and then comes this delightful little summary of what happened on June +20th: “fore part cloudy began to boil at 5 boats returned got a Whale +anchored him outside at 7 broke the cook’s head for getting rum from +the Shore contrary to law Latter part strong N W wind went out with 4 +boats the others boiling.” + +It is the simple unforced sincerity of this whaling captain which +makes his journal so readable in spite of his quaint confusion of +thoughts and absence of stops or commas. Joy was not an exception but a +product of his time and environment when these wooden whalers contained +hard-case seamen and peppery skippers. To criticize the crews is not +to free the captains from blame: but discipline had to be maintained, +even after a fashion, in these as in any other ships. Joy went on +quarrelling with other whaler-masters as we learn from the sentence, +“this day I formally noted the different masters that I would not agree +in case my boats were stove that I would give up my claim to any Whale +obliged to cut from in consequence of being stove.” + +Anyone with a little imagination and the knowledge of the ways of +men can see how the deadly monotony of the life in such a distant +place with Maoris to consort with was bound to make the crews dismal, +disgruntled, and disgusted with life generally. There is an expression +unofficially used to-day in the Royal Navy which describes exactly +the condition into which these whaler men had descended through +sheer boredom and mental weariness. Some who read these pages will +recognize the phrase “b----y minded.” It is not pretty, but it is +truthful. And the first thing that a man in that condition does is to +break out of the ship, go ashore and get drunk as soon as opportunity +presents itself. Joy’s men were thus disposed whilst the ship lay in +semi-commission and the boats hunted for the whales. “John Wood left +ship without leave got drunk I floged him and put him in irons Latter +raining let the prisoner out of irons on promise of amendment” runs +the laconic statement. And a few days later: “I cannot well leave the +Ship in charge of the 4th mate he can do nothing in the boat and has +been Sick and dozey 1/2 the time we have been here.” But finally this +mate who also had “a difference with some of the crew requested his +discharge” and went off: “a good riddance,” Joy wrote. + +Boats went on being stove, arguments continued between captains, but +in August Joy began to refit his ship, topmasts were sent up, and on +September 1st he was so pleased with life that he could write: “I feel +better to-day.” Presently topsails were bent, the fine weather began to +break up, wood and water were fetched from the shore and preparations +made for putting to sea. Boats were painted, harpoon lines coiled, the +anchors hove in and stowed, and on September 27th, in company with +two other New England whalers, the _Mary Mitchell_ got under way. The +season there had ended. + +Although British, French and American whaling ships were using these +New Zealand waters at that time to the number of forty, one-half of +these were American, the average size being of 333 tons, but New +Bedford and Fairhaven were the principal ports sending ships. In the +year 1832 whaler-ships of 350 tons from New Bedford, Nantucket and New +London were working to the following “lay” or scale of remuneration: +The captain received one-fifteenth, Chief Mate one-twenty-fifth, +Second Mate one-forty-fifth, Third Mate one-fiftieth, boat-steerers +one-hundredth each, ordinary seamen one-hundred-and-seventy-fifth each, +in the South New Zealand whaling; additional help was also obtained +from the shore, where a few men who had deserted from some previous +whaler could usually get a temporary job and bring along a few Maoris +with them. + +In one entry Captain Joy wrote that “the Second Mate had his boat +robbed in his absence of a bottle of rum, it being customary to carry +it here so that in case of a hard drag to give it to the boats crew +but they will carry no more from this ship as I will turn it all +into the sea first.” The practice was to take a bottle in each boat +and give each man a drink after a heavy whale had been brought in. +But, unfortunately, there was a rum shop ashore whither the crews +were enticed from their duty and came aboard their ship insolent and +incapable, with the result that someone’s head got smashed, but it was +not always the captain who came off best in the mutual rupture. It was +the old story. As Conrad wrote twenty years before he died, “ships and +men both rot in ports.” + +By the year 1839 the number of American whalers on the New Zealand +coast reached the unprecedented number of thirty-seven, whereas five +years previously there had been but one. Nothing could be more eloquent +of the migration of whales than the change of grounds which these +ships from across the world had been compelled to make. Still, as the +reader will find in the course of our inquiry, the fleets have been +obliged in different generations to do this over and over again. But, +as showing the intimate connection that has always existed between +whaling and exploration, it may not be out of place to mention that all +this American development of Southern Pacific whaling culminated in the +natural desire to explore and survey the seas still further south. + +And so it all culminated in an American naval officer, Charles Wilkes, +taking out from Hampton Roads an expedition in 1838 consisting of +six vessels which were reduced to four. The Antarctic continent was +discovered, and Wilkes Land shown on the modern maps remains as a +further reminder that this industry of hunting leviathans is capable +not merely of bringing into existence large fleets and employing +considerable numbers of men, but of sowing the seeds for future +international complications if ever those extreme southern areas, +through the advent of aerial navigation or scientific discovery, become +of first-rate importance in the development of the world and its +commerce. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +CREWS AND CAPTAINS + + +In the last chapter we have been able to see from Captain Joy’s journal +something of the anxieties of an American whaler’s skipper in the South +Seas. There is an old American whaling chantey which contains the +following among its verses, and hints at the way the crew considered +their duties aboard these ships: + + They send you to New Bedford, that famous whaling port, + And give you to some land-sharks to board and fit you out. + +In the boarding house full of the usual thieves and liars the future +whaling crews were to listen to all sorts of yarns concerning the +famous ships of the day. Men were embroidering incidents, and +interested parties were telling of the fortunes to be made whaling: + + They tell you of the clipper-ships a-going in and out, + And say you’ll take five hundred sperm before you’re six months out. + + It’s now we’re out to sea, my boys, the wind comes on to blow; + One half the watch is sick on deck, the other half below. + +And then of course comes a reference to the captain as in so many +chanteys: + + The Skipper’s on the quarter-deck a-squinting at the sails, + When up aloft the lookout sights a school of whales. + + “Now clear away the boats, my boys, and after him we’ll travel, + But if you get too near his fluke, he’ll kick you to the devil.”[1] + +[1] Given in J. C. Colcord’s _Roll and Go_. + +There is no question that the whalers had their own chanteys, just like +the other merchant sailormen. There were, for instance, “The Boston +Come-All-Ye,” “There She Blows,” “Blow Ye Winds” (from which the above +extracts are taken), “Coast of Peru,” “Rolling Down to Old Maui” and “A +Dead Whale Or A Stove Boat.” As to the latter, Melville shows that in +the eighteen-forties this was still the custom in the whaling service. +Many readers will remember the following passage out of _Moby Dick_: + +“‘What do ye when ye see a whale, men?’ + +“‘Sing out for him!’ was the impulsive rejoinder from a score of +clubbed voices. + +“‘Good!’ cried Ahab, with a wild approval in his tones; observing the +hearty animation into which his unexpected question had so magnetically +thrown them. + +“‘And what do ye next, men?’ + +“‘Lower away, and after them.’ + +“‘And what tune is it ye pull to, men?’ + +“‘A dead whale or a stove boat.’” + +But we are able to get a little knowledge of the life aboard a British +South Sea whaler from no less an authority than the journal of Captain +John Balleny in the season 1830-9, when he was working the New Zealand +waters whilst commanding Messrs. Enderby’s whaling and sealing schooner +_Eliza Scott_. Unfortunately the records of British whaling are far +less complete than in the case of the American ships. Therefore every +scrap of information that can be found is of the utmost value to us. So +let us see how matters appeared to this English skipper. + +From the first we cannot but admire his sensible treatment of his crew. +They needed shore leave and he granted it. “December 9th. This day is +fine. Gave the men 4 muskets and let them go into the woods to shoot +and stretch their legs. Having no means of obtaing [_sic_] fresh +provisions but by the hook and gun Capt Freeman [of the _Sabrina_] and +myself have generally endeavoured to provide for part of the crew, and +I think a run on shore will do the men good, in point of fact the whole +crew seem so disappointed in not being able to run as they expected +that they are in a state little short of downright mutiny. Therefore I +have allowed them to go and ramble in the woods but have always refused +the boats unless with an officer.” + +But none the less Captain Balleny was always anxious lest his men +would desert at the first opportunity. “In the afternoon saw a whale +boat sailing up the harbour for which I was extremely sorry as it will +afford an opportunity for the men to run.” And sure enough two days +later, when Balleny awoke and went on deck he found that five of his +men had stolen a boat and made off. “This is a serious loss but as the +rest of the crew seem perfectly content and willing to try their luck I +still do not despair, indeed the remaining crew seem glad these people +have gone and they all say they will now be comfortable. Two of these +men were certainly two of the greatest blackguards I ever had on board +a ship and I had a great deal of trouble with them on the passage out; +more mutinous rascals could not be, & they have, I think, seduced two +of the others from their duty. As for the 3rd. he had been much in +Sydney and perhaps was the ringleader of the whole. I deplore now more +than ever my long passage out, as I might perchance have saved them +altho’ I am aware it was their intention to run when they shipped, but +I could not carry sail on the schooner and on unstowing the vessel +here I found a sufficient reason.” For the lowest tier of casks ought +to have been filled with water ballast, but were now found “perfectly +empty and it becomes no longer a matter of wonder the ship would not +bear her canvass, but a matter of wonder she got here at all.” + +On Christmas Day Captain Balleny dined aboard another vessel, and the +latter’s mates were allowed to dine aboard the _Eliza Scott_. “I told +Mr. Moore, my chief mate, that I laid no embargo on his grog drinking +on this day only to remember and keep within bounds of moderation. At +10 I returned on board and the only one sober was my 2nd. mate Mr. +McNab. About 2 o’clock it blew so hard that both vessels drove & had +to let go the 2nd. anchor. The mate still that stupid that I could not +get him out of his bed.” And on Boxing Day the much-worried skipper +writes, whilst it was still raining heavily and blowing a gale of wind: +“The mate appears not to have gotten the better of his intemperance +and has been exceeding impertinent so much so that I am inclined to +turn him forward. This is not the first time or act of intemperance and +impudence. It is now become almost time to put an end to it. From his +conduct I am more than ever convinced he was accessory to the departure +of the men and boat & is, I think, endeavourg to sow the seeds of +dissension amongst the people.” + +But things were no happier aboard the other ship, for on the fourth +day of January, Balleny saw signals of distress flying, so “went on +board & found 3 men had deserted.” But fortunately we have also the +_Eliza Scott’s_ log, presumably kept by the Chief Mate, and we see the +other side of the case. First with regard to the men: he writes under +date of that same December 11th, “The Cooper in a most Mutinous Manner +declared he had not sufficient to eat and with respect to Grog he said +he considered it as much his as mine and that everyone in the ship had +a right to an equal share.” And on the next day, “This Morng Smith +the Yarmouth fisherman as he calls himself brought up the Bread Barge +so heaped up as to run the risk of scattering the Contents and on my +simply requesting him to be careful he was exceedingly Insolent and +when he went forward the Carpenter exclaimed in loud voice that he was +saucy and Independant and did not care a damn. It appears to me that +the whole Crew are in a state of Mutiny or at least are endeavouring to +make a Disturbance....” But the Chief Mate’s own account of that drink +incident of Boxing Day is as brief as it is personal: “Strong Gales, at +daylight let go the Second Anchor--Employed variously about the Rigging +&c. N.B. at 3 the Captn struck the Mate before all hands on the Quarter +deck for nothing.” + +Thus, what with troublesome mates and drunken crews and the +ever-present possibility of losing several hands by desertion as long +as the ship was at anchor, every whaling or sealing skipper had a merry +old time. But friction was caused between shipmasters in consequence +of the deserters joining up in another whaler. McNab instances the +following letter which was sent by Captain Francis Neil, of the +American whaler _Navy_, to Captain Bateman, of the British whaler +_Cheviot_, who had been compelled to find some of his crew enticed away +and had retaliated by seizing some of the _Navy’s_ boats. The letter at +least shows that the American had a keen sense of justice, or rather of +retribution. + + “_Ship ‘Navy,’ Oct. 7, 1836._ + +Manna.+[1] + + “+Dear Sir+, + + “I received your letter of the 6th instant, and as you request my + opinion in writing, tending the loss you sustained by part of your + crew deserting you and joining a shore party employed by ---- of + Sydney, I am well aware that your men were taken from Cloudy Bay in + the barque and to my certain knowledge distressed your ship much. + It is my opinion had not these men been enticed from your vessel + you would have had double the quantity of oil you now have, your + crew being much reduced; but as Captain ---- told me there was ‘no + law in New Zealand’ I commend you for having taken the boat as part + payment for the injury sustained. + + “I remains dear Sir + “Yours + “+Francis Neil+.” + +[1] The name of an island. + +Off the New Zealand coast the whaling was done principally by vessels +from the United Kingdom and America, but others came from Sydney and +Hobart Town. It was because the whale had been hunted from the trade +routes that vessels from London and New Bedford had been forced to +come so far south, and this in turn suggested the industry to the two +colonial towns mentioned, which enjoyed the advantage of being much +nearer to these new whaling grounds. This meant, obviously, that the +Australian whalers could spend a much longer period of their cruise +in the actual localities where the cetacean was found: and a quicker +return was made for the capital expended. + +But the decadence which had set in with regard to English whaling and +whaler skill prevented the Americans from having a serious rival down +south during the period of the eighteen-thirties. In the year 1838 +the merchants and shipowners whose vessels were not doing too well in +the waters of Greenland and the Davis Straits petitioned the Treasury +Lords that an investigation be made in the conditions of the South +Pacific whaling trade; for they alleged that for a considerable time +whalebone had reached London which pretended to have been British +caught yet was American or foreign. But, owing to it having a British +certificate, it came into England without paying the duty of £94 a +ton. It was suggested that British ships were meeting American whalers +on the high seas, buying the whalebone, incorporating it in their own +cargo and thus arriving with it in a port of the United Kingdom. And +this complaint embraced the ships from Sydney and Hobart Town. There is +undisputable evidence that American ships did actually sell whalebone +to English ships, for such trafficking is recorded in at least one +American whaler’s log. + +But all these jealousies and disputes between individuals and between +the whalers of both nations were almost inevitable. The whale belonged +definitely to no particular sea and to no particular nation or ship. +The initiative was entirely to the cetacean, and wherever he chose to +wander, thither the fleets had to follow irrespective of what flag they +wore. Skippers naturally tried their best to keep secret the locality +of their pet grounds: but just as to-day the trawlermen cannot preserve +for long the secrecy of their newly found areas, so it was with the +whalers. After a season or two there would be a squadron of ships where +there had been one: and in the year following would come an entire +fleet to pick up the wealth from the sea. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +WHALING ADVENTURES + + +It was by no means unusual or an isolated incident for the harpooner as +he stood there in the bows of the boat to be killed by the cachalot’s +tail sweeping through the air and cutting the boat off clean to the +water’s edge. One day about the beginning of the nineteenth century +the British whaler _Perseverance_ was off the Brazilian coast and her +captain was out in one of the boats, and the cachalot had just been +attacked, when the animal knocked the captain with his flukes out of +the boat lifeless, killing at the same time one of the crew. The whale +escaped, but, judging by the harpoons afterwards found in it, was +destroyed by a boat from an American whaler. + +On another occasion, at the end of August 1831, after the British +whaler _Tuscan_ in the North Pacific had sighted sperm whales, when the +master and second mate had lowered their boats, there was left on board +the chief mate in charge of the ship. This officer’s name was Young. +Presently, whilst attacking a large whale, the second mate’s boat was +so smashed by the whale that the other boat had to receive both crews +and harpoon-line. Young, who had been watching the proceedings, now +lowered his boat and came to assist. It was well known among whaling +men that after a cachalot had been attacked, some other mammal in the +same school would come to his fellow-creature’s assistance, either by +getting the line in his mouth and severing it, or by instituting a +counter-attack. + +Now in the present incident, whilst the cachalot was approaching his +end, spouting blood and becoming more feeble, another of his breed came +along and commenced to strike the boats with his flukes to aid his +dying comrade. The fresh cachalot therefore now lashed his tail across +both boats and swept Young out of his, throwing him a distance of +forty yards, killing him instantaneously, besides doing injury to the +boat itself. But the harpooned whale was killed, and the interfering +cachalot went off with many lance wounds in him. + +The sperm whale is notoriously gregarious, but when a lone cachalot +is found, he is always an aged bull. A school of whales consists of +from twenty to fifty and comprises cows, their young, and at least one +bull of the largest size who acts as escort. A pod consists of young +males. A body of whales is formed by two or more schools cruising +in company, and are often seen making a passage towards a definite +locality. Bennett, already quoted, to whom I am greatly indebted for +much information obtained at first hand, says that when pierced by +the harpoon the sperm whale will tow the boat at over fifteen miles +an hour, but until struck the mammal will not average more than ten +miles when pursued. The same authority mentions observing one cachalot +which continued below the surface for fifty-five minutes. When whales +are attacked, it is the females which render assistance to each other, +but the males prefer to retreat from their injured comrades. There is +not the slightest doubt that when a cachalot has been harpooned, other +whales even miles away show their consciousness of the fact, make off +or come down to assist, possibly informed by the transference of sound +through the plunging antics of the angered whale. Sperm whales have +been occasionally washed up on to British coasts, and during the recent +war, when some of us were on anti-submarine patrol off the Atlantic +coast of Ireland, there were not a few occasions when a whale was +reported as a German U-boat. + +Sea travellers, especially in the old sailing-ships’ days, have told +strange tales, but there is a true and curious incident which occurred +to a whaler named the _Foxhound_ in the southern ocean about the year +1817, one day when most of the crew were below at dinner. One hand +on deck heard a loud splashing and raised the alarm. Another went up +into the rigging and saw something projecting from the ship’s side: +and this turned out to be the beak of a swordfish broken off, which +after having penetrated right through the copper sheathing and solid +timbers protruded for most of a foot within the hold. That portion on +the outside was afterwards sawn off and a lead plate nailed over it. +A few months later, when the _Foxhound_ reached Sydney, it was found +impossible to withdraw this portion of the swordfish, and there it +remained until the ship reached England, when it had to be cut out. + +Narrow escapes to individuals in such a vocation as whaling were +inevitable: but it would be difficult for anyone to have a much nearer +approach to death than that of the officer in charge of a boat engaged +in killing a certain loose cachalot. The latter flung its flukes so +close to the officer’s head as to knock his hat off without doing +further damage. Another whale actually bit in two the thick pole of a +harpoon which had been fixed into the body of a companion. Nor was this +an isolated occasion, for on another date when a cachalot had freed his +mate by biting off the harpoon line, it became itself entangled in the +line so that it could not escape but was killed by the lance without +having been harpooned. All the same, the creature put up a magnificent +fight, and one blow from his flukes nearly broke off the stem and +hurled the crew into the sea. On yet another day, a whale after +smashing the boat with his flukes gave the crew an unpleasant time +whilst keeping his jaw immediately over their heads for some very long +moments. And this jaw extended fourteen and a half feet, or over half +the length of the boat; for they measured it on deck later, when the +whale had given them three more hours of hunting before it was killed. + +It was characteristic of some sperm whales that they preferred rather +to attack with their jaws than their tail, and would rush open-mouthed +against the boat in an endeavour to crush it with their teeth, for this +purpose turning and swimming on the back. There have been boats’ crews +so alarmed by this that they have leapt into the water and remained +there until the danger had passed. Just ninety years ago a fighting +whale turned round to attack the boats, injured them, and chased them +right back to the ship, where it remained for some time in spite of the +lances which were hurled at it. + +Many people who read the wonderful voyage of Captain Slocum round the +world alone will remember the occasion when his vessel was invaded by +undesirable natives and he managed to frighten them away by scattering +tacks along the deck, which were trodden on by the bare-footed people +with instantaneous effect. But this was a device that Slocum must have +learnt from old lore; for there was a whaler named the _Syren_ one day +off the Pellew Islands, and the boats were chasing a whale, when the +natives came aboard in their craft so threateningly as to drive the +remainder of the crew aloft. Now one of these men then remembered that +a packet of tin-tacks had been left in the top for some purpose, and he +now proceeded to strew them about the deck. The immediate result was +that the natives became terrified from the soles of their feet upwards, +and screamingly dived into the sea. + +I believe that the first time an Englishman ever saw the American flag +flying was aboard a whaler, and that was a vessel named the _Bedford_, +which came into English waters via the Downs one February day with +487 butts of whale oil. A contemporary periodical alluded to her as +“American built and manned wholly by American seamen. She wears the +rebel colours and belongs to Nantucket.” A few days later there arrived +in English waters the whaler _Industry_. But one of the most famous +whaling ships ever built is the _James Arnold_, launched in New Bedford +as far back as 1852. Indeed she is one of the most remarkable craft +ever built, and she is a connecting link with the days of romance and +the present mechanical age. For between the month of May 1853 and the +month of October 1894 this fine old vessel made a dozen long whaling +voyages--sometimes a cruise lasting for over four years--and during +this entire period of over forty years’ work brought home to her owners +as much oil and whalebone as sold for 876,425 dollars; or, reckoning +five dollars to the pound, she netted £175,285. Now in the year 1894 +the price of oil dropped to 56 cents a gallon, so in the following +March her owners sold her for £1,000. She was then fitted out at New +Bedford and sailed to Chili, where she commenced a second career. Ever +since she has been under the Chilian flag she has made whaling voyages +each year, with a brief interlude as a merchantman, and is still +engaged catching whales in the old-fashioned manner with harpoon and +lance. Her catch has averaged twelve hundred barrels, and in twenty-six +whaling years sailing out of Valparaiso she has made for her new owners +about £70,000. Thus, up to date, the _James Arnold_ has produced the +magnificent sum of £245,285 from whaling alone. This, I think, is a +record which must take some beating. + +The neighbourhood of New Bedford has by long tradition been the home of +whaling ships and whaling skippers. Therefore, as long as they lasted, +the _James Arnold_ had a New Bedford captain even after passing under +the Chilian flag. But now this fine race of whaling masters has died +out, so the old ship is navigated by a Chilian skipper, yet the actual +whaling operations of killing are carried out by sailors educated in +the art by New Bedford men. Constructed of oak and copper fastened, +this three-masted ship, with her old-time band of white running round +the hull and the black, square ports, keeps up the continuity of an +industry that has seen revolutionary changes in ships and methods. Her +gross tonnage is a little more than 345, length 115 ft., beam 27.6 +ft., depth 17.6 ft., and in spite of all these seventy-odd years of +wandering over the waters of the globe she is still tight and staunch, +and the oldest whaling ship in the world that is actively engaged in +the business. + +The _James Arnold_ was built by the brothers Jethro and Zachariah +Hillman, and there used to be a saying that a Hillman ship never +leaked. Well, these same New Bedford builders in the year 1841 +launched the whaling barque _Charles W. Morgan_, and she exists +to this day, though not actively. At the moment of writing she is +receiving that honour and preservation which she richly deserves. +Just as the _Victory_ in England has recently been transformed into a +kind of Nelson shrine commemorative of the last of the three-deckers, +so the American nation are treating the _Charles W. Morgan_. Last +autumn, after the hurricane which wrecked the whaler _Wanderer_ on the +Cuttyhunk rocks, the _Charles W. Morgan_ was left as the last American +whaler afloat, although she had not engaged in that industry since 1906. + +Like the _James Arnold_, this _Charles W. Morgan_ is square sterned in +accordance with the contemporary design, copper fastened and copper +sheathed. In the latter part of her career she used to sail for many +years from San Francisco to the North Pacific and Japanese whaling +grounds. But it was the competition of the modern steam whalers +which proved too keen for her, and she came back to the Atlantic. +For most of twenty years she lay secured to a wharf at Fairhaven, +opposite New Bedford, yet was occasionally taken to sea on behalf +of the moving-picture business. But thanks to the enormous interest +concerning old ships which is now being shown by America, the _Charles +W. Morgan_ was acquired in 1924 and a concrete crib was built for her +to be floated into for the last time from the sea, and thus remain as +an interesting and perfect example of what a real whaling ship looked +like; for in a very short time otherwise, who will be alive to speak +authentically? So it was decided to refit her according to the original +sail plan; for she began her career as a full-rigged ship but in 1867 +was cut down to a barque. Certain of the parts salved from the wrecked +_Wanderer_ were used in refitting the _Charles W. Morgan_, and thus +it will now be possible for posterity to consider in actuality three +of the most famous sailing ships of a glorious age restored to their +correct rig: the _Victory_ at Portsmouth, the _Cutty Sark_ at Falmouth, +and the _Charles W. Morgan_ near New Bedford. In these three vessels we +perceive the romance of the sea handed down for others to enjoy and be +inspired. And if only we possessed an old East Indiaman to make up the +quartette, we might rest assured that the glamour of an ancient glory +would never be forgotten. + +The _James Arnold_ and the _Bartholomew Gosnold_ discovered a new +whaling ground off New Zealand, and for several years worked it until +the secret came out. This _James Arnold_ has led a charmed life, for +there are some ships which always seem to cheat disaster, just as in +the Great War certain vessels blundered over and over again through +minefields and submarine zones without the slightest incident. When +the American Civil War broke out, the _James Arnold_ was sent into the +Atlantic, and although the rebel cruisers in 1862 and the following +year destroyed twenty or thirty whaling ships, the _James Arnold_ was +never captured. It is a commentary on the change in the affairs of +whaling that when this vessel was built, there were over six hundred +whaling ships and barques and over sixty brigs and schooners engaged as +whalers. But in the year that she passed under the Chilian flag these +numbers had dropped to forty-seven ships and barques and twenty-five +schooners. By the year 1923 there were not more than a dozen of the +old-fashioned sort under sail and employing the time-honoured methods. + +The loss of the _Wanderer_ was on this wise. That fine old barque, +which was the last American-owned whaler to sail on a whaling cruise, +was lying with all stores on board at the State Pier, New Bedford, on +Monday, August 25, 1924, and at 9 a.m. the tug hauled her into the +channel and she was headed south to Mischaum Point at the entrance to +Buzzards Bay. Here she anchored whilst her captain went back on the +tug to collect the rest of his crew. The glass was falling slowly but +surely. Now that evening it came on to blow hard from the N.E., and +throughout Tuesday there was the worst storm known for about seventy +years, so that it reached hurricane force, destroying on land trees +and buildings, whilst wrecking a number of boats. + +_Wanderer_ parted her heaviest cable, and then dragged her second +anchor as the wind had gone round to the N.W. She was carried across +to the island of Cuttyhunk and piled up on the rocks, and thus another +historic ship came to an untimely end. I have had the privilege of +seeing some unique photographs, which were courteously sent to me by +Dr. J. Richard Taylor, of Fairhaven. It happened that as the _Wanderer_ +was leaving on her last journey, Dr. Taylor was about in his motor +cruiser, and the first picture showed the _Wanderer_ leaving the +State Pier at 9 a.m. with a tug secured to the barque’s starboard +side. Another picture showed the tug towing the whaler past Fort +Rodman, and she was shown again at 10.50 a.m. just before anchoring +off Mischaum Point. These most interesting wreck pictures portray her +as she appeared when the gale had left her on the rocks of Cuttyhunk +Island. This island, by the way, has a stone tower memorial which is of +great historical interest to all who think about the sea. The name of +Bartholomew Gosnold we mentioned just now as being commemorated in a +whaler. But the original Gosnold carries us right back to the time when +Queen Elizabeth was recently dead. + +For it was on Lady Day, 1602, that Captain Bartholomew Gosnold in +command of the ships _Concord_ and _Dartmouth_ sailed from Falmouth, +crossed the Atlantic from England to North America and coasted along +the east and south shore of Cape Cod, and landed at what is now called +Cuttyhunk Island on May 24th. Here he built a house and “a little +fort,” but giving up the settlement sailed for England on June 17th, +reaching Exmouth on July 23rd. Gosnold thus formed the first English +settlement in New England, and his is now the name of the township in +which Cuttyhunk lies. Thus, by a chain of incidents, the spot which the +_Wanderer_ finally chose as her resting-place, after roaming over the +seven seas, now has become doubly historic in the realm of maritime +events. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE PERSONAL ELEMENT + + +It used to be the custom--certainly among the whalers of the Greenland +and Davis Straits--after the whale had been brought alongside the +ship for the harpooners, before getting to work on the animal’s +dissection, to arm their feet with spurs. This was in order to prevent +their slipping, and Scoresby relates a curious accident which he once +witnessed in this connection. + +Attending on these men were usually a couple of boats with one or +two boys, who would be ready to pass along the harpooners’ knives, +blubber-spades and so on. Boat-hooks would naturally be used for +holding on to the dead animal. Now whilst these harpooners were busy +flensing, and one of these men was standing on the whale’s jaw-bone, +a lad in the boat clumsily and accidentally, whilst keeping the craft +alongside, thrust the point of his boat-hook through the ring of the +harpooner’s spur and simultaneously hooked on to the jaw-bone. The +harpooner presently found himself in the water and held by the foot. He +managed to catch hold of the boat’s gunwale, but by this time the point +had been reached when the blubber and whalebone had been extracted and +the carcase was just being let go. And the position now was that the +unfortunate expert was fastened to this sinking carcase. + +It seemed only a question of a few seconds before carcase would pull +man below the surface of the sea, and he was just about to let go the +gunwale when some of his shipmates threw a rope round his body. With +all that weight suspended from him, the harpooner was in great agony, +but what he feared most was that he might be dragged below: so in spite +of his pain he shouted to his pals to haul away at the rope, and this +was the actual means of saving him, for eventually the carcase was +hooked with a grapnel and the man was freed. But he had been quite as +near to death as it is possible for any human to approach. + +These harpooners at work separating the blubber fat worked under the +direction of the specksioneer, or head fat-cutter, the expert of +experts on the subject of whales. But if in the seventeenth-century +Dutch whalers the specksioneer (or more correctly the “specksynder”) +was in supreme control of a whaler, and the captain was a mere sailing +master, just as in the sixteenth century expeditions were under the +leadership of a landsman, the British Greenland whaling ships of the +eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were under the command of seafaring +captains and the specksioneer was merely a senior harpooner and not +in supreme command. It is interesting as showing that the handling +and navigation of the ship were considered of greater importance than +expert knowledge of the whales themselves. But it is also a fact that +in the course of years the sailing master had amassed all the available +information about whales, their cruising grounds, and their habits, and +the methods of hunting them. In the American early nineteenth-century +whalers the specksioneer was of greater authority than in contemporary +British ships and sometimes took charge of the deck. For this reason, +as support to his authority, the specksioneer lived apart from the +crew. In the modern steam whalers, dealt with towards the end of this +volume, we find that the twentieth-century practice is rather to +give back to the harpooner, or gunner, that supremacy of place which +he occupied three hundred years ago. Divided authority always has its +drawbacks, and so long as the sailing master is responsible for his +ship and the harpooner cares only for getting the maximum of whales it +is conceivable that there will be a clashing of wills sooner or later. +On the grounds of discipline and unity of purpose there is everything +to be said for the principle of captain and specksioneer being one and +the same person. + +For the purpose of overcoming the jealousies and arguments, the +disputes and violent quarrels on the whaling grounds it became +necessary for the Dutch during the seventeenth century to impose on +their ships drastic regulations, which had to be subscribed to by every +captain, specksioneer and officer. In the British Arctic whalers the +official Government regulations were not necessary, for the custom of +the industry was usually respected, although litigation did sometimes +arise, of which an instance has been given in another chapter. But +there were two plain and simple traditions which in actual practice had +the value of laws. Firstly, there was the question of a whale which +had been harpooned or fastened. This was the most fruitful source +of animosity: for harpoons from two or more boats, all of different +ships, might penetrate the whale, especially in the case of a long +and difficult hunt. The first boat would naturally claim the whale +as his, and the last boat of all, who finally had brought about the +animal’s death, might insist that the prize was his. In order to avoid +such disputes the British custom of the sea was that a whale which had +been fastened, or in any way was in possession of a boat, belonged to +that boat which maintains connection or possession, no matter whether +the whale were dead or alive. Secondly, a whale that was loose and +unfastened, dead or alive, was fair game for all; but there were +occasions when this last-mentioned custom presented difficulties. +Supposing, for example, that a ship’s boat had been hunting a certain +whale all day, harpooned him, been towed for many miles by him, and +then with the oncoming of night and owing to the distance from the +ship, it had become necessary to cut the line. What then? Next day, or +perhaps weeks later, some other ship might find that whale many miles +away but with the harpoon still in him, and the name of the ship on +that harpoon. Perhaps the whale might be harpooned again and chased for +a long while and then killed. Whose was that whale? Did it belong to +the ship whose harpoon had been identified? Or did the spoil go to the +final vessel? + +The following is an instance which occurred in the Greenland fishery. +Several whalers were beating to windward along the edge of the ice, the +vessels being under easy sail, for it was blowing a gale accompanied +by snow. But when the wind and snow eased up and the ships made +towards the ice, two vessels, distant from each other about a mile, +both sighted a dead whale within some loose ice. Now, since this +whale was not “fastened” she was fair game for either ship, and there +ensued a keen race as to which should reach the animal first. But the +two vessels were most evenly matched, and there was no such thing as +superiority in their sailing ability. So keen was the contest that each +captain had hopes of harpooning without lowering boats, and in the bows +of both ships was standing an officer ready to let drive his harpoon so +soon as the whale was reached. + +Now it must have been apparent that two evenly matched sailing ships +both heading for the same small object in a big sea would converge and +collide. This indeed happened when within a few yards of the whale, +and actually the shock was so violent that bow struck bow with such +force that the two craft rebounded. Harpoons were hurled at the whale +but fell short. And then a keen seaman who was second mate of the lee +ship dived overboard into those bitterly cold waters, swam off to the +whale, seized its fin and announced to the world that the prize was +his. It was a plucky if somewhat foolish act: for he found himself +unable to climb up and had to remain shivering in that Arctic water. +Somehow in the excitement and joy that the other vessel had been +outwitted, this second mate’s captain neglected to worry about his +officer’s unpleasant predicament hanging on to the dead whale. Instead +of at once lowering a boat, the skipper was more concerned with mooring +his whaler to a suitable piece of ice. + +But in the meantime ship number two had tacked and the master of her +had lowered a boat, got into it and rowed off to the solitary mariner +still hanging on to the dead whale. So he called to the mate, whose +shivering hand was still on the fin. “Well? You’ve got a fine fish +there,” said the skipper. “Yes,” agreed the unhappy mate. “But don’t +you find it very cold?” asked the captain, beholding the livid lips. +“Yes, I do,” answered the mate. “And I’m almost starved: I wish you’d +let me come into your boat until ours arrives.” “Certainly,” approved +the charitable but wide-awake skipper. The boat was rowed alongside the +whale, and, in fact, the man was assisted on board the boat with the +greatest enthusiasm. + +But immediately afterwards the clever old skipper struck a harpoon +into the carcase of the whale, hoisted his flag and claimed it as +his prize; for it was now loose and was anyone’s property until this +moment. There was no question as to the right of the new owner, nor +was it even disputed. But skipper number one was wild with anger when +he realized the trick which had been played. There remained nothing +to be done except to see several hundred golden sovereigns’ worth of +whale going aboard his rival ship, and then he turned round and cursed +his over-gallant mate for having been such a fool as to let go of that +fin. There are, indeed, times when one is praised less for bravery +than for astuteness. But I presume that mate would in future leave +daring enterprise to others who thought nothing of the encouragement by +gratitude. + +Whaling could not be learnt in a few weeks or even a season: and +especially was this true of the Greenland industry, where the +conditions of ice and weather were difficult problems. Experience, +judgment, perseverance, seamanship, good navigational ability and that +indescribable special fisherman-sense which is able to know where the +fish are: these were the qualities which went to make the successful +whaler captain. Seamanship was perhaps more important than at first +consideration you might imagine. When there was such similarity of +build in these more or less standardized ships, there was not a great +deal of difference in the respective speeds: therefore the personal +element came into the matter. After the fleet had penetrated up the +Davis Straits, for example, and been prevented from advancing owing to +the obstructing ice, there might one day show itself a narrow opening +just big enough for a skilful skipper to work his ship through. If he +could do this before the sea was ready for the general advance, then he +would have the pick of the sea, he would get whales and possibly fill +up his holds before the other ships could sail through. Taking whaling +as a whole, success depended far more on the captain’s character and +skill, and next on his harpooners, than on the ship herself. The first +thing requisite was whaling knowledge: but when the captain had +brought his ship to the right area, the rest depended on the look-outs +and the harpooners. + +Seamen are singularly child-like: and whaler crews were of this +sort, too. If they began to lose confidence in the “old man” or in +the harpooner’s skill, they would lose all heart in the cruise, +become discouraged, lack spirit, and consequently would allow golden +opportunities to pass by. Thus, bad officers would ruin any whaling +vessel, and she would come home, if not “clean,” at any rate with an +indifferent cargo. On the other hand, nothing succeeds like success, +and nothing gave the men greater confidence than the capture of several +whales by clever harpooning. It satisfied them that the harpooner knew +his business and was worthy of their assistance, it encouraged them as +they reflected on the monetary reward which was accumulating; and it +assured them that should the animal’s tail one day give them a stove +boat, it would be just one of those inevitable accidents of their +calling. If one of the boat’s crew had the misfortune to get his foot +foul of the harpoon line after the whale had been struck, then it was +just a case of “his own b----y fault” that for the rest of his life he +would not have a complete pair of feet. + +But had this happened in a boat whose harpooner was “gallied,” nervous +or inexperienced, then that crew would have been ruined for the rest of +the voyage, the incident would be discussed in the fo’c’sle, and even +the best of the other boats’ crews would become infected with just that +spirit which prevents success. Thus it was the personal element which +mattered most in whaling. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE WAY THEY HAD IN THE WHALERS + + +Just as in this first quarter of the twentieth century we are at pains +to get together every possible detail of the dying sailing ship--there +are but four canvas-driven ocean-goers at the time of writing that +still fly the Red Ensign--before the last of a fine race disappears +from existence; so with the passing of the sailing whaler and the +establishment of the steam “catcher” it is meet that we should set down +all those items which illustrate the life and methods of the old-time +vessels. And in this chapter we shall not confine ourselves to the +routine of the northern whalers. + +The crude harpoon-gun which was in existence at the beginning of +the nineteenth century had been improved by a gunsmith at Hull, +though between 1772 and the next twenty years the Society of Arts +had by giving premiums to whaler-men and others tried to encourage +improvements both in the gun and the harpoon itself. But the Hull +evolution had produced a weapon with an inch-and-seven-eighths bore, +the gun being about two feet long, of wrought iron and working on a +swivel. A special arrangement was devised to lessen its liability to +miss fire. The shank of the harpoon was double, ending in a knob which +fitted the bore of the gun. This gun could fire its harpoon about forty +yards, but owing to the difficulty in working this gun it was never in +universal use and the old-fashioned method of hurling the hand harpoon +continued to be employed even long after Svend Foyn introduced his new +gun and system. + +The whaling gear was overhauled and fitted on the voyage out to the +whaling grounds. The four fathoms of 2-1/4-inch hemp of the “foregoer” +or “foreganger” was now spliced to the harpoon’s shank, every harpoon +being stamped with the name of the ship and the master, so that there +could be no question as to which ship had a right to any particular +cetacean, for there was a good deal of jealousy and argument bound to +arise when more than one ship’s boats had fastened to the same whale. +Great care was taken of the harpoon’s point, and after it had been +sharpened and cleaned it was protected by a bit of oiled paper or +canvas. + +The complete outfit for each of the boats consisted of a couple of +harpoons, at least a dozen lances, five to seven oars, a “jack” or flag +on a pole as a signal that the whale had been harpooned; a tail-knife +for making holes in the animal’s tail through which the towing rope +could be passed after he was killed; a rest in which the stock of the +ready-to-use harpoon was supported at the bow; an axe for cutting the +line, a bucket for bailing or for wetting the line; a snatch-block, +grapnel, boat-hooks, mallet, swab, grommets and one or two other items. +It was in the bigger (six-oared) boats that the harpoon-gun was ever +carried, and these craft also were fitted with a winch for hauling in +the lines after the whale had been fastened. In these whaling boats you +never saw a rudder: steering was always done by means of a long oar. +Why was this? The answer is that speed was of the utmost importance, +and everyone well knows that as soon as you put your helm over in a +boat, the rudder acts as a drag. Many an inexperienced coxswain in a +modern eight-oared racing craft has learnt this to his cost. + +And this long steering oar was convenient for getting the boat round +when the rowers were at rest. But generally for quickly sculling the +boat out of a narrow gat where the ice would not allow of oars; for +quick manœuvring, and for approaching the whale without making that +noise inseparable from several blades being dipped--this stern oar was +essential. Each whaling ship split up its crew into as many divisions +as she carried boats: but when the ship was making a passage the crew +were divided into two watches in the usual manner. + +The whaling service had its standard of efficiency, and in its own +way it was unique. In regard to boatmanship, quite apart from general +seamanship, this standard has seldom been equalled. Thus if the vessel +were already cruising in an area where whales could be expected, the +boats were always ready for immediate use, hanging from their davits +or cranes, complete with all stores, and within one minute of the +order being given after the sighting of the whale, at least two boats +properly manned could be in the water. Every sailor to-day would admit +that this showed first-class organization and discipline up to a point. +In the crow’s nest, whilst cruising about the whale area, was one of +the officers, or even sometimes the captain himself with his telescope +sweeping the sea. If the fish sighted were large, then two boats were +sent: if there were more than one whale, then more than two boats were +ordered away; and when every boat had been sent off the ship was said +to have “a loose fall.” + +Such was the zeal for efficiency that when cruising in fine weather +and whales were expected at any hour, a boat might be already in the +water towing astern. Greenhorns in these boats with little experience +in rowing were sure of many cursings and several impressive blows on +the head from the officer in charge: for smooth, steady rowing without +catching “crabs” was essential. “There were two greenies in each boat,” +mentions the late Frank T. Bullen, from whose classic, _The Cruise of +the Cachalot_, we have quoted more than once, “they being so arranged +that whenever one of them ‘caught a crab,’ which of course was about +every other stroke, his failure made little difference to the boat’s +progress. They learned very fast under the terrible imprecations and +storms of blows from the iron-fisted and iron-hearted officers.” + +Elsewhere in these pages I have spoken of the whale as elusive: this +adjective exactly fits him. Scoresby says “that a whale seldom abides +longer on the surface of the water than two minutes, that it generally +remains from five to ten or fifteen minutes under water, that in this +interval it sometimes moves through the space of half a mile or more, +and that the fisher has very rarely any certain intimation of the place +in which it will appear.” Still, an experienced harpooner considered +himself successful if his whale reappeared within a couple of hundred +yards. But just as in the case of the modern submarine, so the whale +under way, submerged just below the surface, leaves an eddy in his +progress. The hand-harpoon was effective at a range of not more than +ten yards: the old-fashioned harpoon-gun at about thirty yards. The +head was impenetrable, so it was never aimed at. + +Bullen’s service aboard a whaler was from 1875 onwards, and he has +left behind invaluable information concerning the life aboard one of +those New Bedford vessels. But Herman Melville in his _Moby Dick_ +based his yarn on his whaling voyage aboard the _Acushnet_ in the +eighteen-forties: and his vivid description of the lowering of these +boats is too precious not to be quoted. + +“‘There she blows! there! there! there! she blows! she blows!’ + +“‘Where-away?’ + +“‘On the lee-beam, about two miles off! a school of them.’ + +“Instantly all was commotion. + +“The sperm whale blows as a clock ticks, with the same undeviating and +reliable uniformity. And thereby whalemen distinguish this fish from +other tribes of his genus. + +“‘There go flukes!’ was now the cry from Tashtego; and the whales +disappeared. + +“‘Quick, steward!’ cried Ahab. ‘Time! time!’ + +“Dough-Boy hurried below, glanced at the watch, and reported the +exact minute to Ahab. The ship was now kept away from the wind, and +she went gently rolling before it. Tashtego reporting that the whales +had gone down heading to leeward, we confidently looked to see them +again directly in advance of our bows.... One of the men selected for +ship-keepers--that is, those not appointed to the boats, by this time +relieved the Indian at the mainmast head. The sailors at the fore and +mizzen had come down; the line tubs were fixed in their places; the +cranes were thrust out; the mainyard was backed, and the three boats +swung over the sea like three samphire baskets over high cliffs. +Outside of the bulwarks their eager crews with one hand clung to the +rail, while one foot was expectantly poised on the gunwale. So look the +long line of man-of-war’s men about to throw themselves on board an +enemy’s ship.... + +“‘All ready there, Fedallah?’ + +“‘Ready,’ was the half-hissed reply. + +“‘Lower away, then: d’ye hear?’ shouting across the deck. ‘Lower away +there, I say.’ + +“... The men sprang over the rail: the sheaves whirled round in the +blocks; with a wallow, the three boats dropped into the sea; while, +with a dexterous, off-handed daring, unknown in any other vocation, the +sailors, goat-like, leaped down the rolling ship’s side into the tossed +boats below. + +“Hardly had they pulled out from under the ship’s lee, when a fourth +keel, coming from the windward side, pulled round under the stern, +and showed the five strangers rowing; Ahab, who standing erect in the +stern, loudly hailed Starbuck, Stubb, and Flask to spread themselves +widely, so as to cover a large expanse of water. + +“And then the exhortations of the officer to urge the crew to row +towards the whale, which had now come into sight again, blowing right +ahead: + +“‘Pull, pull, my fine hearts alive; pull, my children; pull, my little +ones,’ drawlingly and soothingly sighed Stubb to his crew.... ‘Why +don’t you break your backbones, my boys? What is it you stare at? Those +chaps in yonder boat? Tut! They are only five more hands come to help +us--never mind from where--the more the merrier. Pull, then, do pull: +never mind the brimstone--devils are good fellows enough. So, so; +there you are now; that’s the stroke for a thousand pounds; that’s the +stroke to sweep the stakes! Hurrah for the gold cup of sperm oil, my +heroes! Three cheers, men--all hearts alive! Easy, easy; don’t be in a +hurry--don’t be in a hurry. Why don’t you snap your oars, you rascals? +Bite something, you dogs! So, so, so, then; softly, softly. That’s +it--that’s it! long and strong. Give way there, give way! The devil +fetch ye, ye ragamuffin rapscallions; ye are all asleep. Stop snoring, +ye sleepers, and pull. Pull, will ye? pull, can’t ye? pull, won’t ye? +Why in the name of gudgeons and ginger-cakes don’t ye pull? pull and +break something! pull, and start your eyes out! Here!’ whipping out +the sharp knife from his girdle; ‘every mother’s son of ye draw his +knife, and pull with the blade between his teeth. That’s it--that’s +it. Now ye do something; that looks like it, my steel-bits. Start +her--start her, my silver spoons! Start her, marling-spikes!’” + +Yes: there was something personal, very human, inspiring and thrilling +in those fine boat hunts which used to go on from these old ships +during the longest voyages which were ever made by men. Melville refers +to the life aboard the Nantucket whalers with their sharing-out system +of remuneration, their common luck, their common vigilance as tending +in some cases “to beget a less rigorous discipline than in merchantmen +generally; yet, never mind how much like an old Mesopotamian family +these whalemen may, in some primitive instances, live together; for +all that, the punctilious externals, at least, of the quarter-deck are +seldom materially relaxed, and in no instance done away. Indeed, many +are the Nantucket ships in which you will see the skipper parading his +quarter-deck with an exalted grandeur not surpassed in any military +navy; nay, extorting almost as much outward homage as if he wore the +imperial purple, and not the shabbiest of pilot-cloth.” + +Scoresby says that during the capture of a whale, the line would with +its friction sometimes cut a groove in the bollard about an inch deep +and therefore they used to put a plate of brass, or iron, or lignum +vitæ where the line passed over the stem, otherwise in one season’s +successful whaling the boat would be cut right through to the water’s +edge. A really experienced harpooner was always careful not to have too +many turns round that bollard. Sometimes it was a great temptation so +to do, when the whale was apparently never going to cease his progress. +The harpooner naturally desired to retard the animal and to increase +the drag by not slackening up the line: but too many turns sometimes +meant that the line would get entangled, it could not be eased off +when an obstacle of ice came across the boat’s path. Then suddenly the +boat would be drawn beneath the ice, or smashed to small pieces of +wood--unless an axe was able to be applied in time. + +Not even the greatest expert could ever say how long a period would +elapse between the harpooning of the whale and the final capture. +Scoresby says that the average time was not exceeding an hour, but he +himself remembered the occasion when it took twenty-eight minutes; and +another when after sixteen hours the whale actually escaped from its +line. But, apart from the ice, the worst enemy of the Arctic whalers +was that succession of thick fogs which were to be expected in June +and July. Not merely did they endanger the ships, but they interfered +seriously with the actual whaling operations. Even if the animal were +fastened, the boat would be towed immediately away from the ship’s +sight and the boatmen lose all sense of direction and distance. The +ship’s bell or horn could signal for a certain distance: but if the +boat were beyond the hearing of a gun, then both shipmaster and boat’s +officer had every reason to become anxious. A gale frequently follows +in the wake of a fog: but up there hunger was always waiting to follow +the biting cold. Death from either or both was always threatening. + +The persistency of some whales is well illustrated by an incident which +happened to a boat in June of 1812 when the Whitby whaler _Resolution_ +had reached her northern hunting-ground. The boat had fastened the +whale when close to the edge of a small ice-floe, and then a second +boat came along with her lines and bent on to those of the first. The +whale was towing so furiously that it seemed likely to pull the boat’s +bows under. Two or three men went aft but the stern was still well +out of the water, and the harpooner was enveloped in the smoke of the +line’s friction round the bollard so that he was invisible. Finally the +bow of the boat was pulled below the sea, but the crew leapt overboard +and succeeded in getting on the ice. + +The whale was still visible, and now there occurred the strange +phenomenon of the ships themselves working their way through the tricky +ice channels and going off in a general chase: for the animal already +was anyone’s property who was able to capture it. The boats in the +neighbourhood also chased and within an hour three harpoons were fixed, +but the whale now making his way below a large floe, drew all the lines +out of the second boat that was fast: and since the latter’s officer +could get no further assistance, he secured his line to a hummock, but +the line broke. There still remained two boats fast, and they were both +dragged, in this mad advance, against a floe and one of the harpoons +drew out. That left one boat still being towed, but with six or eight +lines out. + +There followed a species of excitement which made a sensitive nature +almost delirious: for the whale next went blundering through great +blocks of ice with the boat astern, and occasionally the stout line +would get hung up, then with a twang suddenly slip clear, and with the +speed of a bird the boat would rush forward over ice, into the water +again, and then the onrush would continue. Finally the sportive mammal +was seen towing only the sunken boat and any amount of line, but the +drag of nearly four miles of ropes and immersed craft must have been +something tremendous. Thanks to a good breeze, the ship was able to +chase under all sail, and after nine miles from the spot, the vessel +came up and sent a couple of spare boats off. But one of the harpooners +unskilfully allowed the whale to see the boat approaching, and after +resting awhile it made off in alarm. However, the boats were placed at +suitable points, the whale rose and was promptly harpooned three times +more in addition to being lanced vigorously, so that finally it was +killed after a magnificent display of pluck and persistence. Altogether +this animal had taken out six miles of line and sunk one boat. + +It is this side of whaling--the virile drama between men of the sea and +the leviathan of the deep--that gives the work a thrill which is absent +in most other occupations. Rapid thinking, quick judgment, active +limbs; dexterous management of harpoon, of lines, and of boat itself +were essential. It was a battle of wits as well as of courage, with +such items as fog and ice to make the contest more varied; and the big +monetary reward always being dangled ahead of the men in the boat. In +other kinds of fishing there are dangers of varying degree, but chiefly +in respect of weather alone. In whale-catching the excitement, the +risks, the cool nerve required in the days of sail can be compared only +with big-game hunting on land. In describing his first whale, Bullen +mentions the horror with which he realized, after having harpooned the +whale, that “down went the nose of the boat almost under the water, +while at the mate’s order everybody scrambled aft into the elevated +stern sheets. The line sang quite a tune as it was grudgingly allowed +to surge round the loggerhead, filling one with admiration at the +strength shown by such a small rope. This sort of thing went on for +about twenty minutes, in which time we quite emptied the large tub and +began on the small one.... Mr. Cruce, the second mate, had got a whale +and was doing his best to kill it; but he was severely handicapped by +his crew, or rather had been, for two of them were now temporarily +incapable of either good or harm. They had gone quite ‘batchy’ with +fright, requiring a not too gentle application of the tiller to their +heads in order to keep them quiet. The remedy, if rough, was effectual, +for the ‘subsequent proceedings interested them no more.’” + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +IN THE SOUTHERN SEAS + + +By the year 1849 British whaling had reached a very low level, ship +after ship having given up, and only fourteen vessels under that flag +being so employed. But then Charles Enderby, a British merchant, a +Fellow of the Royal Society, and the greatest authority in the country +on the southern whaling industry, made a big effort to remedy this. + +Enderby’s family name is, like other pioneers in the whaling +enterprise, connected with exploration, and perpetuated by that +Antarctic, desolate district known as Enderby Land, which was visited +in 1831 by Captain Biscoe in one of the ships owned by Enderby’s +firm. It was this same Biscoe, by the way, who visited in 1832 the +west coast of Graham Land, which to-day is such an important whaling +neighbourhood. Now in the years from 1839 to 1843 Sir James Clark Ross +(nephew of Sir John Ross who explored Baffin’s Bay) was in command of +that _Erebus_ and _Terror_ expedition into the Antarctic Seas, and in +1847 he published his _Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern +and Antarctic Seas_. + +It was in the same year this volume appeared that Charles Enderby +published his pamphlet, which caused a great deal of interest in +England. Ross had made a lengthy stay at the Auckland Islands in 1840 +and reported that “in the whole range of the vast Southern Ocean no +spot could be found combining so completely the essential requisites +for a fixed whaling station.” Enderby seized on this idea, and formed +a corporation called the Southern Whale Fishery Company. The object +was partly commercial, and partly patriotic. For the British whaling +industry was moribund. Between 1838 and 1845 the produce of the +American whale fishery had, on the contrary, averaged 37,459 tuns, +but during 1845 it had risen to 43,064 tuns or the equivalent of +£1,420,447, whereas in that year the entire British whaling whether +in the north or in the South Seas did not amount to more than 5,564 +tuns, or £249,181: and there was the further point that those eighteen +thousand seamen in American vessels were a very fine national asset. +Enderby’s attitude was, therefore, this: If we can only believe Ross +we can revive the southern whaling industry, we can cease depending on +America for our whale produce, and at the same time we shall be raising +up a fine seamanhood, which is very much to be desired on patriotic +grounds. + +The arguments, therefore, were almost identical with those of Elking in +regard to the Dutch a hundred and twenty-five years previously. Just +as then Holland possessed almost the monopoly, so now it was in the +hands of America. Such arguments as these not infrequently succeed in +obtaining support, and because Britain owned but fourteen whalers, and +the good feeling which to-day exists between the two countries was then +largely that of suspicion and jealousy, Enderby’s proposition was well +received by statesmen, the peerage, the Royal Navy, and by the leading +merchants of the City of London. His plan was to have a whaling station +formed at those uninhabited Auckland Islands which lie a hundred and +eighty miles south of New Zealand, and had been discovered only as +recently as 1806. A small fleet of whalers should be built and sailed +out, Enderby’s plan being to create a settlement at that out-of-the-way +spot. Obviously it would be impossible for the whaling fleet to bring +back the produce, but the intention was that these ships should operate +solely in those southern waters, land their oil at Auckland Islands, +refit, and then go off on a further cruise. For transportation of the +produce from here they would rely on those sailing ships visiting +Australia and New Zealand, which would be glad of the oil freight to +take back to England. + +The British Government became more than interested, gave their full +approval, and in fact granted in 1849 a Royal Charter of Incorporation +to the company which Enderby formed, the capital being fixed at +£100,000. This national undertaking, which was to prevent the nation’s +dependence on America for its whale produce, and to employ so many +seamen, somehow appealed very strongly to the early Victorians. A big +public dinner was given to Enderby in April of that year, presided over +by Rear-Admiral J. W. D. Dundas, C.B., M.P., attended by Government +Ministers, merchants of the City of London, ship-owners and so on. +The usual laudatory speeches were made, and Enderby was spoken of as +about to make what was really a voyage of discovery. “Whoever had paid +attention to the commerce of this country,” said Mr. Labouchere in his +speech, “could not but regret that so important a branch of trade as +the Southern Whale Fisheries should have been suffered by this country +to decline, and to be almost entirely transferred to the United States +of America.” + +It showed Enderby’s own belief in the scheme that he elected to go out +with that expedition personally, and he was sure that if the British +Whaling Industry was to be re-established, this was the means of doing +it. The old-fashioned method of a vessel going on a three-and-a-half +years’ cruise and carrying her accumulated cargo about with her seemed +to Enderby disadvantageous. So the Southern Whale Fishery Company +was given a good send-off, the Government had made a grant of these +Auckland Islands to Enderby and his two brothers, he himself being made +Lieutenant-Governor. Two ships, the _Samuel Enderby_ of 395 registered +tons, and the _Fancy_ of 321 tons, set forth from England in August +1849, Charles Enderby himself being in one of them, and reached the +Auckland Islands in December. In the former was a crew of picked men, +but in the other ships no such precaution was taken. The _Brisk_ of 265 +tons sailed soon after these two, and among the fleet eventually got +out there were the _Sir Edward Parry_, _Sir James Ross_, _The Earl of +Hardwicke_, _Lord Nelson_ and _Lord Duncan_. + +But in spite of all that enthusiasm of the public dinner, in spite of +all that had been prophesied, this scheme turned out a failure and +the whaling was eventually abandoned, not without a certain amount +of bad feeling and recrimination between Enderby and the Court of +Directors, who eventually sent out a couple of representatives to +supersede Enderby. There were mutual charges of mismanagement, the +company exhausted the whole of its capital and the Aucklands station +was abandoned after twenty months’ occupation. Port Ross had been this +pioneer’s headquarters, and he had taken out thirty-seven men and +eighteen women, and set to work to cultivate the ground, make roads and +erect dwellings. But we need not stop to inquire as to which party was +responsible for the failure of the plan: it is sufficient to emphasize +that it never succeeded either as a settlement or as a fishery. + +A certain amount of cruising was done, and sperm whales were sighted; +but only a few were ever taken by the ships. Enderby complained that in +this respect the loss was owing to the company’s mismanagement on two +counts. Firstly, the whalers had been built in such a way that they +could carry not more than 115 tuns of oil, whereas they ought to have +been able to contain 185 tuns. Secondly, the company had paid £8,200 +each for ships which could have been built and equipped in America for +£5,000 each. But thirdly, the whole success of the whaling enterprise +depended on the personnel. By 1847 there were practically no men in +England expert in hunting the “common” whale, since this occupation had +been long abandoned. + +But in North America plenty of these men would have been available, +and have made all the difference between success and failure; for +a bad “headsman” in a boat would always spoil the morale of fresh, +green hands, and in the end ruin all prospects of the voyage. The +directors of the company, Enderby complained, had sent out only four +of these experts, who were not enough for the boats of one vessel, +let alone eight. The chief ability of a whaling master--his supreme +recommendation--should be his capacity for killing whales. This duty +demanded both courage and activity, and such endowments were to be +found usually only in men of the age of twenty to twenty-eight. These +men could always obtain high wages, and a good young captain with +a reputation had never any difficulty in picking the best officers +and crew: consequently, where every whaling voyage was a separate +adventure, it paid to obtain only the finest whaling masters. And it +was just because these did not at that time exist in Britain that the +Company should have gone to America for them, where they could have +been found in abundance without the slightest difficulty. There was +another matter that caused trouble in this Auckland settlement. Drink, +that curse of so many otherwise happy ships, became one of the problems +with which Enderby had to wrestle until he was compelled to destroy +all spirits except those kept for medicinal purposes. American whalers, +with a few exceptions, were run on temperance principles. + +Thus this Auckland whaling venture turned out hopelessly, and its +failure was due chiefly to the plain fact of the British lack of expert +leaders in this highly specialized work. There was this in common +between the northern and the southern whaling: the amount of physical +risk though different in kind was similar in degree. The true whales +in the north were not usually combative, but there was always the +great risk of ice and heavy weather. The sperm whaling in the southern +seas was bereft of ice danger until right down in the approach to the +Antarctic: but the cachalot is a bolder, more mischievous, fighting +animal, threatening that destruction to boats and ships which we have +already noticed. In the attempts to make whaling flourish, British +effort in the warmer seas, such as the Pacific for example, has never +rivalled all those generations of effort which were made in the Arctic +areas. But to-day whatever future whaling may seem to possess rests on +that Antarctic part of the world which we shall discuss in due place. + +It is characteristic of some sperm whales that they prefer to use +their dangerous jaws, when attacked, rather than employ their tail. +The mammal turns on his back, keeping its jaw suspended ominously over +the boat. Sometimes this used to put such fear into a boat’s crew that +they would all take a leap into the water and remain there till the +danger passed. In 1836 an American whaler in the South Seas had one of +her boats in this manner nipped right in two, but fortunately none of +the crew on this occasion was injured. Incidentally it may be mentioned +that during the early part of the nineteenth century there had come a +change in the building of the carvel whaling boats, the wood being +sawn out of straight-grained oak, and then bent by steam or boiling +water, being thus rendered more elastic than when sawn. At the same +time they were stronger and lighter. This practice had been for a long +time employed for the clinker-built boats, but not for the carvel, and +its introduction was made by Thomas Brodrick, a Whitby shipbuilder. + +The whalers in the Greenland Sea or Baffin’s Bay well realized that +their greatest enemy was not the whale but the ice. In the warm +southern seas every boat-launching might lead to a fatal risk. Thus, +for example, in the year 1835 the whaler _Pusie Hall’s_ boats, four +in number, were out after a whale which chased them back to the ship, +killed one of the boat’s hands, bit one of the officers, and for quite +a time resisted all the lances hurled at it from the bows of the ship. +One particularly notorious fighting whale was an individual who used +to cruise off the New Zealand coast, and was easily recognized by his +white hump. He was well known to the crews and went by the name of “New +Zealand Tom.” Another celebrated fighter used to inhabit the Straits of +Timor, and he was at last killed only after he had nipped off with his +jaws a boat’s bows. + +During the year 1836 the South Sea whaler _Arabella_ was cruising off +the Society Islands when the whale, after being harpooned, turned +suddenly round, hit the boat with his head, broke it in two and then +swam through it. In such circumstances as these the experience, the +coolness and skill of the man in charge of the boat meant all that +Enderby insisted. One nipped boat, one incident of raw hands being left +to swim about looking up at those threatening jaws, was quite enough to +make the crew nervous for the rest of the ship’s voyage. But a good man +with knowledge and courage, vigorous and determined, could make light +of these incidents and inspire his men to further efforts. + +In the throwing of the harpoon lay the great skill, but if through +nervousness or lack of experience the line became entangled, the boat +might be drawn below the water almost instantaneously: and there are +instances on record where boats mysteriously and rapidly disappeared +from what was surmised to be this cause. A smart man of course was on +the look-out for such an occurrence, and some officers always used to +have an axe ready in the hand while the line was running out: for a +quick, sharp blow and the immediate severance of the line were the only +things which could save lives and boat. + +Yes: a novice in charge was too dangerous. Perhaps the ideal was a man +of about twenty-six years of age, who had been brought up in whalers +since he was a lad. He had been out in boats under experts, he had +learned all the tricks which an angry whale could play, and he was +young enough to enjoy fighting yet old enough to know how. We all +understand how dangerous in a small sailing craft is a raw landsman, +who has not yet learned the importance of ropes running clear through +blocks and fairleads: most accidents come through that neglect. It was +the same with the harpoon line. The third mate of the whaler _Melantho_ +lost his life through the harpoon line suddenly getting out of the +fairlead and carrying him right out of the boat; and notwithstanding +that the line was forthwith cut, allowing the whale to escape, before +the mate could be picked up he had been grabbed by a shark and had +disappeared. + +Or, again, take the case of the whaler _Seringapatam_ in the Straits +of Timor. A whale had been fastened, but the creature came so close +that one of his flukes actually grazed on the chest the boy who was +pulling the after oar. Owing to the collision against the whale some +coils of harpoon line were thrown over the shoulders also of the man at +the tub-oar, and whilst the whale hurried on, the unfortunate fellow +was pulled overboard. His body was at length rescued, but found to be +lifeless, entangled in the line. His shipmates could do nothing for him. + +Accidents such as these were the risks which might happen to any boat, +on any occasion: and they tended to ruin the enterprise for the whole +three years that remained. This, in turn, meant a loss of dividends, +and a reluctance on the part of the owners to finance any more whaling +cruises. Thus, the prizes went to the survivals of the fittest and +most experienced young men who had been able to avoid such dispiriting +disasters. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +WAR AND THE WHALERS + + +If we had come across a northern whaler in the early Victorian days, +we should have found she was a full-rigged ship of not more than 450 +tons; and if we had come across her at sea with her maintopsails backed +and her courses clewed up and a number of birds swooping around her, we +should know even from a distance that she was just cutting up the whale +which had been recently caught. And as you came nearer you would have +heard the men at the capstan heaving away to an old whaling chantey: + + ’Tis well nigh sixty years ago, + On March the twentieth day, + When we set sail from Yarmouth Roads, + And bore due North away. + +And, after a few narrative verses concerning the whaling operations, +there would come the final cheery words: + + Singing “Aye, lads, give way, lads,” + We’re bound to the north countree, + Where icebergs grow and whales do blow, + And sunsets you never see. + +Dreadful doggerel it all seems to the modern sailor, with his extra +master’s ticket and scientific knowledge: but those were the days of +simple ships and plain seamen. So you would hear the song end abruptly +as that long strip of blubber was hauled up from the whale’s carcase +alongside. The “blanket-piece” they used to call it. And then you +would be able to watch those busy men on the whale’s back working away +with their spades and cutting another piece. That was before the days +of steam affected these vessels. But even those Arctic whalers of +about 1870 were still fully rigged, their engines were of very small +horse-power, and just useful for getting the ship out of some awkward +surrounding ice. Otherwise they were sailing ships and practically did +all their passages under canvas. They went out with coal in their oil +tanks, which were cleaned out on reaching the grounds and then filled +with the whale produce. But their fuel consumption was very small. + +As one examines the lines of such a vessel, one notices that this +three-master has not a straight stem, but a moderately rounded forefoot +with a straight keel and a very short counter. Her sides were about as +solid as one of Nelson’s wooden walls, and her bows were protected with +sheets of iron to resist the ice. The total complement was about fifty, +the men being berthed forward and the officers aft. The single funnel +was immediately abaft the mainmast, and as you walked along the raised +poop deck you would have noted the engine-room skylight, sometimes +a light flying bridge, then the companion-way to the saloon and the +officers’ cabins leading out of it. The steering wheel was right aft, +there was a pump wheel just behind the mainmast; while forward there +were the capstan and fo’c’sle hatch, and then came the big hold for +the whale produce. In lieu of a figure-head you would notice that she +carried a carved harpoon. + +The Norwegian whalers of this period were small and built of their +native fir with a few sheets of iron sheathing, hoping to avoid being +seriously caught in the ice. The Norwegian steam-whalers were both +ancient and slow; but there were also some ketch-rigged craft of about +40 tons with a crew which varied from nine to seventeen. This smaller +type sometimes used her squaresail for driving the ship astern, if she +got caught in the ice and saw an opening clear astern. + +But during the American Civil War there came an additional peril to +those whalers which used to sail from the western coast through the +Bering Straits into the Arctic. And the destruction of whaling ships +by those Confederate cruisers _Shenandoah_, _Alabama_ and _Florida_ +was one of the biggest shocks that ever came to the industry. “The +whaling industry of New England,” says Mr. Arthur C. Watson, “saw +the handwriting on the wall during the Civil War. Petroleum had +been discovered, and the ship merchants and captains knew what the +consequences were to be. They realized that the decline in their +business was permanent, and that, as the years came on, more and more +of their craft would be forced out of the running. It was merely a +coincidence that the war and the mineral oil discovery should be +contemporary events, but the war had a part of its own to play in the +decay of the industry--a dramatic part, in fact, which made the port +of New Bedford shudder for its future far more than did the news about +petroleum.” + +When the _Shenandoah_ in June 1865 came up the Bering Straits she +was rewarded for her trouble by capturing and burning five whaling +vessels. But on the next day she captured at anchor quite a fleet of +whalers, with the exception of the _Favorite_, commanded by Captain +Young, who resisted the Confederate’s officer coming on board not +merely with words, but with a display of guns and fire-arms. But the +_Favorite’s_ crew got frightened and deserted, so that after removing +the ship’s ammunition they took to the boats and left Captain Young by +himself. The latter, when the _Shenandoah’s_ next boat came off, had +no alternative but to surrender when he found there was nothing for his +guns to fire, and on being taken prisoner he was put in irons. On that +day nine whaling ships were lost to their enemy. + +But during that same month the _Shenandoah_ made numerous other attacks +on whaling fleets, burned thirty-four fine ships, and employed four +others for taking the captured whaling crews back to the shore. These +losses to this section of seafaring were such that ship-owners were +pretty well ruined. Nor were these by any means all. Everyone knows +the daring story of the _Alabama_, how she was built by Messrs. Laird +of Birkenhead as a wooden barquentine-rigged screw steamer of 1,040 +tons under her yard designation as “No. 290,” and that on July 29, +1862, under the pretence of doing her trial trip she slipped down the +Mersey out to sea and made for the Azores, where she was met by two +other vessels which brought her armament. But many readers will have +forgotten the blows she struck at the American whaling ships. + +Her commanding officer was Captain Raphael Semmes, and she at once +began to show what she could do. “I resolved to strike a blow at the +enemy’s whale-fishery, off the Azores,” he wrote. “There is a curious +and beautiful problem--that of Providence feeding the whale--connected +with this fishery.... It is because of that problem that the Azores are +a whaling station. The food which attracts the whale to these islands +is not produced in their vicinity, but is carried thither by the +currents--the currents of the ocean performing the same functions for +the finny tribe that the atmosphere does for the plants. The fishes of +the sea, in their kingdom beneath the waters, have thus their highways +and byways, as well as the animals upon the land, and are always to be +found congregated where their great food-bearers, the currents, make +the deposits.” + +The American whalers had been fond of this ground and found it +profitable, the season usually ending about the beginning of October, +when the first gales began to blow and the whales migrated to other +feeding grounds. But here was the _Alabama_ off here by the beginning +of September, so she had several weeks in which she could hope for +success. It was that old area, of course, where English ships in the +sixteenth century used to lie in wait for the richly laden carracks +making for Spain and Portugal. And so on the night of September 4 +we find the _Alabama_ hove-to off Fayal under her topsails, and the +next day the light easterly weather with a cloudy sky came as ideal +conditions for the cruiser to begin. + +She had not long to wait, for a ship was sighted lying to, and then the +cruiser made sail, hoisted United States colours and ran down to within +a few hundred yards of her. The strange ship also hoisted United States +colours and revealed herself a whaler. She had that very day harpooned +a whale, and a big one at that. She had just got the animal alongside +and the yard tackles in the usual way were hoisting him partially out +of the water to be flensed, when the _Alabama_ sprang a ripe surprise +by now hoisting true Confederate colours. + +The name of the whaler was the _Ocmulgee_, of Edgartown, Massachusetts, +whose master Semmes described as “a genuine specimen of the Yankee +whaling skipper; long and lean, and as elastic, apparently, as the +whalebone he dealt in. Nothing could exceed the blank stare of +astonishment that sat on his face, as the change of flags took place +on board the _Alabama_. He had been engaged, up to the last moment, +with his men, securing the rich spoil alongside. The whale was a fine +‘sperm,’ and was a ‘big strike,’ and had already been denuded of +much of its blubber when we got alongside. He naturally concluded, he +said, when he saw the United States colours at our peak, that we were +one of the new gunboats sent out by Mr. Welles to protect the whale +fishery. It was indeed remarkable that no protection should have been +given to these men by their Government. Unlike the ships of commerce, +the whalers are obliged to congregate within small well-known spaces +of ocean, and remain there for weeks at a time, whilst the whaling +season lasts. It was the most obvious thing in the world that these +vessels, thus clustered together, should attract the attention of the +Confederate cruisers and be struck at.” + +For at that time there were not more than half a dozen important +whaling stations in the world, and as already mentioned, the +_Shenandoah_ was able in the North Pacific to repeat the successes of +the _Alabama_ in the Atlantic. During the Great War it became necessary +latterly to send armed craft to protect the British fishing fleets in +the North Sea, but, as Semmes says, “the whalers, like the commerce +of the United States generally, were abandoned to their fate.” It +thus became perfectly easy to strike a blow at American whaling with +such force that it never recovered. It has been estimated that these +cruisers did damage to the extent of £310,000, including £100,000 worth +of oil lost. In addition to that sum must be reckoned the loss of +twenty-three fine New Bedford whaling ships which were intentionally +sunk at the entrances to Confederate harbours in order to block them +up. Thus the unfortunate owners and fishermen seemed to have been dealt +blows right and left. Who could expect that with such circumstances +whaling could ever become again what it once was? + +But to return to the _Alabama_: there were taken out of the _Ocmulgee_ +not merely the thirty-seven unhappy people but meat and stores, by +which time night had come on. It was too late to think of burning her, +for the flames against the nocturnal sky would only scare the other +whalers somewhere in the vicinity. “I had now become too old a hunter +to commit such an indiscretion,” remarked Semmes humorously. “With a +little management and caution, I might hope to uncover the birds no +faster than I could bag them. And so, hoisting a light at the peak of +the prize, I permitted her to remain anchored to the whale, and we lay +by her until the next morning, when we burned her; the smoke of the +conflagration being, no doubt, mistaken by vessels at a distance for +that of some passing steamer.” + +Later on, after capturing a Boston schooner, the _Alabama_ chased a +whaling brig, which by her number of boats and other characteristics +showed her occupation unmistakably. But she was eventually allowed to +go, for she proved herself a genuine Portuguese; and this was the only +foreign whaler that the _Alabama_ came across, for the whaling monopoly +was so thoroughly in American hands by this date. But in that same +afternoon Semmes gave chase to a vessel in the north-west and came up +to her about sunset. She was flying American colours and her master +unsuspectingly presumed the steamer had been sent to act as escort. The +American vessel was found to be the New Bedford whaler _Ocean Rover_, +and already she had been cruising about the world, true to her name, +for three years and four months, and had sent home one or two cargoes +of oil, but was now going back there with eleven hundred barrels after +her long voyaging, having determined to visit the Azores grounds in +order to fill up what empty casks remained. But the _Ocean Rover_ +was now to end her last voyage of all. Semmes had her hove-to until +morning about four miles from the land, and the whaler’s captain asked +permission to land in his own boats. Semmes suggested that this was +rather a long distance to pull, to which the Yankee skipper replied, +“Oh! That’s nothing. We whalers sometimes chase a whale, on the broad +sea, until our ships are hull-down, and think nothing of it.” + +So, the sea being smooth, the six whaleboats were allowed alongside +the _Ocean Rover_, and for two hours the men worked hard transferring +provisions, personal effects and whaling gear as well as the ship’s cat +and parrot. The whaler’s skipper declined Semmes’s suggestion that the +boats were too heavily laden to be safe. “No,” insisted the whaler, +“they’re as buoyant as ducks, and we shan’t ship a drop of water.” And +he was right, for they got to the Flores shore all right. + +By morning the _Alabama_ had captured the _Alert_ of New London, whose +stores were extremely welcome as she was only sixteen days out of her +home port. And now after burning the schooner _Starlight_, the _Ocean +Rover_ and _Alert_, the _Alabama_ drew close to a large schooner which +had to have a blank cartridge fired before she would heave-to. She was +boarded and found to be the whaler _Weathergauge_ of Provincetown, +Massachusetts, six weeks out. Semmes said that American sailing ships +were notable for the whiteness of their canvas, which was made out of +American cotton, so the cut of the sails and the taper of the spars +usually showed the nationality: but on one occasion the _Alabama_ had a +good chase all for nothing, the vessel being a Dane although she seemed +a real Yankee. + +After the _Weathergauge_ whaler had landed her crew in the ship’s +boats, she was burned, and presently steering off to the north-west +the _Alabama_ tried fresh ground, and sighted the New Bedford whaler +_Altamaha_, five months out. She had not had much whaling luck and +was comparatively “clean.” She was now burned, but owing to absence +of oil did not burn so furiously. It was now the middle of September, +and on the night after the capture of _Altamaha_ there was an exciting +chase. About half-past eleven a large sailing ship passed to windward, +and visible in the bright moonlight. Both ships were close-hauled on +the starboard tack, the strange vessel being about three points on the +_Alabama’s_ weather bow, and evidently realized that the _Alabama_ was +now pursuing, for the stranger set both her royals and flying jib. This +suited the Confederate perfectly, as her best sailing was when she +was on a wind, and few ships could beat her under that condition. The +stranger had got a good start, but the _Alabama_ was footing so quickly +that within a couple of hours she was on the other’s weather quarter, +having both fore-reached and got to windward of the stranger. When the +range came down to a mile, Semmes had a blank fired to cause the fleer +to heave-to. But the latter now bore away a little, eased her sheets +and began getting out her stuns’l booms preparatory to setting more +canvas. + +The _Alabama_ therefore eased sheets also, and was so well handled that +before the pursued could get her foretopmast stuns’l set, she was at +point-blank range. Semmes fired a second blank and then the stranger +hauled up her courses and steered up into the wind. Was she a neutral +or a prize, after all? Semmes sent his boarding officer to her with +instructions that if she were the latter he was to hoist a light as +soon as he got aboard her. Followed a brief lull as the oars quickly +rowed the boat away from the cruiser. But now up went a light to the +stranger’s peak, and so the two vessels remained near to each other +till morning. She was found to be yet another whaler, the _Benjamin +Tucker_, eight months out of New Bedford, with 340 barrels of oil. +After her crew had been taken off and some of her stores salved, such +as tobacco, she was set on fire. + +And so matters went on, for the next vessel to be caught was the +whaling schooner _Courser_ of Provincetown, Massachusetts, with a young +man as skipper. The difficulty now was exactly that which confronted +the German raiders during the Great War: in fact, Semmes’ tactics +are so similar to those of such ships as the _Moewe_ and _Seeadler_ +that one can only suppose that German naval officers must have paid +considerable study to the Confederate _Alabama’s_ operations. When the +auxiliary sailing ship _Seeadler_ in the South Atlantic had sunk so +many vessels away from land she found all those survivors a nuisance: +for they had to be fed and they took up a great deal of space. Von +Luckner, her commanding officer, got over this difficulty by capturing +one more ship and sending the other crews away in her with strict +orders to make for the nearest South American port. Semmes now ran +back towards the Azores, anxious to get rid of all this crowd, which +was seriously inconveniencing the ship, for he had the crews of three +vessels. Towing eight whaleboats he approached Flores and sent seventy +shipless seamen in the oared craft to the land, and as they pulled +away from the cruiser it seemed as if a regatta were being held in the +Atlantic. After they had gone, and just before the _Courser_ was set on +fire, Semmes used her as a target, and gave his men practice in gunnery. + +Resuming now her north-west course, which had been interrupted, the +_Alabama_ with a fine south-west wind sighted, chased and overcame +a large ship which turned out to be the whaler _Virginia_, twenty +days out from New Bedford. After three and a half hours the contest +was over. Semmes says the master of the ship was greatly surprised +at the _Alabama’s_ speed. Fortunately there still exists in America +the statement of Captain Shadrach R. Tilton, then in command of this +whaling ship, and Mr. Arthur C. Watson, who has had access to it, says +that Tilton told of Semmes with his heavy black moustache waxed by a +servant every morning and of how the Confederate’s captain always wore +white kid gloves. These little touches of personal pride exactly agree +with Semmes’s somewhat bombastic tone of writing, very much after the +manner of certain German naval officers who published their experiences +of the Great War. + +Tilton stated that “the pirate ship overtook us in latitude 39° 10′; +longitude 34° 20′. She first showed British colors, but when a quarter +of a mile from the _Virginia_ she set Confederate colors and sent an +armed boat’s crew aboard. I was informed the vessel was a prize to the +_Alabama_, and ordered to take my papers and go aboard the steamer. +The pirates then stripped the ship of all valuable articles, and at 4 +p.m. set fire to her. I went on the quarterdeck of the _Alabama_ with +my son, when they sent us into the lee waist with the crew. All were +ironed except two boys, the cook, and the steward. I asked if I was +to be ironed, and the reply was that the vessel’s purser had been in +irons aboard the United States vessel, and his head shaved. He proposed +to retaliate. We were put in the lee waist with an old mattress and a +few blankets upon which to lie. The steamer’s guns were run out, the +side and the ports could not be shut. So when the sea was rough and +the vessel rolled, the water washed the decks and we were wet all the +time. Often we would wake at night with a sea pouring over us. Our food +consisted of beef, pork, rice, ham, tea, coffee, and bread. Only one +of our irons was taken off at a time. We were always under guard. On +October 3rd we fell in with the schooner _Emily Farnham_, to which we +were transferred, after signing a parole.” + +Semmes as a matter of fact had the torch applied to _Virginia_ rather +late in the afternoon, so the wreck was still visible whilst she burned +after nightfall. But a still more exciting chase was to take place the +next day when it was blowing hard. The look-out man at _Alabama’s_ +masthead reported a barque in sight. The latter saw that the cruiser +wore round and thereupon made off at once under all sail. Running down +before the wind, _Alabama_ held on to t’gallant sails although the +masts whipped as if they would go over the side; and it was the same +with the other ship. There was a nasty sea running, but the cruiser +leaped along so quickly that within three hours the barque was within +range. The cruiser was employing that ancient and perfectly legal ruse +of flying false colours, but Semmes does not explain whether he lowered +these English colours down before opening fire, as he unquestionably +should. + +After _Alabama_ fired, the barque hoisted her flag and clewed up her +t’gallant sails, hauled up her courses and waited. The former took in +his t’gallants, furled his courses and reefed his topsails. It was +blowing so hard now and the sea was so bad that Semmes even hesitated +to lower his boats: but it was evident that presently the wind would be +of gale force, and unless the barque were captured at once she would +be able to escape in the darkness and tempest of the night. Therefore +he ordered two of his best boats to be lowered, whilst the cruiser +lay hove-to but to windward of the prize, so that the boats could row +down to leeward. The _Alabama_ would then run down to leeward so that +the boats could again have a favourable chance. This, of course, is +the recognised manœuvre approved by every expert in seamanship, and it +was accomplished successfully. The boats with their human loads of +prisoners went rushing down the sea valleys and over the crests, came +under the lee of _Alabama_, who threw them a rope, and so the captors +and captives got aboard. The ship had been set on fire before shoving +off and was found to be the whaler _Elisha Dunbar_, twenty-four days +out from New Bedford. + +But the wind and sea prevented Semmes from sailing this crew back to +the Azores, where quite a Yankee population was now being congregated. +Under close-reefed topsails the _Alabama_ remained for several days, +and the wind coming north she drifted some distance south. It may be +mentioned here that Captain Gifford of the _Elisha Dunbar_ afterwards +stated quite definitely that the _Alabama_ had “fired a gun under our +stern, with the St. George’s cross flying at the time. Our colours were +set, when she displayed the Confederate flag ... there were sixty-five +barrels of sperm oil on deck.” + +The break-up of the weather had put an end to the whaling season rather +sooner than would ordinarily have been the case, so Semmes resolved to +change his cruising ground and make towards the Newfoundland Banks. +After capturing other merchant ships he came up with the New Bedford +whaler _Levi Starbuck_, bound on a thirty months’ voyage to the +Pacific, and she, too, was captured and then burnt. In like manner, +too, the Confederate cruiser _Florida_ in 1864 was operating in the +Atlantic, and among others she sank the New Bedford whaler _Golconda_. +For the latter it was particularly hard lines as she had been away +from home for most of five years, she was just ending her cruise, and +had even thrown overboard the previous day her “try-works” used for +boiling the last whale down, and there was no intention now but to sail +home as quickly as possible with the oil cargo. It was just as the +whaler was passing through the Gulf Stream that she was caught by the +Confederate, whose officer came aboard, took a few barrels of sperm +oil, set her on fire in the cabin, at the main hatchway and forecastle, +and left her to burn. The unfortunate crew were subsequently put aboard +a schooner. + +Thus in this Civil War those American whalers which had built up such +an interesting section of history, and brought so much wealth into +North America, received a terrible setback. We may well sympathize +with owners and skippers and crew, for it was the breaking of a fine +tradition which will ever be remembered. But all over the world whaling +was, with the advent of steam and the diminishing of the sperm whale, +now to undergo a change from those days when long voyages of several +years were the rule, and the ship was the floating peregrinating +factory and open boats were the whale-catchers. Those ancient methods +have gone never to return. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE THIRTY-TWO SHIPS + + +That great disaster in the Arctic during the year 1830, when nineteen +British whaling ships and one French were lost, and over a thousand men +temporarily lived on the ice, was destined to be repeated but on an +even greater scale by the calamity which overtook the American whaling +fleet in the year 1871. In the former case the scene was Baffin’s +Bay: in the latter it was further to the westward. I believe that +never in the history of the industry has a loss so wholesale and so +financially deplorable taken place. Whaling-ship owners could scarcely +have received a more terrible shock than the news which eventually +reached them. It is the old story of that enemy ice making sport of +wooden ships. The one satisfactory aspect--and that an amazing one--is +that not a single life was lost. But instead of nineteen vessels being +wrecked, we have to chronicle thirty-two.[1] + +[1] For information in this chapter I have to acknowledge Mr. Arthur +C. Watson’s interesting article in _Yachting_ for May 1925. Mr. Watson +has had available the journals and log books of American whaling ship +masters. + +The Bering Strait, separating Asia from America, is of course the most +northerly part of the Pacific, narrow, shallow and bordered by bare, +rocky shores, and from November to May generally impassable owing to +the fog and ice: but otherwise it gives access to the Arctic in the +remaining months. The right of Canadian fishermen to hunt seals in this +strait used to be the cause of much irritation for many years between +the Governments of the United States, Canada and Great Britain, until +the award by the arbitrators was made in 1893. Through this sea in the +summer of 1871 thirty-nine whaling ships and barques were able to sail +into the Arctic Ocean, their intended destination being Cape Barrow, at +the extreme northern end of Alaska, where it was known that the whales +were plentiful. Thus we have to observe that the mammal in the course +of his migration had gone still further west. Theoretically there +seemed every chance of a fine catch for the fleet. + +Luckily, too, movements of the Bering Strait ice packs gave a +comparatively easy passage to these ships, whose captains in their +combined knowledge and judgment of this part of the world were +unequalled. The late spring had been passed whaling in this strait, +and so soon as the ice permitted, the fleet was able to work north, +past Cape Lisburne in June and then to anchor at the other side of that +great bight by Icy Cape, which will be found marked in the modern maps +less than a hundred and fifty miles short of Cape Barrow. + +Early in August some of the fleet were able, by the receding of the +ice, to get further ahead and either anchor or secure to the ice. Then +after another wait, the ships were able to sail in a six-mile-wide +channel between the shore and the ice until once more they reached +the barrier, and made fast as before. The idea was to keep going as +soon as the lane was clear, so as to reach Cape Barrow at the earliest +date: but it was the ice which determined the rate of progress and +the annoying stoppages. However, in the period of waiting, boats +were launched and whales struck, and the oil extracted. There was no +idleness that could have been overcome. Towing the whales back to the +ship secured to the ice, cutting them sometimes till midnight, the +days were full of activity. And then by August 11th the ice surrounded +some of the ships so that many of the boats were unable to work, and +others had to be hauled over the frozen surface in order to regain +their vessels. Efforts were made by setting all sail to get ships clear +of this frozen obstruction, yet it was no good. + +But then on August 14th, when the ice loosened, ships did succeed in +reaching clear water and coming to anchor in a narrow belt between ice +and shore, yet extending no further north than Cape Belcher, which +effectually stopped further progress. It was hoped that this delay was +only temporary, and in the meanwhile the boats were out chasing the +whales keenly. If only a north-easter would come, this accumulation +of pack ice, with its power of danger, would soon be driven away: the +fleet would be able to work to its destination. Here in this confined +lane were thirty fine ships, with about a hundred and fifty boats +working till nine at night: a wonderful sight of seafarers. + +But now that treacherous ice, instead of clearing, came driving down so +near to the fleet that the ships were compelled to go close in to the +beach. Some ships had to shift in a hurry, slipping their cables. The +lane had been reduced to half a mile now: only at the southern end was +it clear of ice. And yet it was a fine picture to see that long line of +vessels riding there and their crews still at it dragging their boats +across the ice, working arduously, bringing back the blubber by the +same rough route. The continuance of the ice setting in from the west, +however, was giving cause for anxiety. Boats not engaged in whaling +were sent along the coast reconnoitring, and then on August 25th strong +north-east winds began. + +Any but intrepid mariners would have taken advantage of this new +condition and gone south, for now a lane was opened several miles +wide, and the ships could have still escaped the fate that was coming +to them. The local Esquimaux prophesied that this clearing would not +last long, that the ice would soon close around once more; and strongly +advised the whaling captains to go back whilst the opportunity lasted. +But these masters of craft were too plucky to be scared, too intent on +the numerous whales now being struck to heed this precaution. They had +come in order to fill their holds with the precious cargo, and if they +went home now they would not have completed their job. However, that +delay, that enthusiasm, were fatal. On August 29th the proof of the +Esquimaux’s sagacity began to manifest itself, for the wind came round +to west-nor’-west and blew freshly. + +Picture this long line of vessels anchored to the south-west of Cape +Belcher, still busy boiling out the oil from their whales whilst that +merciless ice like the approach of doom began crowding in always from +the west. Watch some of the ships hang on till it was necessary to +get under way and secure under the lee of a large floe. But on the +following day the wind had backed to south-east, it was blowing hard +and snowing. Thirty vessels in sight with their spars all frosted, +every ship hemmed in between land and ice, yet most of them still +boiling away at their oil as if the danger were not worth considering. +But on the second day of September the disaster began its toll by +numbers. First the _Roman_ was crushed by the ice and abandoned, and +then the brig _Comet_. + +Strong westerly winds were blowing and a thick snow-storm was making +matters no more pleasant, but unless that north-easter returned there +was no prospect of the other ships being saved: already they were +uncomfortably close to the shore. But still the boats went out in the +narrow lane that existed, and still the whaling operations went on. It +became necessary now to kedge the ships clear of the ice and anchor in +only three fathoms of water, on a lee shore, with every prospect of +being driven on to the beach. In a short time one vessel was seen with +her masts cut away, forced into the shallows by the oncoming ice, and a +complete wreck. + +What was to be done? Universal loss was merely a matter now of time. +All the captains realized that the only chance lay in getting news of +the situation through to the south where those of the fleet, seven in +number, which had not advanced so far north remained in clear water. +How was this to be done? On September 9th at four in the morning +several boats from imprisoned ships were sent in order to sound and +find a channel so as to get the brig _Kohola_ out and reach those seven +southern ships. If the latter had left, what would be the fate of the +rest? But, unfortunately, the water was found too shallow. It now +looked as if the entire northern fleet would have to remain hemmed in +for the winter, for the new ice was making. On August 11th preparations +were undertaken to leave the ships, and some boats with provisions were +sent to deposit them at Icy Cape to the southward, the distance between +this headland and Cape Belcher being a matter of about fifty-odd miles. +If the ships had to be abandoned, these supplies would be essential. + +So it came to pass that on the following day the captains of this +northern fleet held a council and came to the conclusion that +abandonment was inevitable. There were only two alternatives: that +irresistible ice would presently either crush every ship or drive +them ashore. But to remain in the Arctic with provisions inadequate +to last till next spring was a gloomy thought, and the chance of that +north-easter returning was now one in a million. Anyone who has had to +abandon his ship knows that terrible pang, which is indescribable in +its bitterness. I can think of nothing more sad and sorrowful than a +fine hardy set of captains being driven to the decision of deserting +their stout ships by the inevitable cruelty of circumstance. It was man +versus nature, with the former’s weakness exemplified in its nakedness. +To leave a shattered wreck is one thing: but in cold blood, after +mature consideration, to do so whilst the ship is still intact is the +greatest grief which can ever be the lot of a shipmaster. + +Orders were given for every vessel to fly the ensign union down, and +for the crews to make ready and leave. On September 13th the whole +fleet had its boats in the water with provisions trying to find a clear +lane: nor was it known that the southern ships were in any clear sea. +To get the fleet out had been found impossible owing to banks carrying +but five feet of water. So far only two ships had met their fate, but +by the 14th the ice was surrounding the remaining thirty with closer +grip, so that there was no room now for the vessels to swing clear, +and the rudders hit the ice. Moreover the barometer was falling very +surely. Now in these thirty whalers were officers, crew and the wives +as well as children of the captains. They were more than ships: they +were the only homes of many, and some of these people had been born +and brought up in these craft. Thus to have to leave the vessels was +something deeply personal and sentimental. + +The sorrowful exodus began on this fourteenth day of the month, the +wind being now south-west and the boats, steering along the land +towards Icy Cape, managed to get through southwards so that by the +afternoon of the 15th they began to approach the _Daniel Webster_, the +_Progress_ and the other five of the seven ships which luckily were +still clear of the ice. Here in these vessels the entire number of +survivors was received on board. Mothers and girls and boys; captains +and mates and hardy seamen with bedding and stores loading the boats to +the gunwales had come over those perishing waters, which fortunately +had remained calm. A halt had been made at night, after starting on the +morning of the 14th, and having rowed and sailed till darkness overcame +them, this population of twelve hundred people in that numerous +flotilla landed for the night at Icy Cape. Here a tent was erected for +the women and children: the men warmed themselves around great fires. + +On the 15th there were still several miles before reaching the seven +ships; it was no longer a lane sheltered by ice, but the unrestricted +Arctic Ocean; it came on to blow, and although several reefs were +tucked in the sail, every boat was so low down in the water that it was +a toss-up as to whether even now the little craft with their cargoes +would win through. And having arrived near the ships which were lying +at anchor, even these heavy vessels were pitching so monstrously +in the nasty sea that it was a ticklish business getting alongside +and hoisting up the passengers out of the lively boats. The _Daniel +Webster_ and the _Progress_ were still anchored, but others were under +way. Still, every man, woman and child was got aboard safely, and the +boats were then cast adrift and smashed themselves to pieces against +the ice-pack to leeward. + +Thirty-two ships lost, and everyone saved! How was it done? The answer +is, pluck and good seamanship. Those whaling men possessed both, and +one of the surest tests of the latter is the bringing a boat alongside +a big vessel in a jumpy seaway. There they came, some under oars, some +under dipping lug, others rigged with jib and spritsail; in each case +with the steersman controlling her standing with his oar at the stern +as if going after a whale. Yes, the organization and handling of that +open-boat flotilla is something to be remembered. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +FINDING THE NEW WHALING GROUNDS + + +As in the Arctic, so in the Antarctic and approaches, the story of +whaling is intimately connected with that of discovery. But we must +apply ourselves now to one special section of southern whaling which +is officially known as the Falkland Islands and Dependencies. These +comprise, besides the Falklands themselves, the following five areas: +South Georgia; the South Shetland Islands; Graham Land with adjacent +islands; the South Orkney Islands; and the South Sandwich Islands. + +And in focusing our attention here we are studying the region where +the whaling industry of to-day has settled down and seems likely to +continue for the future. It is a part of the ocean which still remains +to be surveyed efficiently, whose geographical nomenclature reads +like one long catalogue of bygone explorers and their ships. From the +Weddell Sea northwards to South Georgia we are in latitudes which +have been rendered historical by a long line of gallant, enduring +adventurers after whales or scientific knowledge. Weddell Sea, James +Ross Island, Port Charcot, Nordenskjold Land, Mikkelsen Harbour, +Whaler’s Bay, Frenchman Hill, Biscoe Islands, Erebus and Terror Bay, +Dundee Island, Parry Strait, Admiralty Bay, Belgica Strait--you can +trace the nationalities and minds of the plucky pioneers who have been +there from time to time. + +By most people the island of South Georgia was totally unheard of until +Sir Ernest Shackleton brought it into prominence, firstly by that +marvellous eight-hundred-mile voyage in a 20-ft. whaling boat from +Elephant Island, after the loss of _Endurance_--an achievement which I +always regard as one of the finest small-craft passages in the history +of the world; and secondly, by his return to South Georgia, after the +war, to be buried there. But as we glance at the nomenclature along the +South Georgia coastline, with its Queen Maud’s Bay, Coaling Harbour, +Right Whale Bay, Markham Point, Prince Olaf Harbour, Leith Harbour, +Stromness Harbour, Larsen Point, Nansen Rocks, St. Andrew’s Bay, +King Edward Cove, Moraine Fjord--we need no telling that British and +Scandinavian sailors have been there already. + +Some of these European names will leap into further prominence +presently as we go through our narrative, but let us see how it comes +that the whole present and future of the whaling industry should +concentrate on to this neighbourhood. How did it happen like this, +and from when? Well, after the introduction of steam into whalers +that industry carried on amid the Arctic mists and gales continued to +decline until it remained in a long-protracted passing-away condition. +But, thanks to the Antarctic explorers of the nineteenth and twentieth +centuries, there was such evidential information about whales that a +fresh spirit of optimism broke forth and, notwithstanding some serious +disappointments, justified itself. Thus, we are beginning to derive +commercial benefits from those daring voyages of the past. Now what +were these expeditions? + +We may content ourselves with some of the principal ones. We know +definitely that Captain Cook took possession of South Georgia, which +he named, in 1775, and afterwards discovered the Sandwich group. +It was Cook who was the first to report the presence of whales off +South Georgia. Captain James Colnet in 1793-4 confirmed this report, +especially in regard to black whales. In fact, during the next 125 +years whales were certainly seen in nearly 300 places south of +latitude 50°, so that Cook’s information was more than reliable. But +the South Shetlands, that group of islands stretching right away +south of latitude 60° towards the Antarctic Circle, were not named or +discovered till just over a century ago, when Captain William Smith +landed from the _Williams_ of Blyth in 1819 on King George Island and +took possession on behalf of Britain. Here, about 400 miles south-east +of Cape Horn, the ground is for ever frozen and barren, but at one +spot--Deception Island--there is a landlocked harbour and a whaling +station; for off these islands the modern steam whalers carry on their +work with great activity. Smith had reported the presence of whales. + +Graham Land, that mountainous area of thick snow and ice, with few +landings but one good harbour, was discovered and taken possession +of by H.M.S. _Andromache_ in January 1820. The Russian captain von +Bellinghausen charted the south side of South Georgia in 1819 and came +across British whalers there. The South Orkneys, which lie about a +couple of hundred miles east of the South Shetlands, were discovered +by Captain George Powell of the _Dove_ and charted in 1821-2, and a +certain amount of whaling has taken place off here. The inhospitable, +volcanic, icebound South Sandwich Islands discovered by Cook in 1775 +are not used by whalers. + +These, then, are the five British dependencies of the Falklands. +Powell, Weddell and others charted the South Shetlands, Weddell also +charted the South Orkneys; and Captain John Biscoe, one of Enderby’s +whaling captains, in 1832 discovered and sketched the west side of +Graham Land. But this first knowledge was added to by British sealers, +by d’Urville, in 1838, by Wilkes of the United States Navy, and then +came that fine expedition of _Erebus_ and _Terror_ under Captain James +Clark Ross, R.N., in the early ’forties, who specially referred to the +presence of whales in the Erebus and Terror Gulf, about which we shall +have more to say later. This expedition, though sent out by the British +Government primarily for magnetic surveys, had a most important result +fifty years afterwards. + +Weddell’s voyage in the years 1822-4 through the Antarctic Sea was +remarkable not merely because he penetrated further south than any +previous navigator had succeeded in achieving, but because his craft +were both quite small. “Our adventure,” wrote Weddell, “was for +procuring Fur-seal skins, and our vessels were the brig _Jane_, of +Leith, of 160 tons, and the cutter _Beaufoy_, of London, of 65 tons, +both fitted out in the ordinary way, and provisioned for two years. +The former, with a crew of twenty-two officers and men, was under my +own command; the latter, with a crew of thirteen, was commanded by Mr. +Matthew Brisbane.” + +The _Beaufoy_, built like one of the Revenue cutters or yachts with the +usual contemporary rig of mainsail, topsail, jib, staysail, and that +“spread yard” carried athwart ship ready for setting a squaresail when +the wind was aft, was one of the smallest vessels which ever got as +near the South Pole as lat. 74° 15′. Those thirteen hands aboard her +certainly were out on no picnic. Leaving the Downs on September 17, +1822, they took their departure from Portland Bill, and after calling +at Madeira, and at the Cape Verdes, they were off the east end of the +South Orkneys by January 12th. + +Seal-skins were obtained; whales were sighted both dead and alive--the +former off the South Orkneys, the latter well to the southward of lat. +70° in what we now call the Weddell Sea, but Weddell in his chart +names “The Sea of George the Fourth.” Thus on February 17th he sighted +“many hump and finned black whales,” and still going south he writes: +“In the evening we had many whales about the ship.” On his chart in +the position lat. 74° 15′, on the 20th, which was his furthest south, +Weddell wrote “many whales in sight.” Then going north, his crews +having suffered much from cold, fogs and wet during all those weeks +in the south, Weddell visited South Georgia. After Cook had been here +in the late eighteenth century, several ship-owners sent out vessels +and captured sea-elephants for their oil, and fur seals for their +skins. At least 20,000 tons of sea-elephant oil were brought from South +Georgia to London during the fifty years following Cook’s call there, +together with a number of seal-skins; “but formerly,” says Weddell, +“the furriers in England had not the method of dressing them, on which +account they were of so little value, as to be almost neglected. At the +same time, however, the Americans were carrying from Georgia cargoes of +these skins to China, where they frequently obtained a price of from +5 to 6 dollars a-piece.” South Georgia altogether during that time +yielded to British and other visitors 1,200,000 skins. + +Weddell, by the way, tells an interesting story about a certain +American captain J. Barnard, whose sealing vessel in the year 1814 +had called at the uninhabited New Island, one of the Falklands which +had not become British until the year 1771. Barnard, whilst on the +south side of the island after the fur seals, suddenly came across +about thirty British subjects, consisting of the crew and several +passengers of a wrecked English ship. Barnard was good enough to take +them on board and treat them hospitably. Now, at that time England and +America were in a state of war, and, although Barnard had promised to +land these people at some Brazilian port, the rescued began to have +suspicions as to the captain’s sincerity. + +However, all was apparently going well, and the increased company +were split up into hunting parties and sent out to obtain supplies. +Captain Barnard with four of his men was on such an excursion when the +ungrateful and suspicious rescued British, I regret to say, defied +the Americans who were on board, and cut the cable, making off with +the ship to Rio de Janeiro, and thence to North America. Barnard had +never for a moment imagined that such a scheme was on foot, and when +he returned to the anchorage at New Island he was amazed to find his +vessel gone. And then, as Barnard explained to Weddell, he began +to realize that the motive for this theft was the fear of becoming +prisoners of war in America, in spite of his promise already given. + +The position now was that Barnard was left with his four men, a dog and +a boat on a lonely island at a remote corner of the world. What was to +be done? The ship had not even left him a few supplies. However, he +remembered that he had planted a few potatoes and in the course of the +second season these became serviceable. Moreover the dog caught a wild +pig, the skins of the seals were used for clothes and the eggs of the +albatross were additional food. To withstand the cold wintry blasts +of the Falklands, a house was built of stones. Once a captain, always +a captain: once accustomed to handling men and preserving discipline, +Barnard was not likely to drop the habit even on this island. But +in course of time his four men wearied of this control, waited their +opportunity, and then made off with the boat, leaving the unfortunate +skipper, now utterly alone, to himself. However, he spent his solitary +days making seal clothes and collecting food for the next winter, twice +daily climbing a hill to look out for the possible approach of some +ship. But twice every day he returned to that rough stone house with +the same disappointment. + +And then, after some months, who should come to the island but those +four deserting seamen with their boat, having been unable to manage +for themselves. But even now they were still recalcitrant, and one of +them even went so far as to plan Barnard’s death, though the plot was +discovered in time. And to teach the men that discipline and punishment +were still very real things even under these exceptional conditions, +Barnard gave the man a few provisions and then landed him on another +small island in solitary confinement. It was a bold step for one +officer to defy four mutinous men: but the daring was justified. At +the end of three weeks this defiant seaman had become so changed that +his conduct, from the time when Barnard fetched him off, commenced +to be exemplary. There was no further trouble with any of them, and +so, for two years, the party continued to live, using the boat to +search the other islands for provisions, until at last in December +1815 there called here an English whaler on her way to the Pacific +and thus rescued this little party. It is yet another instance of the +adaptability of the sailor to whatever state his fortunes may drive him. + +Weddell also confirmed William Smith’s report of sperm whales being +off the South Shetlands. On one occasion the former even lowered boats +and set out in pursuit; but Weddell believed that the whale became +“gallied” through having seen the copper sheathing of his vessel, and +so went off out of sight. Smith’s discovery of these South Shetlands, +which ever since the year 1905 have become such an important whaling +station, happened as follows during the year 1819, when he was taking +the brig _William_ from Monte Video to Valparaiso, and it was purely +chance that brought this discovery about. For, on his way in order to +round the Horn, he had stood S.S.E., and at six o’clock one evening, +when in lat. 62° 30′ S., long. 60° W., actually sighted land to the +south-east, afterwards landing and finding seals. Weddell, who also +landed on the South Shetlands the year after, had killed as many as a +couple of thousand sea-elephants and many more seals there. + +The cutter _Beaufoy_ made a second voyage on a sealing expedition, in +spite of her having already been south for those two years. Leaving +the Downs in August 1824, she coasted down Patagonia, called at the +Falklands and went to Tierra del Fuego, arriving back in the Downs +after eighteen months. + +Now the net result of these early explorations was to attract attention +to an unknown part of the world, and long years afterwards whales +were to be discovered. But as not all explorers were themselves +whaling experts there has been some confusion in the statements as +to their species, whether sperm whale or rorquals. It is supposed by +modern critics that those whales which have ever been seen off the +South Shetlands consisted almost entirely of two classes: the blue +whale and the hump-backed whale. Ross reported that he had seen in +Antarctic water the right whale, but as the result of various Antarctic +expeditions, scientific authorities now believe that this explorer +may have been mistaken; and that what he saw could only have been fin +whales. + +But it was not till Emile G. Racovitza, the eminent zoologist of the +_Belgica_ expedition of 1897-9, applied his efforts that the first +methodical scientific study of Antarctic whales was made during the +cruise of that vessel. Racovitza was afterwards able to systematize +all the reports which had been made on the subject of whales being +recorded at different dates and in various Antarctic localities; from +which it is now possible to see that these cetaceans have been noted in +great numbers in the waters especially of the Ross Sea, South Georgia, +South Shetlands and adjacent areas. All this knowledge, so valuable +commercially, and of such utility to the convenience of the public, has +come only as the result of many expeditions, long voyages and great +risks to ships and men. + +Historically, the first cetacean which the old sailing ships pursued +was the right whale, which has no dorsal fin. In the Atlantic there was +the Greenland whale, the nordkaper and the southern right whale. These +were remarkable for the size of their whalebone, and at a time when +whales were hunted chiefly for the sake of their bone, these became +known as the “right” or “true” whale. Moreover, in those days, their +harpooning methods prevented the men from attacking the “finners” or +rorquals. But then the industry of capturing the sperm whale came in +and the chase after right whales became less important. So, also, there +came a change in the second part of the nineteenth century arising +through Svend Foyn’s invention of the explosive harpoon fired from a +ship’s gun. He began this new form operating off the north of Norway, +but it enabled the fin whale, so long neglected, now to be hunted. Thus +it was that Norway inaugurated an entirely new era in whaling, since, +broadly speaking, the “finners” are the only cetaceans found in that +country’s waters. + +What was more, it opened up an entirely new avenue to knowledge; for, +until then, no mammal was scientifically so little understood as the +great family of the whale. And the reason for this deficiency was quite +simple. Without specimens to study, how could the research student +set to work? Whaling ships brought home the produce: not the mammal +itself. And only on remote occasions have whales stranded around our +coasts. But the Svend Foyn method revolutionized all this: or, rather, +part of his plan was a return to that old practice which we have seen +existed at Spitzbergen in the early days. The reader will remember that +factories were established ashore, the whales towed to the beach and +hauled up to be flensed. + +Well, this was to be the new Norwegian way in the ’sixties. Land +factories were instituted, the “finner” killed by the explosive harpoon +was hauled up and dealt with from the land and not from the ship. +Thus it was, then, that an opportunity was afforded both to whalers +and scientists to examine the shape of the body and the contents of +the stomach: in other words, there followed from this a large amount +of biological knowledge concerning the cetacean. We know now that the +“finner” whether in northern or southern waters is practically the same +in form. To the invention of that gun, then, was due the starting of +the Norwegian fin-whaling industry: and owing to the inauguration of +the latter was it possible to get a greater understanding of whales +generally. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE SOURCE OF WEALTH + + +In the early days when the approaches to the Antarctic began to be used +after the first conviction that it was worth while sailing so far, the +British and Americans went either after the seals or to look for the +right whale. When the rowing-boats were launched in the South Atlantic +they left the fin whales strictly alone. The sperm, like the right +whale, usually remained some time on the surface and allowed the rowed +boat to approach, but the finner is awash only for a time, and sinks +after being killed. + +When first that squadron of a dozen British sailing-ship whalers +went south in the early eighteenth century, they were complete and +self-contained to roam all over the world, extract the produce and +boil it down into oil. During the first half of the nineteenth century +some five or six hundred whalers were thus engaged in the southern +hemisphere hunting the cachalot and right whales. But then, owing to +the scarcity of this species, and to the fall in the price of oil and +the increased working expenses, the number of vessels in this work +became fewer and fewer. They were usually of between 200 and 300 tons +register, but sometimes even up to 450 tons. Built of wood, with no +engines to require fuel, they could keep the seas as long as food and +drinking-water were available. + +The right whale as found in Arctic waters had by the eighth decade +of the nineteenth century become so scarce in the Arctic that the +industry up there had practically ceased to be profitable. Therefore +one of a trio of whaling brothers named Gray conceived the idea of +sending their Peterhead whalers down to the Antarctic in order to find +better luck. This hope was based on the account given by Sir James +Ross, already alluded to, concerning his voyage of discovery in 1842. +We are speaking now entirely of the right whale, and the succession +of events which will presently lead up to the southern fin whale +industry is something of a romance. Fortified with Ross’s information, +an attempt was made in 1891 to form a company for this southern +enterprise, but the necessary capital was not obtained. + +However, there followed a Mr. R. Kinnes of Dundee, who decided to +equip four vessels with the same object, well believing that the right +whales were in the Antarctic and that a fortune was awaiting anyone +with a little courage and imagination. It was, of course, a somewhat +similar scheme, though in a different part of the southern hemisphere, +to that which had been attempted by Enderby. Kinnes selected four +ships: the _Balæna_, _Active_, _Diana_ and the _Polar Star_. They were +all barque-rigged with auxiliary steam and propeller. Of this little +squadron the largest was the _Balæna_, being of 260 tons register, +length 141 ft., draught 16-1/2 ft., her engines being of only 65 +horse-power. Originally she had been the _Mjolnar_, and built in +Drammen as far back as 1872. The _Active_ was twenty years older, 117 +ft. long, draught 18 ft., with engines of 40 horse-power. Built at +Peterhead, she was a barque which had done much good service in the +olden days. The barque _Diana_ had also been built in Drammen, and her +details were, length 135 ft., draught 16 ft., engine 40 horse-power. +The _Polar Star_, another barque, 105 ft. long, was both old and small, +with an engine of low horse-power; in fact, all four were rather a +relic of the golden age of sail than modern exploring vessels. + +But in September 1892 the squadron started out from Dundee, that port +famous for so much which concerns whalers and whaling. The ships and +men had both been in the Arctic many a time. The rigging was extra +strong, with the old-fashioned, reliable dead-eyes and lanyards. The +thickness of the planking, timbers and lining was in the case of the +_Balæna_ as much as 32 in. There was nothing yacht-like; everything +for strength and endurance. By the middle of December they had got +into high latitudes and were steering between the South Orkneys and +South Shetlands, when great fin whales were seen: but, of course, this +species was no concern of the expedition. Seals were taken, and at one +time it was thought that the mammal which was sighted spouting was a +right whale, but he turned out to be another “finner.” + +The Antarctic continent was reached by Christmas, the whale lines were +carefully coiled down in the boats ready for those great black whales +which Ross had written about. The short-barrelled guns, rather like +the weapon you take in a gun-punt, were ready, too; for here was the +area that Ross had alluded to as so full of hope. There were three of +the four Dundee ships in Erebus and Terror Gulf: but where were the +right whales? Was there really a fortune waiting for the asking? Each +right whale of the big kind has about a ton of bone in his mouth; and +whalebone was worth £2,500 when the ships left Dundee. Supposing each +vessel caught only four: that would mean £40,000 to take back home, +so every available man was on the keen look-out for right whales. The +_Polar Star_, the slowest of the four, had lagged behind, and on the +morning after Christmas, whilst the three were at the edge of the +pack-ice in lat. 64° 30′ S., long. 55° 28′ W., beating about in the +open water, looking for those illusive right whales to show themselves, +a strange sail was suddenly sighted. But it was not the _Polar Star_: +this was the _Jason_, in which Captain C. A. Larsen, a Norwegian, +had arrived. His name is to be noted, for he is perhaps the greatest +pioneer of modern South Seas whaling. He, too, had come out for right +whales, and for seals, and in the season of 1893-4 he came here a +second time with the _Jason_, _Hertha_ and the _Castor_. + +Captain Larsen had been whaling ever since the year 1884 when he hunted +the bottlenose whale in the Arctic. His knowledge and experience thus +link the old days with the new, and recently he affirmed that he has +found in southern whales various kinds of harpoons which have been +sticking in the animals for a considerable period. In one case he +discovered a lance which must have been in the cetacean for ten or +twenty years. Now on hearing of the intended Dundee expedition, the +Norwegians had sent Captain Larsen out for a similar object. The two +expeditions thus met on Boxing Day in that region of white ice, the +_Jason_ having already captured five hundred seals but not having +sighted a right whale. + +Whatever else they were, these two British and Norwegian expeditions +represented the greatest body of expert whaling knowledge, and from +them must be reckoned the commencement of two distinct enterprises: +modern Antarctic exploration, which was presently to attract such men +as Bruce, Scott, Nordenskjold, Charcot, Shackleton and others; and the +present great whaling industry which the Norwegians have established +by licence from the British Government. And it may be stated without +further delay that this Dr. W. S. Bruce was actually with this first +Dundee expedition that we are considering, being aboard the _Balæna_. +With him was also Mr. W. G. Burn Murdoch, an artist, from whose +charming narrative I have derived much information for this present +chapter. + +It is interesting to note how the old Dutch whaling expressions still +survived aboard the _Balæna_. The “specksioneer” was always ready +for his especial job; every man was prepared to turn out of his bunk +as soon as that time-honoured whaler’s cry “A fall! A fall!” should +go resounding through the ship, and boats’ crews would rush in wild +excitement into their places. The grampus, that prey among whales which +will kill even a finner, was seen by the Dundee expedition, but never +a right whale; and early in the new year the harpoon lines were taken +out of the boats, and the craft were used exclusively for sealing. The +_Polar Star_ turned up at last, having left Dundee two days later and +proceeded south-about through the English Channel, whilst the other +three had sailed round the north of Scotland. But it was the middle of +January by the time she had joined up with these others. + +The squadron’s instructions had been to seek whales where Ross had +found them, and strict obedience was paid to these admonitions. It must +be borne in mind that no Antarctic scientific expedition had been down +there since Ross’s of 1843, other than some surveys and international +circumpolar observations in 1873-4 and 1882 respectively. Therefore +for this Dundee venture data were both meagre and fifty years old. +During that period Polar discovery had been confined to the Arctic, +but the South Polar approaches had been extraordinarily neglected. The +_Active_ during the latter part of January did have quite a good day’s +excitement. The right whale did not turn up, but the harpooner in one +of her boats let drive at a great “finner”--a blue whale. The latter +soon began using up the three lines in the boat, then a second boat +made fast with three more lines, and next a third boat fired another +harpoon into the whale. Presently the ends of all the lines were put +aboard the _Active_, the boats made fast to the ship’s stern, and the +whale went towing the whole lot until after fourteen hours’ excitement +the ship’s engines were reversed, the lines broke and the whale went +off. + +Sport? Yes. But when the four skippers got together and talked matters +over, the sad fact had to be faced that as a whaling enterprise this +expedition had failed: not a single right whale had been captured, +or even sighted. There was nothing for it now but to devote their +energies to sealing. This they did, with the result that some twenty +thousand seal-skins and full cargoes of seal blubber were taken back to +Scotland. The _Jason_ was the ship which Nansen had used, as mentioned +in his _First Crossing of Greenland_. She was a three-masted barque +with auxiliary steam-engines, and she was to come back in the next +season with _Hertha_ and _Castor_. It was the first of these three +vessels which discovered King Oscar Land, and the other two sailed +along the west side of Graham Land. Captain Larsen’s efforts, though +primarily commercial, resulted in adding to the sum of scientific +knowledge. _Balæna_ discovered some mountainous land S.W. of Erebus and +Terror Gulf, and Larsen traced it still further later in that year. +But the whales? Well, the Dundee expedition, which got back safely in +May 1893, had seen three kinds: the finners, which Larsen called “blue +whales”; others resembling the Pacific humpback; and the bottlenose +whale, in addition to many grampus. Both the British and Norwegian +expeditions had set forth owing to Ross’s encouraging statements, +though each of these enterprises failed to confirm his supposition. +In Larsen’s second voyage of 1893-4 a whale which seemed to be like a +right whale was chased but not captured. + +That which had been made clearly manifest in these whaler voyages was +the fact that there were any number of finner whales in the Antarctic. +Now there came to Edinburgh an agent of Mr. Svend Foyn to interview Mr. +Burn Murdoch and Dr. W. S. Bruce, who had travelled in the _Balæna_, +the latter in the capacity of naturalist. It was suggested that the +Norwegian type of whaling (already mentioned) should be employed, but +this method was unknown in England, and was rejected before Larsen +went on his second voyage. But from 1898 to 1910 there were several +Antarctic expeditions of a purely scientific character which must be +mentioned in turn. In 1897-9 was the _Belgica_ expedition, which was +the first of these Antarctic enterprises to be organized on modern +lines. The _Belgica_ was the first vessel, too, to spend a winter in +the Antarctic, and valuable knowledge as to scientific and biological +subjects was obtained. + +And now there came increased interest in the South Polar regions owing +to the enthusiasm of scientists. The immediate results were Captain +Scott’s British expedition of 1901 and Professor von Drygalski’s +expedition of the same year. But our immediate subject of whaling +attracts us more especially towards the Swedish expedition of 1901-3 +owing to the personality of the sailing master. For this undertaking +was led by Dr. Nils Otto Gustaf Nordenskjold (nephew of Baron +Nordenskjold, the Arctic explorer), and the name of the vessel was the +_Antarctica_, in command of which Captain C. A. Larsen was to go. No +better officer among the Scandinavians could have been chosen. Now, +fortunately--as it turned out--the _Antarctica_ got crushed by the ice +in the Erebus and Terror Gulf during the month of February 1903, whilst +going to the relief of Nordenskjold’s land party. After hazardous +adventures the crew were rescued by the Argentine sloop-of-war +_Uruguay_ in the following November. The immediate result of this was +that Larsen was received as an Antarctic hero in Buenos Ayres, his +scheme for southern whaling on those Norwegian lines was believed in, +the Argentine citizens financed him and there was formed the company +known as the Cia Argentina de Pesca, with a view to carrying on whaling +operations at South Georgia. + +This was the commencement of that great southern whaling industry, +which has in twenty years yielded considerable wealth. The company +began its operations in 1904, a lease being granted by His Majesty’s +Government two years later. This station is on the east side of the +island at Grytviken, the terms being 500 acres at an annual rent of +£250 for a term of 21 years. Three years later 30 acres at Jason +Harbour were leased to the same company for 18 years at a rent of £100; +and between the years 1908 and 1911 seven other leases on that island, +also for whaling stations, were granted to four Norwegian and three +British companies, making a total whaling fleet of twenty-one vessels, +each lease allowing the employment of one floating factory. + +Thus we have here, in the foundation of these considerable industrial +activities on that remote island where Shackleton was eventually to be +buried, a direct connection with the failure of Arctic whaling, and +those scientific and whale-seeking expeditions to the Antarctic. In the +end, as a result of much perseverance, immense financial reward has +come. Larsen tried unavailingly to obtain the necessary capital in his +own country, but the undertaking might have been started twelve years +sooner by British capital after that interview in Edinburgh following +the return of the Dundee squadron. + +Of this first, and Argentine, company Larsen was made manager. He +crossed to Norway, fitted out at Sandefjord a modern steam whaler, +and two small sailing vessels to be used as transports, arriving at +the east side of South Georgia in December 1904. In King Edward’s +Cove, as it is now known, he established a whaling factory on the very +site which had been used by the early nineteenth-century sealers for +boiling their blubber. Nothing succeeds like success, and the result +of this new development was that more companies were formed, further +leases were granted, and the largest whaling business in the world +is now centred in the Dependencies of the Falklands. Thus also even +at Deception Island a licence was granted for twenty-one years in +1912 to a Norwegian company: in fact, up to date eight Norwegian, one +Chilian and one British companies have been given licences in the area +of the South Shetlands and Graham Land. The season here is a short +one, lasting from November to March. In the South Orkneys whales are +plentiful, but there is a lack of safe harbours, and it is usually safe +for the floating factories to remain in the roadstead only for twelve +weeks. Four Norwegian companies were granted licences here in the +season of 1914-15, but only one was actually worked. Operations were, +however, resumed in 1922-3, when 325 whales were caught. The first +attempt here had been made in 1907-8, but the ice drove the expedition +to the South Shetlands. In the season of 1914-15 a solid sheet of ice +surrounded the South Orkneys for a hundred miles to the north and made +them unapproachable till after the middle of January. At the South +Sandwich Islands there was whaling in the 1911-12 season, but on +these territories some of the volcanoes are still active, the constant +emission of poisonous fumes makes it difficult to land, and no shore +station has been established. + +Were there, after all, right whales in these southern areas? The answer +may be made from the statistics which have been issued for the period +covering the years 1909-18, during which many thousands of blue and fin +whales were caught, but only 396 right whales and 115 sperm whales. +These figures are for South Georgia, South Shetlands, South Orkneys and +South Sandwich. Some idea may be obtained of the wealth which Larsen’s +pioneering brought about, for the value of the oil, baleen and guano +in the South Georgian area alone has risen from £251,077 in 1909-10 +to £1,100,000 in the 1917-18 season. But according to the very latest +Government report there were caught in these Dependencies during the +1922-3 season close on 10,000 whales to the value of £3,056,860. These +figures are so remarkable, that it is scarcely necessary to comment +on them beyond observing that the possibilities of these valuable +British possessions seem not to have been as fully realized as one +might expect. When, however, the _Discovery_ returns home from her +investigations, doubtless further interest will be taken by British and +other investors. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +PROBLEMS AND PRACTICE + + +Now that we have been able to see the intimate connection between +those early Antarctic explorers and the culmination of a large and +flourishing southern whaling industry, we are in a better position to +appreciate the situation in further detail. + +It is with this subject, as it certainly was with the discovery, +hundreds of years ago, of the route to India via the Cape of Good +Hope; in regard to all Arctic and Antarctic exploration; and, indeed, +concerning some of the greatest wonders in modern applied science. The +progress was gradual rather than sudden: it was the steady advance, +rather than the flying visit. A scientist makes certain facts clear, +and from these data united with others there is eventually rendered +practicable wireless telephony. So it was in regard to whaling. Without +all those previous experiences learned in Arctic whaling, and without +that geographical knowledge and those observations of whales obtained +by various Antarctic expeditions, the sudden rise of the modern +industry in the Falkland Dependencies would not have been justified. + +Roald Amundsen, the first man ever to reach the South Pole, remarked +that “it is not too much to say of Captain Larsen that of all those +who have visited the Antarctic regions in the search of whales, he +has unquestionably brought home the best and most abundant scientific +results.” But Larsen was indebted to a long line of shipbuilders, to +many generations of Dutch, British, American, Norwegian and other +harpooners. Without all those years of Arctic whaling knowledge, how +would it have been possible to set going on right principles this +industry in the British Dependencies? To take a small point: that +little squadron of _Balæna_ and her three sisters, which brought home +the news that the southern seas were abounding in finners, had in 1892 +only just returned from working the Arctic seas in the late summer of +that year. They were merely typical whalers of small size, built and +sheathed according to accumulated knowledge, tested by years of hard +experience. The result was that they were able to leave in that same +September for the Antarctic. The whole history of northern whaling +is bound up with that of the south, just as all Polar exploration +and observation are inseparably connected with the evolution of this +important industry. + +If it is the whaler whose ship-model has repeatedly been used for +transporting the scientist, then the latter has come back with more +systematized information by which to aid the adventurous merchant. I +am stressing this point of mutual assistance, since too often we are +tempted to be influenced only by the final achievement and forget +all the weary steps which had preceded it. “The recent Antarctic +Expeditions,” wrote Dr. Jean Charcot of the _Pourquois Pas?_ expedition +of 1908-10, speaking in reference to this southern commercial whaling +activity, “from de Gerlache’s down to that of the _Français_, have +certainly done much for this revival of industry in the Antarctic and +sub-Antarctic regions, and I personally claim to have done my small +part, though I should have liked to see my fellow-countrymen, severely +tested as they have often been in the cod-fisheries, attempting to take +advantage of it.” + +And, again, Charcot wrote: “It was three years ago that the chase +of the balænoptera began in our exploration zone; and in the South +Shetlands since our visit, one Chilian and two Norwegian companies +have set up at Deception, while another has taken as its headquarters +Admiralty Bay in George I Land. As far as these whalers are concerned, +it has been a pleasure to me to note how useful the _Français_ +Expedition has been to them in supplementing the discoveries of the +_Belgica_; for we were able, of ourselves, to supply them with the +only existing chart of the north-west coast of the Palmer Archipelago, +and another of the Bismarck estuary, to guide them to a good anchorage +at Port Lockroy and a shelter at Wandel Island, to say nothing of our +notes on the numbers and species of balænoptera, on the movements of +the ice-floes, on the winds. etc.” + +For it was during his first expedition of 1903-5 in the _Français_ that +Dr. Charcot had carried out extensive exploration on the west coast +of Graham Land, and discovered that good harbour of Port Lockroy in +Wiencke Island, and moderate shelter at Port Charcot in Booth-Wandel +Island. The second of the scientist’s expeditions was that of 1908-10 +in the _Pourquois Pas?_ which covered a wider range and brought about +important discoveries. Thus, for example, we cannot yet tell how +valuable commercially it may be that he measured and accurately placed, +during this second voyage, Adelaide Island; that he proved Alexander +Land to be an island, and that Charcot Land, right as far south as +lat. 70°, was discovered. But of the greatest immediate value was the +hydrographic work which he carried out from the South Shetlands and +among the isles at the western side of Graham Land. How valuable such +efforts are industrially may be at once understood when we realize +that recently this hydrographic information was lacking to the whaling +ships. Thus in the year 1918 the Norwegian s.s. _Solstreif_ a vessel +of 3,409 registered tons, employed as a whaling factory in the South +Shetlands and by Graham Land, got ashore on a rock near Cape Melville, +and another steamer named the _Ornen_ was nearly on these selfsame +rocks. The s.s. _Telefon_, ten years previously, got on the rocks by +the south-west entrance to Admiralty Bay, and became a total wreck. + +On the other hand there was found by whalers in 1918, at the west side +of Pendulum Cove, a document conveniently left behind by Dr. Charcot, +headed “Notice to Navigators,” containing such useful information as in +the following extracts: “I think I ought to warn all navigators who may +go to Wandel with the intention of staying at Port Charcot that a ship +is far from being in safety there during the north-east winds, which +are by far the most prevalent and the most violent in this region.... +A chain stretched across the entrance of the bay and securely fastened +at both ends, may protect to a certain extent the ship from the ice +blocks, but hawsers, even of steel wire, are soon cut.” + +Such information as this begins that body of Sailing Directions which, +by the experience of some hundreds of years and many voyagings, have +been compiled for other parts of the world, enabling shipping of all +sorts to proceed on their lawful occasions. Charcot and others risked +their ships, and the lives of their crews, to get that essential +information which will go on being added to till some day it is +complete. There is a passage in his _Voyage of the “Why Not?”_ which +illustrates how those early whalers of 1909, whom he frequently met +down south, used to rely on his help. + +“Lastly,” he writes on December 18th, “the whale men are very anxious +to know whether there cannot be found in the bays of Joinville Island +some good anchorages, at which they could carry on their work. It +comes within the scope of our duties to discover this for ourselves and +to try to bring the information back to them.” And in another place he +remarks: “The whalers ... are upset, for hunting is bad this season.... +A naturalist would find interesting microscopic study in the subject +of whale-food--the infinitely small denizens of the water--which must +count for much in explaining the routes the whales follow; and science +once again would hereby render eminent services to commerce.” + +The present hydrographical position is that there still remains a very +large amount of work to be done before the surveys of the whaling +areas are anything like complete and safe for navigation. And where +the working season is annually not more than five or six months, it +follows that some years must elapse before satisfactory charts will be +available. But this matter, so far as the Falklands Dependencies are +concerned, is thoroughly in hand. For, even when we were in the midst +of a great war, and during that most critical of all years, 1917, when +German submarines had reduced our Mercantile Marine to such seriously +low figures, the British Government was commencing an inquiry into the +preservation of the whaling industry concerned with these Dependencies. +The result was that a special interdepartmental committee was set +going, which recommended, _inter alia_, that the food of whales should +be carefully investigated as well as the migration of the sperm whale +to southern waters. Investigations were also to be made in regard +to the breeding-grounds, and it was pointed out that a complete +hydrographical survey was necessary both for navigation generally, and +for the local interests of the whaling industry. It was as a result of +the committee’s findings that Scott’s old ship the _Discovery_--herself +built on the lines of the old Dundee whalers--was fitted out at +Portsmouth in the early summer of 1925 and despatched to the seas of +which we have been speaking, there to act as a research vessel. + +But in the meantime we have to bear in remembrance that it was owing to +those British pioneers, mentioned elsewhere, that these localities are +ours. Already in the season of 1908-9, when Charcot was down there and +three whaling companies were working on Deception Island with floating +steamers as factories, and the smaller specially built steamers going +out to catch the whales, there were two hundred Norwegian inhabitants +of that island. The season lasts from the end of November to the end +of February, when the companies separate; some to hunt off the Chilian +coast, others in the Magellan Straits, others in the waters of the +Cape of Good Hope. In regard to the South-West African whaling, where +the humpback, fin and blue whales are captured annually, Saldanha Bay +is largely used, as well as Durban, for eastern whaling. In the year +1912 only 131 whales were caught off that part of Africa, but they +have since been captured in much greater numbers; and even in 1916 the +figures were considerably over eight hundred. + +The numbers of right whales and sperm whales caught in the waters of +the Dependencies are so few compared with the thousands of the blue, +fin and humpback, that we can neglect them. The humpback may be in +danger of extermination, but it is of little commercial value, and +the other two are plentiful. The practical method by which the men +can recognize the different kinds at a distance is as follows. These +three belong to the rorqual class, the humpback being known by the +protuberance on his back and by the fact that he spouts very low. The +fin whale is of medium value, has a very large dorsal fin, and spouts +very high with a single, straight jet. The blue whale, on the other +hand, which is more valuable than the other two, has a moderate-sized +dorsal fin and spouts with a double jet ending in a plume. + +For the sake of clarity and continuity we have concentrated on one +particular branch of development. Let us now go back a little way. +The whole possibility of this modern Dependencies’ whaling has been +based on those new methods inaugurated in the eighteen-sixties by that +Norwegian expert Svend Foyn, who had been impressed, whilst voyaging +to the Arctic for seals, by the large numbers of finners. Why not +hunt this species? After three years he got over the difficulties +and introduced his special explosive harpoon, and by doing away with +the old method of using the boat, eliminated the risk to crews. It +was now the year 1865, the time when the gallant old sailing ship in +the clippers and others was making her last flutter: for steam was +beginning to conquer navigation. + +Svend Foyn, substituting the steamer for the sailing ship’s rowed boat, +made it possible for the harpoon-gun to be brought quite close to the +finner. (It is true that way back in 1731 a portable harpoon-gun had +been invented, but this was found very dangerous, although others +followed.) Moreover, since a dead finner sinks and its weight is much +greater than the buoyancy of the rowed whaleboat, it was no good +thinking of hunting this species unless the size of the craft were +increased. Thus, in a sentence, the conditions demanded that a steamer +with a harpoon-gun in the bows be employed. With many improvements +this method is that of modern whaling. When the animal is hit, the +two shanks of the harpoon open out and explode a small bomb. The +body of the dead whale is then hauled back by means of the ship’s +steam windlass, inflated to prevent its sinking, and then towed to +the floating factory or shore, the steam whaler, or “catcher” as the +modern term is, sometimes being seen with as many as half a dozen dead +cetaceans. + +As a result of his new methods, Svend Foyn of Tonsberg died a very +wealthy man, and the acknowledged expert of all the Norwegian whalers. +But it was only through his plucky perseverance and originality that +the problem of killing the supposedly invulnerable finner had been made +practicable. What was more, it was thus through him that a new industry +was to arise in Norway. Now, then, let us watch the sequence of events. +In June 1893 those four Dundee whalers, after their unsuccessful +voyage, had arrived back in Dundee. There happened to be living a Mr. +H. H. Bull, who was also inspired by the Antarctic whaling proposition, +but had failed to interest Australian capitalists in the scheme. Bull +therefore left Melbourne, travelled to Norway and got in touch with +Foyn, then over eighty years old. The latter listened and approved, and +even placed at Bull’s disposal a whaler, built at Drammen as far back +as the year 1871. This vessel was similar to the Dundee _Balæna_, and +now, changing her name from _Cap Nor_ to _Antarctic_, under the command +of Captain L. Kristensen, with Mr. Bull on board, set off in September +1893, reached Melbourne the following January, left it in the following +September, got within the Antarctic Circle, sighted Cape Adare for the +first time it had been seen since Ross’s voyage, visited Possession +Island, but after being as far south as lat. 74°, it was decided to +return. For commercially this voyage had been a failure, and not a +“right” whale had been seen. + +And so the intimate relationship between whaling and discovery, +between the genuine whaling ships and the exploration vessels built +on the lines of whalers, went on. The whaling expert was indebted to +the explorer, and the explorer to the whaler. Two more instances of +these in regard to personnel may here be cited. Let us mention, for +instance, the name of C. B. Borchgrevink, a Norwegian by birth, but +a British colonial land-surveyor by experience. So keen was he to go +with Kristensen and Bull that he signed on as ordinary seaman in the +_Antarctic_. After his return in 1895, Borchgrevink unsuccessfully +tried to get up a trading expedition to Victoria Land, but three years +later persuaded Sir George Newnes to fit out the _Pollux_, another +Norwegian whaler similar to _Balæna_, yet with new and more powerful +engines. The name _Pollux_ was changed to _Southern Cross_; there went +as captain Bernhard Jensen, who had been Borchgrevink’s shipmate as +second mate of that whaler _Antarctic_, Jensen having for many years +been in command of an Arctic whaler. The _Southern Cross_ left the +Thames in August of 1898, and proceeded via Hobart to the Antarctic; +but the value which accrued from this expedition was interesting rather +from a pioneering point of view than scientifically. + +So also Dr. W. S. Bruce, who had originally gone out in _Balæna_, took +part in the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition of 1894-7 to the Arctic, +and then led the Scottish National Antarctic expedition of 1902-4. It +is one of the most remarkable facts about men who have served in the +Arctic and Antarctic that they are to be found longing to repeat the +experience. Bruce had yearned to go out again to the Weddell Sea, and +now another Norwegian whaler, the _Hekla_, was bought, rebuilt and +named the _Scotia_. As captain of her there went Thomas Robertson of +Dundee, who had been captain of the _Active_--one of those four Dundee +whalers which had met Captain Larsen on that other expedition in the +south. + +The _Scotia_ was a three-masted barque, with auxiliary steam, of about +400 tons, measuring 140 ft. long and drawing about 15 ft. Her best +speed under steam was eight knots. She was immensely strong, with 9 ft. +of solid timber at the stem, and even amidships her thinnest part was +never less than 2 ft. thick. She was further protected by green-heart +sheathing, this wood being chosen for its ability to resist the +grinding by the ice. She started out from the Clyde in November 1902, +called at the Falklands, and in February sighted the South Orkneys. The +furthest south was attained in lat. 74° 1′ S., long. 22° W., and the +ship got back to the Clyde in May 1904. The achievements of Dr. Bruce’s +expedition included many important deep-sea soundings and dredgings, +investigations as to both temperature and salinity in the Weddell Sea, +the discovery of Coats Land for 150 miles; the wintering at the South +Orkneys, important hydrographical survey work, and the establishment +of a meteorological station on Laurie Island. Many whales were seen +just before entering the Antarctic Circle; and between Buenos Ayres and +the Falklands also sperm whales. In the comparatively high latitude of +56° 55′ S., and long. 10° W., many humpbacked whales were sighted “but +never any of the bowhead or right whale, which carries the gold-mine +in its mouth.” Many whales were seen by this ship also off the South +Shetlands. + +Finally, it may be mentioned that Amundsen, on that expedition which +culminated in discovering the South Pole, reported that he saw from +the _Fram_ both finners and blue whales. Shackleton, whose penultimate +expedition left England in 1914, just as the Great War was beginning, +and was wrecked by the ice, escaped to Elephant Island (one of the +South Shetlands), and then undertook that wonderful boat journey to +South Georgia. During this ill-fated expedition there were sighted +both finners and blue whales, but it is to be noted that two sperm +whales were seen in lat. 69° 59′ S., long. 17° 36′ W. Very few whales +were found in the Falklands area, but eight bottlenose whales were seen +in lat. 67° 47′ S., long. 52° 18′ W. + +To sum up, then, the present position of whaling has shifted from the +Arctic to the Antarctic in regard to the chief sphere of activity. +The spirit which has actuated both explorers and fishers has been of +necessity one of determination to endure cold and discomforts, together +with a tremendous sympathy with seafaring. Great physical strength, the +ability to bear severe Polar cold and being cramped up in comparatively +small ships; that quiet, unemotional determination of the northerner +to succeed in spite of all obstacles: it is these qualities which have +always been possessed especially by the Scotsman and the Scandinavian. +Thus it is that in the history of whaling and Antarctic voyagings we +find such North European names as Ross, Weddell, Bruce, Foyn, Larsen, +Kristensen, Borchgrevink, Nordenskjold and others. + +In the times when the Greenland and Spitsbergen whaling industry was at +its height, Britain possessed a valuable and wonderful national asset +in that numerous and highly skilled floating population of hardy crews. +In their prime, after they had become sufficiently expert, no nation +had more able whaling men or better whaling ships. Then the pride of +the occupation passed to the United States, and now it belongs almost +exclusively to the Norwegians. Britain has never possessed many whaling +crews accustomed to the use of the explosive harpoon. It is to men of +only a certain primitive hardy temperament that this occupation of +spending a large part of the year in the cold and bitter weather can +possibly appeal. A few Shetlanders from Scotland have tried it, but +even they do not long remain attracted. + +At first sight it seems utterly illogical that whilst the Dependencies’ +whaling stations are in British territory, most of the personnel of the +ships and the capital is Norwegian. There are thirteen Norse companies +to three British and one Argentine. Before the war most of the whaling +gear was manufactured in Norway, though since then some of it, such as +the whaling lines and the foregoers--that strong, pliable portion of +the line immediately attached to the harpoon--have been successfully +made in Great Britain. The crews of the British transports are British, +but the harpooners, the men on the shore stations and in floating +factories, the crews and gunners in the whale-catchers, are practically +all Norwegians. Had that Dundee squadron of 1892-3, when it went south, +been equipped with modern guns and gear for dealing with finners +instead of the old-fashioned apparatus for the bowhead whales which +they never saw, it is possible that all this sudden wealth of South +Georgia and vicinity might have come to Great Britain. The rise of the +industry has been amazing and it is still becoming more profitable, +and there can surely be few occupations which have in twenty years so +handsomely rewarded investors. + +On the other hand it cannot be ignored that the question of temperament +and difference in national character is likely to prevent the British +seaman, accustomed to serve all his life in tramps and liners, +from banishing himself to endure cold in a desolate corner of the +globe. Still, if we have lost the whaling industry, we have in the +steam-trawler and steam-drifter fleets both men and ships far superior +to those of any generation. It is only from these that recruits for a +new British whaling industry are likely to be obtained. But I cannot +conceive that under present circumstances the men are likely to be +lured so far away when even the trawlers which fish in Icelandish +waters can see their homes and families frequently. And yet a fleet of +modern steam whale-catchers, with their trained gunners, is certainly +something of which to be proud nationally, and likely to be of great +use at the outbreak of war. + +A gunner is paid well in these whale-catchers. Leaving Norway at the +beginning of September and arriving back home in the following June, +he earns the equivalent of about £700, if based on South Georgia, but +wages are higher at South Shetlands owing to the longer duration of +light and therefore longer working hours. But it must not be forgotten +that in these catchers the work continues day and night, without any +fixed hours, and with very little time off. The gunner is naturally a +man of great skill and long training, worth his wages and bonus. But +the seamen and engineers must also be willing and picked men of special +training; for next to the importance of harpooning a whale is the +ability to sight him. The look-out man in the crow’s-nest must be able +both to see and to discern: so, too, the steersman must be no ordinary +quartermaster but specially accomplished to act promptly in accordance +with the gunner’s instructions. As to the engineer, he, too, requires +some training, especially in the need of fuel economy: for these +whale-catchers burn about six tons of coal a day, and the cost of coal +in South Georgia reaches as much as £14 a ton. + +There is also this other difference to be remembered. In the olden days +there was a big whaling community at Hull, Peterhead, Dundee and other +ports. The ships belonged there, the crews’ homes were there also. +Nowadays these are fishing communities, and it would take a long time +to build up a whaling community in Britain, from which men would go to +the Dependencies every year in the whale-catchers. But in Norway it is +different, for there are whaling communities in Tonsberg, Sandefjord +and Larvik: and all those Norwegian whaling companies operating in +the Falklands Dependencies belong either to these three ports or to +Christiania or Hangesund. There can be no possible doubt that the +British seaman of the fisherman type would be the best kind of whaler +for this class of work: and the readiness with which British fishermen, +who had never even fired a shot-gun previously, became during the +war thoroughly good gunners, is proof enough that if they could hit +submarines at long range they could certainly strike whales at close +range. + +But there are all sorts of difficulties: of temperament--yes: of +working with foreigners: of working under aliens; problems, also, +in regard to sailors’ and firemen’s unions. But where the pay is so +attractive and the season from leaving home to getting back is not +more than ten months, it is conceivable that some day British crews in +British whale-catchers under British gunners may be hunting the whale +with as much enthusiasm and skill as in those days when the fleets used +to go from the Thames and east-coast ports. We have the men and we have +the ships. There remain only the will and the determination. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +MODERN WHALERS AND THEIR METHODS + + +The days when the three-masted barque or ship roamed round the +world pursuing the whale from ocean to ocean are as definitely past +and gone as are the types of whalers and their methods. To-day the +vessels are steel-built and steam-driven, and they are spoken of as +“whale-catchers.” So, too, the explosive harpoon has done away with the +need of boat-work and hand-harpoons. + +Unquestionably much of the romance, such as we used to read of in the +nineteenth-century novels, has disappeared also. That is inevitable, +for the twentieth century is an age of strenuous action rather than +of sentiment. It is carry on or get out: beauty and imagination, or +the method of doing things, cannot demand the same attention as the +achievement itself. The merchant who at heart really loves the sight +of a sailing-ship cannot afford to send his goods overseas except in a +mechanically propelled vessel, however much his sense of beauty prompts +and tempts him. In the same way whaling efficiency has little or no use +for any except those splendid small steamers, with their harpoon-gun at +the bows and well-organized factories at the shore base, on which the +ship depends for her coal and stores, and the company relies for the +preparation of the whale produce. + +Before the Great War the standardized steam whale-catcher measured +anything from 98 ft. to 115 ft. over all, with 18 to 22 ft. beam and +moulded depth of 11 ft. to 12 ft. 9 in. She was flush-decked, cut +away at bow and stern for reasons of extreme handiness, with a speed +of 11 to 12 knots; whereas in the old sailing days they were slow, +and varied from 150 to about 450 tons. To-day the whale-catcher has +evolved into a vessel of from 150 to 180 tons, of a type that shows +a kind of amalgamation of the steam trawler and the ocean-going tug. +For extreme handiness and exceptional seaworthiness combined, these +little steamers are unrivalled. And when you consider that they have +to steam from Northern Europe, down the North Sea and Atlantic, cross +the Equator, wrestle with those heavy gales and the treacherous ice +near the Antarctic Circle, chasing the cetacean past unsurveyed coasts, +and entering harbours barely safe from wind and ice, surely as much is +asked of a ship as ever a man could have the heart. + +If we select an average post-war type we may take a whale-catcher of +105 ft. long, 20 ft. beam and 12 ft. depth, fitted with three-cylinder +engines, having a boiler pressure of 200 lb. to the square inch. The +average speed is up to 15 knots: but inasmuch as this is inferior to +the speed at which a whale can travel, the cetacean is hunted only when +feeding. To give greater engine power than this would be too costly in +regard to that very expensive item of coal in South Georgia; and would +mean a bigger ship. Neither is desirable. The engines are placed aft, +where the ship draws 12 ft., the draught forward being about 9 ft. And +in order to make her more handy still, each vessel is fitted with a +centre rudder. Abaft the foremast is a powerful winch, which is most +essential in these craft. It may be mentioned here that the whale being +moderately sensitive to sound, motor-boats are useless for this work. +They were tried, but made too much noise. + +The catcher has a fine, healthy sheer forward, with a nice flare. The +rounded forefoot is rather that of a sailing yacht than a steamship, +but everything about her suggests strength and wholesomeness. At the +same time these are really pretty eye-pleasing craft. Mounted right +forward is the muzzle-loading harpoon-gun, on a swivel; and so nicely +balanced that when loaded with charge and harpoon it can be raised +and trained readily. The bore is 3 in., the gun being 45 in. long. On +the extreme end of the foredeck, below the gun, is a pair of stout +rollers over which the harpoon lines are run. The harpoon itself is +of the finest tempered Swedish steel, 6 ft. in length and of over a +hundredweight. This harpoon, unlike the old-fashioned type, has four +prongs, which spring out to an angle of forty-five degrees when the +line tightens after the harpoon has struck inside the whale’s body. + +Now at the point of the modern harpoon is a conical bomb over a foot +long and filled with gunpowder. A time fuse fires this bomb three +seconds after the harpoon has left the muzzle of the gun. Attached to +the harpoon come sixty fathoms of the finest Italian hemp, which every +seafarer admires for its handiness and disinclination to kink even +with the wet. This foregoer is of about 4-in. stuff, and lies ready +coiled on a platform close to the gun. When the gunner gets his chance +one shot should finish the whale, but it may happen that two or three +harpoons are necessary. This foregoer--or “foreganger” as the old term +used to be--is secured to the harpoon’s shank by means of a ring, +whilst the other end of the rope is spliced to a 5-in. whale line of +120 fathoms; but of course this may be lengthened by bending on other +lines. + +At the top of the foremast is the crow’s-nest, which is entered by +climbing the rigging; this steel mast being of a more substantial +kind than is customary in tugs and trawlers. The look-out man having +indicated the whale, or a school of whales, everything on the part +of the steersman and engine department is done so that speed and +manœuvring will enable the gunner to hit the whale just as the latter +is rising after his submersion. On the other hand, the whale may not +oblige by emerging just ahead: he may be on the ship’s beam, or even +astern. It is for this reason that the extreme handiness was given to +the ship’s design, so that she can swing round quickly and find her +target in the position required. The usual range is only 25 yds., and +the gun’s charge is about 14 oz. of powder. + +If the whale has been rightly struck in a vulnerable part, he should +die immediately, and will begin to sink. That powerful steam winch, +placed between bridge and foremast, now comes into use. So soon as the +sinking whale has caused the line to hang straight down it is passed +to the snatch-blocks which are above the shrouds of the foremast, +and so the line comes to the winch. As the winch revolves, the ship +and whale are mutually drawn, but there is now a risk that with the +rolling of heavy whale and heavy steel ship in the Antarctic swell +the line may suddenly part. In order to prevent such an occurrence, +there is a special arrangement of powerful volute springs (called an +“accumulator”) which is fitted in the bottom of the ship along the +keelson from the collision bulkhead forward right away to the stokehold +aft. + +These steel springs are in double rows and connected by flexible wire +ropes to those two snatch-blocks, one of which is on either side of +the mast. Thus, now that the securing tackle has been led to the +accumulator by way of those masthead blocks, any sudden jerk on the +rope is borne by the spiral springs. In other words, the rise and +fall are compensated for. But there are occasions when the whale has +not been shot dead, and then enters the skill of the gunner, who has +to display the ability of the angler. The steam winch has to be moved +very carefully, as an angler winds in his reel; and the engine-room +staff below must see that the propeller goes ahead or astern in quick +obedience to the telegraph: for this is the most critical time of the +proceedings. + +The whale being now dead, and the winch having hauled him to the +surface of the sea, a chain is passed round the cetacean’s tail and +made fast to the towing bits, the foregoer is taken from the harpoon, +and the whale is ready to be towed alongside the ship tail foremost. +But, in order to prevent the carcase from sinking, a hole is pierced +in it and a hollow harpoon or tube is inserted. Through this tube +the whale is pumped full of air, this air pipe leading down to a +steam-driven compressor in the engine-room. It is rather like inflating +an enormous Rugby football. Afterwards the air tube is withdrawn and +the harpoon shanks unscrewed, the heads being recovered later on. + +The whaler may now return to her base, perhaps with several whales +towing alongside: sometimes with as many as ten. These craft have a +very strenuous life during that short season and rest only on Sundays. +Having coaled and provisioned, they spend the remainder of the time at +work, the crew being in watches as in any other ship: but the moment +a whale is sighted every deck hand rushes up, so that in practice the +hands can rarely obtain four consecutive hours of sleep, and more +frequently they never take their clothes off for twenty-four whole +hours. The first real rest for captain and crew comes only after +several whales are being towed back and it is impossible to go after +any more for the present. Then, and not till then, is it possible +for human nature to catch up with delayed sleep. On the other hand, +what with their monthly wage and big bonus, and being away from Norway +only from September to June, the men stick it out as something quite +worth while. Whale-meat is eaten by the men with relish, and has been +compared with the best veal; but it does not keep and must be cut from +the cetacean as soon as he is killed. + +These little whale-catchers are kept beautifully clean and comfortably +fitted up; and I wonder sometimes that those who care to do their +yachting with steam power do not build one of this type instead of +some rather useless vessels that one sees round the coast. For these +catchers are both good-looking and able to go anywhere in any weather; +but you cannot say all this of most steam yachts. A heavy sea is +preferred by the catcher whilst hunting, for the whale’s body shows +itself more conspicuously and thus affords a better target. But up and +down the lonely coast of South Georgia and islands of that cold sea, +skirting the rocks and keeping a smart eye lifting all the time for the +spouting vapour which will indicate the distant whale, hour after hour, +watch after watch may pass before any luck comes along. For the animal +has the sense to be wary, after the loss of so many relatives. Close +on ten thousand whales captured yearly in the waters of the Falklands +Dependencies cannot be ignored if we think of the future, although +it has not yet been proved that whaling in these waters will become +exhausted as has been the case in other parts of the globe. + +Again and again the whale escapes before the gunner can get a fair +opportunity, but at last the animal may be sighted sailing along +unsuspectingly. It is then for the catcher to be manœuvred cautiously +and adroitly so as to work into the required position. And now goes +the harpoon-gun! The blue whale has been hit, the foam is being cast +up all around him, and he disappears with remarkable suddenness, but +a prisoner all the same. Out goes the line more quickly than rushing +thought, the windlass is about to haul it in again, but suddenly the +tension ends: the harpoon has broken off, and the whale has been +lost--dead, but sinking to the bottom until three days shall have +passed. These animals love to haunt the vicinity of ice-masses: +and in a season when the bergs are few, the hunting may be poor. A +whale’s period of gestation is about a year, and the persistence with +which these southern whales are now being hunted gives no time for +the stock to be increased. And it has been found that, having become +knowledgeable, they now alter their former cruising areas and take +different routes through other straits and round other islands. + +In spite of the cold and hard gales, the climate in the seas of +the Falklands Dependencies is very healthy, but the lack of fresh +provisions is regrettable. At South Georgia, where there are shore +factories for dealing with the whales, there is a population of 1,337 +human beings, of whom all are males, except for three: and at least +1,000 of the community are natives of Norway and Sweden. Here, too, +are the workshops and stores, special transport ships bringing to the +island provisions, stores and coal, and taking back the oil which has +been extracted from the whales that the fleet of catchers bring. For +these modern hunters are not fitted with reducing plant and merely tow +the carcases to be handed over either to the floating factory or to the +shore station. At South Georgia, for example, the reducing is carried +on chiefly at shore stations: but at the South Shetlands there is only +one site in Deception Harbour, so floating factories become essential. + +The floating factories consist of the hulls of old steamers and +sailing-ships; or, more recently, they are converted steamships fitted +up with all the latest plant. These vessels are moored in convenient, +sheltered harbours, the carcases being brought alongside. There is on +board extensive deck machinery, with great derricks capable of lifting +50-ton weights. Forward is the blubber factory, with the flensing deck +erected above the main deck. In these up-to-date floating factories +elevators, driven by independent steam-engines, are employed for +feeding the blubber to the blubber vats, the latter being placed on +each side of the ship. In the holds are the oil-tanks, fitted up in +much the same way as in an oil-carrying ship, but before the whale oil +finally gets down there it has to pass through clearing, skimming and +refuse tanks. + +At the after end of the ship is the flesh and bone factory. Here an +additional wooden deck has been built up, the whale flesh passing +direct into the boilers through openings on deck. The whale being +brought alongside this floating factory, it is secured at the fore end +of the latter, and the flensers then proceed to strip off the blubber, +which is lifted on board by the derricks to the flensing deck in strips +about 50 ft. in length, 4 ft. wide, and over 1 ft. in thickness. After +the blubber has been stripped from one side, the carcase is turned over +by special winches, so that the other side can be dealt with. + +The blubber is on this flensing deck cut into short lengths and passed +down the shoots, where it is sliced by revolving hack knives; and +thence it is taken up by the elevators and dropped into other shoots, +and so into the blubber vats, into which steam is turned for several +hours whilst the oil is being extracted. Steam is then shut off, +and for about half an hour the whole mass is stirred. More steaming +follows, and then the contents are allowed to settle, the water is +drawn off from the bottom, the oil is strained and tapped, and finally +reaches the cargo tanks below. + +When the blubber has been stripped off the whale, the carcase is +removed to the after part of the ship, where the head and tail are cut +off, as well as the sides, backbone and other portions likely to yield +oil. Steam-driven saws cut the pieces into convenient size and the oil +is extracted in the boilers by steam. These floating factories, of +course, vary in size, but an average one can deal with as many as nine +blue whales a day of the big kind, or sixteen of the smaller types. All +this shows how systematized the operation has now become in comparison +with the flensing carried on during those days when the sailing whaler +was self-contained and independent of a base. There can be no sort of +doubt that the modern method is far more efficient on the principle of +subdivision of labour. The catchers are free to confine their attention +to hunting and killing: the factories are ready to do the rest when +once the whale has been towed alongside. Thus, in a season, one of +these factory ships may deal with as many as six hundred whales. + +Bluntly stated, it would seem as if by this wholesale process of +meticulous organization and ingenious machinery the entire operation +was impossible of romance. And yet I can see that this is not so. We +can leave out that long voyage to the Antarctic and back where these +factory steamships lie cut off from the rest of the world for months. +But is there not something more than interesting in the arrangements +which make such a vessel independent for a long while? She is not +merely a factory, but a depot ship to the catchers, and able to meet +any contingency, repair their hulls, engines and auxiliaries, in +addition to being able to do the same for her own mass of machinery. +She carries a complete engineering shop with lathes and drilling +machines, a blacksmith’s shop with its forges, and a carpenter’s shop +also. + +A hundred and fifty men have to be accommodated, and fed for eight +months straight on end. This vessel has to pass through the tropics +to a region of great cold: so there are problems of ventilation and +heating: nor are these the only ones. Coal and water? Well, the +bunkers, tanks, ’tween decks, and indeed every available space must be +filled up with fuel on setting forth, for this coal has to cover the +following items: the factory ship’s long voyage out, the running of +the numerous auxiliaries for several months as if she were some works +ashore, the supplying of bunker fuel to the whale-catchers, which each +consume six tons a day, and on the top of all this there must be enough +coal left for the factory steamer herself to get back home. + +As to the matter of water, this is a real difficulty; for a floating +factory consumes about eighty tons a day. On the other hand her +distillers and evaporators produce, if needs be, a hundred tons of +water daily. But this, again, means the expenditure of much valuable +coal. For this purpose the ship carries a number of specially +constructed boats suitable for conveying water. These boats are towed +by motor-boat to the shore, the water is collected from the melting +snow and ice, taken back to the ship and transferred by pumps to the +vessel’s fresh-water tanks. This sounds delightfully simple and easy: +but those whose job it is to go water-searching on an icebound island +amidst glaciers and frozen hummocks will tell you that it is both +arduous and even exciting. It is therefore perhaps more accurate to +say that modern whaling methods have a romance of their own, different +in kind from that of the old three-masted ships and barques with +their own crew who did the flensing; yet, when we come down to plain +thinking, is it not the case that distance of time is the real cause of +any activity seeming romantic? We speak to-day almost with reverence +of life in the old East Indiamen, and even in the clipper ships. It +is only because they have gone that we so regard them. Contemporary +seamen thought otherwise. And in another hundred years it may be that +some people will read into Antarctic steam whalers a great deal of +attraction that those of our own time cannot perceive. Well, why not? +Can you admire the outside of a beautiful Gothic cathedral if you stand +with your nose close alongside a flying buttress? + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE PRESENT WHALING INDUSTRY + + +The average annual number of whales caught in the Dependencies in the +years immediately preceding the Great War was 8,314: but this has now +risen to 9,915. Many things, such as the varying directions of currents +carrying the whales’ food elsewhere, are responsible for changing the +localities of the cetacean; and therefore it is no fair assumption to +argue in a bad season that at last the whale is being exterminated +owing to excessive fishing. But where 304,002 barrels of oil were got +from the former before the war, 611,372 barrels are now being obtained +from the annual catch. In other words, each whale now yields over 61 +barrels instead of less than 37 barrels: and the value has gone up to +considerably more than three times what it used to be. + +Well, for this we have largely to thank the Government restrictions, +which not only limit the number of licences, but ever since the year +1921 have compelled the economical utilization of the carcase. The +former practice was simply to remove the most valuable portions of +the whale, leaving the carcase to rot on the beach. All this has +been altered so that waste does not exist. The improved factory +methods, mentioned in the last chapter, have further facilitated this +innovation. In the olden days ships that used Greenland waters and the +Davis Straits used to make more money from the bone than from the oil. +For instance, in the year 1860 there were captured by British vessels +eight whales off Greenland and seventy-six up the Davis Straits. Total +eighty-four whales, whose produce fetched only £70,828, whale oil being +then £1 12s. 6d. per cwt., but the bone realizing £20 10s. 0d. per cwt. +To-day there is very little demand for whalebone, since many cheap +and serviceable substitutes have been invented. The whale is hunted +principally for its oil, and then only in a by-product sense for the +fertilizing guano and meal made out of the meat and bones after the oil +has been extracted. + +If we take a fairly representative span of years such as from 1860 to +1888, that is to say, when steam was beginning to come in as auxiliary +to the sailing whalers, we are in a fair position to compare the +results with present-day whaling. And the figures show at once (even +after allowing for the changed value of money) that the discovery of +the Antarctic grounds has made those Victorian times seem ridiculous. +Between those two first-mentioned dates of the nineteenth century +there were several years when the Greenland region yielded not one +single whale, and the highest figure for any season during that period +was only thirty-five. During those same twenty-eight years the Davis +Straits never afforded less than ten whales a season but never more +than 208. The most remunerative year was 1861, when a total revenue of +£112,305 was obtained. From the year 1875, with certain fluctuations, +that whole northern fishing decreased both in whale numbers and in +actual value, so that, when we come to the year 1886, from the two +areas combined only thirty-four whales were taken, and only £34,652 +obtained: but this notwithstanding that the price of whalebone had +risen from £18 (in the year 1861) to £82 10s. 0d. per cwt. in 1886. +In the last-mentioned year, when whale oil was fetching only a guinea +per cwt., it hardly paid the cost of getting it, and it was only the +whalebone which made it worth while to undertake these northern voyages. + +We can therefore scarcely wonder that the industry gradually faded +away. But if some of those astute old whaling skippers and hardened +harpooners could come back to-day and learn that a fleet of fifty-five +steam catchers had killed in one Antarctic season 9,915 whales and made +£3,056,860 for their owners we should find some interesting comments. +I hate to bore the reader with statistics, but this is the only way of +proving the tremendous change of prosperity which has come about so +recently and so quickly. Since the year 1853 British vessels ceased +to hunt the sperm whale: in other words, confined themselves to the +search for whalebone. And then flexible steel for umbrellas and women’s +corsets was introduced, so that there was but little demand for the +whalebone after the ’eighties. + +But in the year 1880 that experienced whaler Captain D. Gray in the +_Eclipse_ of Peterhead began hunting that toothed whale species known +as the bottlenose. And, what was more, he killed thirty-two of this +cetacean in those seas between Labrador and Nova Zembla which had been +fished for centuries. Addressing himself to this particular kind, he +found that the bluenose existed in large numbers; and in 1882 Scotch +whalers killed 463, of which Gray alone killed 203. The year following +the British and the Norwegian whaling ships chased the bluenose with +such success that the market became glutted. But the incident is worth +noting as showing that there were still just as good whales in the sea +as ever came out. + +That year 1882 was certainly memorable in the annals of our subject, +and the _Eclipse_ had a short but highly prosperous season: for she +caught her first whale as early as April 27th, but by June 29th she +had done so well that every available space in the ship was full of +blubber. She had even to throw into the sea all her coal--except just +so much as would get her home--in order to find room for her cargo. +The result was that she was back in Peterhead by July 5th, with a full +ship: that is to say, with 230 tons of oil valued at £60 a ton, or +£13,800 for a voyage of only a few weeks. It is perfectly true that +for a long time whalers had occasionally taken a bottlenose, and the +_Chieftain_ of Kirkcaldy had killed twenty-eight off the Frobisher +Strait; but it was not until the year 1877 that the _Jan Mayen_ of +Peterhead, having missed getting seals, captured ten bottlenose whales. +After that date the smaller whaling ships began hunting them every +season, and the larger ones commenced hunting the bottlenose between +seasons: that is, after the end of the seal fishery and before the +start of the whaling proper, coming down to the north-east Scottish +coast for that purpose. + +The relation between the seal and whale fisheries in the north is +interesting. Ever since the last quarter of the eighteenth century +sealing had been going on off Newfoundland, but it was not till the +year 1876 that whalers from Dundee began to engage in this occupation, +off there. The right whale had been for such a long time regarded as +the only produce worth hunting that attention at first was not paid +to anything else in the northern waters. Neither seals nor the white +whales were considered worthy of attention. But those British whalers +which went up to the Arctic from about 1882 found the whales were +getting so scarce that they were only too pleased to fill up with seals +as well, if the chance presented itself. + +The following brief résumé will show just how the northern, as +distinct from the South Seas whaling, fared from the year 1814, and we +can see at once how extreme was the change from good fortune to bad in +a very few years. Thus the number of whales killed in the waters of +Greenland and the Davis Straits by British ships during the years 1814 +to 1823 was 12,907: from 1824 to 1833 it dropped to 9,532, and in 1834 +to 1843 it fell remarkably to 1,221. There follows now a serious slump: +for whereas in 1857 Peterhead still sent out thirty-four whalers, she +possessed not one in the year 1893, the pride of place having passed +entirely to Dundee. In the year 1882 there went to the Davis Straits +for whales nine Dundee ships, which came back with seventy-eight +whales, whose oil and bones yielded a sum of £58,876, oil being at that +time £33 a ton, but the value of the whalebone was as much as £1,150 +a ton, so rare had it become. The position by 1883 was this: both the +Greenland whaling and the Greenland sealing were getting worse and +worse, though off Newfoundland it was good. It was bad also in the +Davis Straits, and only six vessels went there from Dundee, whilst +one from Peterhead got up to the Cumberland Gulf. One of these seven +vessels was the whaler _Thetis_, and she came home with the loss of +both her carpenter and bo’sun; for whilst they were fast to a whale the +boat was carried under by the fouling of the line. In this same year +only seven vessels went to Greenland waters and they came back with +only nineteen right whales. But whalebone was scarcer than even in the +year previous, and had now gone up to £2,000 a ton. And it was just +this rise which encouraged the ships and made it worth their while to +keep on trying for a time, especially as already the bottlenose, which +had been overfished, was beginning to get wary and scarce. + +Two new Peterhead whalers were actually added to the fleet in 1883, +and in the following year several steamers were added to the fleet +of Dundee, so that by 1885 the latter had the largest collection of +sixteen whaling ships, but there was a big fleet working out of Norway +chasing the bottlenose whales. However, the down-grade was still +continuing, and if we take the period of 1893 to 1902 British ships +caught only 172 whales off Greenland and in the Davis Straits. In the +year 1903 Dundee’s fleet had diminished to five whalers, of which one +got wrecked. Thus it was that Arctic whaling had now come down to four +vessels and they were only partially successful, and in 1905, although +there were six whalers at work up the Davis Straits, which were now +the only possible resort, yet this season was so notorious that only a +couple of medium-sized whales and one small one were killed up there. +The _Eclipse_, one of the most lucky of whalers, came home “clean”; +that historic _Diana_, which had once been to the Antarctic, came home +“clean”; the _Windward_, another famous ship, came home “clean”; the +_Balæna_, which had also once been to the Antarctic, came home now +from the Arctic with one whale; and the _Morning_ arrived with one +whale. In each of these cases only fifteen cwt. of bone were obtained, +and the _Active_, that other ship which had once been in that Dundee +Antarctic whaling squadron, now came home from the north with one +small whale that yielded but three cwt. of bone. The _Morning_, by +the way, was another historic vessel. Up till the year 1902 she was a +Norwegian whaler and known as the _Morgen_, but she was purchased by +the Royal Geographical Society and sent out to the Antarctic, where she +discovered a new island, reached Scott’s ship _Discovery_ and came home +in the year 1904, and went back to her career as a whaler. + +But this disastrous Arctic season of only three whales had been +aggravated by the long prevalence of easterly winds, which had made +the ice so dense that for the first time since 1878 the whalers were +unable to get through into Melville Bay, and thus could not reach +their favourite grounds near Lancaster Sound. The season of 1906 was +unusual in that for the first time since 1899 whales were killed in +East Greenland waters, that great expert, Captain Robertson (who had +brought the _Scotia_ back from the Antarctic to the Clyde in the summer +of 1904), having captured four small ones which yielded forty cwt. of +bone. But altogether in 1906 seven whalers had been up to the Arctic, +of which three came home “clean,” and the total catch of the other four +from East Greenland, the Davis Straits, and Hudson Straits consisted +solely of eight white whales besides a number of seals, walruses, bears +and foxes. But oil was now £23 a tun, and whalebone had soared up to +£2,500 a ton. + +However, at this point Arctic whaling practically fades out of history +and the scene of activity shifts to South Georgia and other islands in +the Antarctic approaches. Nothing is more significant of the manner +in which the Arctic has been fished out than the difference between +capturing over a thousand right whales annually at the beginning of +the nineteenth century and obtaining only eight white whales in 1906, +although in the latter case steam had come in to aid the ships. Since +that time the best use to which these stout vessels have been put has +been either as exploration craft for Antarctic expeditions or for +service with the Hudson Bay Company. It is sad to think that this fine +type of wooden ship with her auxiliary steam power must be relegated to +the golden age of sailing ships, but now that the steam whale-catcher +and the explosive harpoon have so completely altered the industry +it is no use wasting time in vain regrets: we have to face the new +conditions and make the best of them. + +When Svend Foyn commenced the fin-whale industry with his explosive +harpoon and shore factories in the ’sixties, he operated off the coast +of Finmarken, that most northerly and most poorly populated part of +Norway. Only the coast became permanently inhabited, the settlers +having been attracted by the fisheries. The fin whale was practically +the only kind of whale found in those parts and Varanger Fjord was +the first station to be the scene of the new methods which Foyn +inaugurated in 1865. But gradually these steamships began to exhaust +the whale supply, and the work moved westward. But in that same year +1886 just mentioned the peak of his success was reached; one station +after another had closed down, the numbers of blue whale, fin whale, +sei whale and humpback (all of them rorquals) became fewer and fewer +so that at last the entire whaling fleet, which by 1886 numbered +thirty-four ships, was obtaining from the whole Finmark Sea only half +the number of whales which in the ’sixties Svend Foyn had been getting +from Varanger Fjord alone. + +As to the sperm whale, which at one time was so much hunted by American +and British ships, this species is still found in considerable numbers +and in various localities: but it is indisputable that the sperm is far +less abundant than formerly. The southern right whale has become not +exterminated, but much scarcer than he was formerly in the South Seas. +The Greenland whale was numerous at the beginning of the seventeenth +century, but a hundred years later Davis Straits, as we have seen, +became his home, and now he has practically ceased to be hunted there. +So, too, we have seen the American whalers chase him through the +Bering Straits into the Arctic, but the industry in this part has now +practically ended. The Japanese hunt the Pacific grey whale off the +south-east of Korea, but the rorqual fishery off Newfoundland which +began in 1897 has gradually got worse and worse, and yet at one time +it used to capture an average of 400 whales a year. It is interesting +to note that off the south-west coast of Africa all the whales caught +were thought to be really those making a passage from the southern +ice-barrier towards the waters of the French Congo. But now it is found +that fifty per cent. consist of blue whales, and only ten per cent. of +humpbacks. + +The blue whale is the largest animal in the world, and may measure +anything up to a hundred feet in length. He was generally supposed to +remain in cold waters, and like the fin whale is hunted in preference +to the humpback; because whereas the humpback will yield only twenty +to sixty barrels of oil, the fin whale will produce a hundred barrels, +but the blue whale is good for 250. Our knowledge of whaling habits is, +however, still anything but complete, because in the past our ancestors +were too reckless in killing the whale that brought them fortune to +study its mode of life. But thanks to modern study and those factories, +it is possible now to form deductions which were not practicable in +the days of the hand harpoon. For when the whale is hauled ashore, +instead of being brought alongside the floating factory, he is pulled +up the slip to the flensing platform and can be examined like the human +body on the operating table. On the shore are the open boilers for +extracting the oil from the blubber. The pressure boilers deal with the +carcase after it has been flensed, and after the oil has been run off +the dried residue is put into bags as a most wholesome and nutritious +meal for cattle-feeding. At the land station in South Georgia of one +company where the manager earns about £2,000 or £3,000 a year, he has +under him a whole army of foremen, mechanics, blacksmiths, stewards, +cooks, storekeepers, cookers for the open boilers, cookers for the +pressure boilers, workmen, flensers, carcase dividers, meat and blubber +cutters--all additional to the crews. + +But in a floating factory the staff consists of three mates, boatswain, +steward, cooks, seamen, firemen, cookers, flensers, carcase dividers +and engineers. The personnel of a whale-catcher consists of gunner, +mate, steward, four seamen, two engineers and a couple of firemen. All +that can be done both ashore and afloat in regard to organization is +there. Rather it is in respect of further detailed knowledge concerning +the whale himself that the industry stands most in need. But the waters +of the globe cover many thousands of miles: so it will take time before +complete information arrives. And whilst we know, for example, that +the humpback and fin whales are generally met with in schools, whereas +the blue whale cruises alone; that the humpback usually goes north +about May, returning to South Georgia about October; and that the +South Shetlands fin whale moves in February with the current from the +south-west to the north-east: yet there is much else besides this that +we wish to know, and can obtain only by much observation and long study. + +Thus we desire to settle definitely the question whether the southern +whale does go to the extreme north from the extreme south. There is a +strong probability that he does, for similar barnacles and parasites +have been found on northern and southern whales. Certainly the humpback +whale has been observed to pass the Equator from south to north, and +from the whalebone there seems to be no difference between the fin +whales of the north and south. On the other hand, nothing is less +satisfactory than to draw conclusions from an incomplete set of +premises. At present there is no sure knowledge of fin whales or blue +whales migrating from south to north or north to south. In order to +obtain reliable information on this subject metal cylinders have in +recent years been fired into the whales from rifles with a view to +marking the animals: yet so far none of them has been recovered. But +of the fact that whales do migrate we have definite, though limited, +information from the harpoons discovered in certain whales. Off the +east coast of Africa a whale has been found, still with the harpoon in +him, several hundred miles away from the position where he was first +attacked. + +Ross’s erroneous statement as to the right whale being seen in the +south has been responsible for the failure of those expeditions of +Enderby’s Aucklands scheme, of the Dundee whalers, and also of Bull’s +adventure with Kristensen; for Racovitza, the great zoologist, and +other experts believe that what Ross saw were fin whales. Furthermore, +the expeditions of Shackleton, Scott and Amundsen have confirmed the +fact that the Ross Sea and the pack-ice outside its mouth are visited +by many species of rorquals, such as are to-day captured between South +Georgia and Graham Land. Whilst there is still a certain amount of +whaling being carried on off Alaska, Africa, Brazil and Japan, yet +fuller knowledge of the distribution and migration of the whale, the +collection of statistics and so on, would conceivably open up new +grounds. + +With the exception of the humpback, the whales in the Dependencies +are just as numerous as ever, though varying with the amount of ice +each season. And when we consider the vast size of the Antarctic and +sub-Antarctic Seas it would seem hardly likely that the whale will be +exterminated there for a considerable period. South Georgia and the +South Shetlands are but tiny dots in a sea far bigger than that old +area between Greenland and Spitzbergen. The whale can go on breeding +and multiplying over such extensive grounds that Captain Larsen, for +one, believes there is no need for anxiety in regard to the future. +And he is a supporter from actual observation of the belief that +the humpback and the bottlenose do cross the Equator. But there are +hundreds of thousands of whales whose habitation is along the edge +of the Antarctic ice and land. In the Ross Sea, as all explorers for +nearly the last hundred years have testified, whales exist not in +dozens but in immense quantities. Two quotations will be sufficient +to substantiate this. The first is a statement by the biologist in +Shackleton’s volume _The Heart of the Antarctic_: the second is +contained in Amundsen’s book, already noted. + +“This bay, which we afterwards referred to by the appropriate name of +the Bay of Whales, was teeming with all the familiar kinds of Antarctic +life. Hundreds of whales--killers, finners, and humpbacks--were rising +and blowing all round.” + +“The name ‘Bay of Whales’ was given by Shackleton, and is well chosen. +From the time when the sea ice breaks up, this big gap in the Barrier +is a favourite haunt of whales, which were very often seen playing +about for hours at a time in flocks of some fifty strong.” + +So it would seem that about this southern whaling there is something +likely to be more permanent than has been the case in the north. +Everything, therefore, that can be learned through scientific inquiry +as to currents and so on will help commerce: yet whether they will +eventually induce the British sailor to forsake his North Sea fishing +for the Antarctic is quite another matter. But if there are whales +to be got, we must leave them to the Norwegians so long as supply +and demand exist, and yet somehow I cannot conceive that British +Dependencies will be neglected by our own countrymen for ever. + +It should be mentioned that at the end of the season those factory +steamers, having finished flensing, and having filled up their tanks +with the whale oil, steam back to Europe. The “catchers,” however, +return no further north than Monte Video and Buenos Ayres, where they +pass the winter, refit and eventually start out again to go south +for the following season; the factory steamers, of course, returning +with fresh coal and supplies from Europe. During the Great War half a +dozen of the latter were torpedoed and one mined; for some of these +vessels were employed to carry oil fuel to France and Britain from the +United States. In return for this assistance, the British Government +has not forgotten to deal favourably with the Norwegian whalers in the +Dependencies. + +Every one of those whale-catchers is really a pioneer: for these +handy little steam craft poke their bows, during the course of their +hunting, into all sorts of strange bays and bights and corners, +totally unsurveyed, where the factory ships could not venture. Without +instruments, but feeling their way in with the lead, these Norse seamen +are really repeating history: it is the old Viking idea expressed in +action at the other end of the world. No one to-day has such coastal +knowledge of these our Falkland Dependencies. Commerce and science +being interdependent, a complete hydrographical survey of these parts +must soon come: but that which is most pressing is the knowledge of +real harbours and sheltered anchorages where the catchers can anchor +and the factories can be carried on as they normally are, from 6 a.m. +to 6 p.m. Off the islands of the South Sandwich group blue, bottlenose, +humpback, fin and even sperm-whales have been sighted by Captain +Larsen; but this group has not been surveyed since the year 1819, and +it is obviously desirable in such a tempestuous locality that at least +one reliable harbour should be known where ships may rely on finding +safety. But South Georgia, South Orkneys, South Shetlands and Graham +Land all need to be laid out adequately on the chart with proper +sailing directions. Dr. Bruce has suggested the use of aircraft in the +summer for settling the existence of islands hinted at by previous +explorers but never yet established. When the surveys have been done, +it will be possible for the whale-catchers to extend their operations +into the waters around the Sandwich group. But until then, how can you +expect that vessels in that perpetual weather of hard winds and fog +will risk themselves? + +Sealing voyages to South Georgia during the eighteenth century, +and British whaling trips thither from 1819, were no mere isolated +instances: rather they foreshadow what is possible down south. For in +the two seasons of 1820-1 and 1821-2, the fur-seal industry was such +that ninety-one vessels came to these islands. But after that date +the seals had been so wantonly slaughtered that they were practically +extinct. Would it not be possible some day to resuscitate the fur-seal +fishery? Perhaps the time will come when by a combination of protective +laws in regard to the seals, and commercial enterprise in regard to the +ships and men, this old industry may be revived like the whaling. + +When Captain Cook came to South Georgia and rediscovered it in 1775 +he approached it from the north-west. For first of all he sighted an +island of ice, but at noon was not sure whether it were ice or land, +but anyway it bore east by south, distant thirty-nine miles. But +eventually he saw that it was land, but “in a manner wholly covered +with snow. We were confirmed by finding soundings at 175 fathoms, +and a muddy bottom.” He first came in view of Wallis Island, which +lies just off the north-west corner, and “as we advanced to the north +we perceived another isle lying” between that other island and the +mainland. This is marked on the present-day charts as Bird Island, +Cook having noticed so many of these creatures occupying it. The two +headlands Cape North and Cape Buller were both named by him and appear +still in the modern charts. + +But Cook’s description of the interior of South Georgia is hardly +encouraging. “The inner parts of the country were savage and horrible,” +he wrote. “The only vegetation we met with was a coarse, strong-bladed +grass growing in tufts, wild burnet, and a plant like moss, which +sprang from the rocks. Seals were numerous, and several flocks of large +penguins were seen. The oceanic birds were albatrosses, common gulls, +terns, shags, divers, etc. The land birds were a few small larks. No +quadruped was seen.” He mentioned that the island “seems to abound with +bays and harbours, the N.E. coast especially, but the vast quantity of +ice must render them inaccessible for the greater part of the year, or +at least it must be dangerous lying in them, on account of the breaking +up of the ice cliffs.” Weddell, who reached South Georgia nearly fifty +years later, was getting rather nervous as to his crew being stricken +with scurvy, and hoped that the island would yield some green-stuff. +There was precious little, but it was better than nothing for men who +had been without fresh vegetables for so long. “Our crews,” he wrote, +“here fed plenteously on greens which, although bitter, are very +salutary, being an excellent anti-scorbutic. With regard to meat we +were supplied with young albatrosses, that is to say, about a year +old: the flesh of these is sweet, but not sufficiently firm to be +compared with that of the domestic fowl” ... “almost the only natural +production of the soil is a strong-bladed grass, the length of which is +in general about two feet. It grows in tufts, on mounds three or four +feet from the ground.” + +Thus Weddell in 1823 confirmed what Cook saw in 1775, but neither could +have foreseen what a gold-mine those watery regions were to become in +the twentieth century nor how busy many of those north-east bays were +to show themselves with steam craft and smoke and oil. Cook named that +bold bight, which is just below where to-day the Southern Whaling and +Sealing Company have their station, Possession Bay, and took possession +of the entire group of islands on behalf of Britain. + +Apart from the violent weather, one of the worst drawbacks of the +Falklands and its Dependencies is that ancient enemy of all seafarers, +the fog. On October 26, 1921, there left Sandefjord the 8,000-ton +factory ship _Guvernoren_, bound out for the Dependencies for the +season in the usual manner. Originally she had been a Bibby liner, but +had been converted for her special work. At Monte Video she picked up +three whale-catchers which she was to escort south. But about eleven +o’clock one pitch-dark night, when about twenty miles short of Port +Stanley, the _Guvernoren_ had the bad luck to run ashore in a thick +fog. There were ninety-six men aboard her, and they naturally became +a little anxious as to their predicament, but the ship’s boats were +lowered and every man succeeded in getting away from her and put aboard +the catchers. And then to those somewhat nerve-tried, jumpy men there +came quite a dramatic happening. Some of the crew were rowing back +for others which remained to be fetched off the big steamer, but on +the return trip there suddenly came out of that fog a terrifying sound +as of a man crying out for help. So the boats turned this way and +that, trying in the thick atmosphere to find some desperate shipmate +struggling in the water. It was both startling and saddening, for it +was going to be no easy task if he were to be located in that fog. +However, sorrow soon turned to amusement, for the cries were not of men +but of seals: so all was well. + +The whale-catchers were able to get fairly near to the wreck, but +there was a very high sea running, and it was a lucky achievement to +have saved everyone. Throughout the night these catchers stood by, +and next morning, after the _Guvernoren_ had settled down on to the +rocks, some of the men went back and pluckily climbed on board to salve +some of their clothes. The catchers then made for Port Stanley--that +port always to be famous for its connection with the Battle of the +Falklands--whence a crowd of shipwrecked mariners embarked for +Liverpool in the _Orcoma_ liner. + +Once a liner in the Pacific off Santa Maria was caught in a dense fog, +and since the coast was dangerous, the captain stopped his engine and +waited for the atmosphere to clear. But at six in the morning there +was a strange sound coming up from the sea and suddenly the ship +trembled. Everybody wondered what had happened, for the tremor was too +gentle for an earthquake, and it was accompanied by bumping, as if the +steamship was hitting soft ground. But the anxiety did not last long +in this case: for that noise was unquestionably a whale blowing, and +now there rose out of the sea a great cetacean a good 100 ft. long, +and came floating alongside just as if it were one of those capsized +sailing vessels one used to see after enemy submarines had been busy +in certain waters. + +But aboard the liner the mammal caused a sensation, for he now dived, +and as he collided with the steel ship the tremors began again. Once +more he floated alongside, and then the barnacles and shellfish +which had been scraped off by contact with the steamer’s bilge keels +came rushing up to the surface. Evidently the whale was enjoying +himself, for now he proceeded to the other side of the ship, and began +scratching himself once more. The passengers pelted him with potatoes +and coal, but the great animal took no notice whatever until he +swallowed a piece of the latter, and then, sending up a drenching spout +of water, passed majestically on his way. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +COLONIAL CONTROL + + +When Captain Cook described these islands as “a country doomed by +nature never once to feel the warmth of the sun’s rays, but to lie +buried in everlasting snow and ice,” and went on to suggest that this +“coast which, when discovered and explored, would have answered no end +whatever, or have been of the least value, either to navigation or to +geography or, indeed, to any other science,” he could scarcely have +foreseen that more than three millions sterling would in the twentieth +century annually be derived from this neighbourhood. + +At South Georgia, with its mass of high snow-covered mountains, its +valleys of glaciers, but its coastal area in the summer free from +snow, there is a Resident Magistrate; but at the other Dependencies a +representative of the British Colonial Government accompanies one of +the expeditions. In the case of South Georgia the Resident Magistrate +is located at Grytviken Harbour, King Edward’s Cove, on the east side +of the island. In fact, all the whaling stations are on that side, +beginning from Allardyce Harbour at the north down to New Fortune +Bay about half-way down the coast, some thirty-five miles to the +south-east. The numerous bays and natural harbours lend themselves +there most conveniently to the use of the headquarters for the various +companies who have leased the sites. + +The Government of the Falklands has allowed five shore stations at +South Georgia, each site of 500 acres being taken up for a period of +twenty-one years at a rent annually of £250; but there are also five +unoccupied sites on that east coast for which rent is still paid. The +leases include the right to use two whale-catchers without further +licence. With the South Shetlands fleet there go a Magistrate and a +whaling officer, leaving in November and coming back with it in April. +South Georgia is the only portion of these Dependencies which is +habitable all the year round, for the harbours elsewhere are ice-bound +for seven months out of the twelve; so the flensing and boiling down +are done in the floating factories, which can steam off before the ice +sets in. Besides South Georgia there are shore stations at Deception +Island and at the South Orkneys, the personnel for running them +arriving and returning with the whaling fleets. + +Thus we have one of the most interesting nomadic communities in the +world and one intimately connected with the sea. It was decided in +1912 that the number of licences issued in any one year for the South +Shetlands with Graham Land should not exceed ten, and not more than +seven for either the South Orkneys or the South Sandwich Islands. +Since October 1914 no further licences or whaling leases other than +in South Georgia can be issued, but renewals of existing licences are +permissible. It is to the credit of the British Colonial Office that +all the revenue derived from these Dependencies is, as far as possible, +devoted to the further development of their resources. For the sake of +practical politics the South Sandwich Islands have not yet entered into +this consideration. But it is possible that when surveys have taken +place and a safe harbour assured, we may find matters going ahead, yet +owing to the poisonous fumes it is doubtful if there will ever be a +land station. + +During the war there was an increased demand for oil, but all over the +world, except off South Georgia, the whale was being hunted far less. +It therefore became advisable to allow the temporary employment of a +greater number of catchers down here. Legislation wisely limits the +extent to which whaling may take place, and minimizes the amount of +waste. Under the former decision we have the restriction of the number +of licences, but there is no direct regulating of the number of whales +to be caught. One may mention in passing the financial side of these +Dependencies, which is not without interest. If we take the latest +figures--that is for the year 1923--we find that the Government revenue +derived from them in that period amounted to £160,221, the local +expenditure being only £7,436. But at the end of that year there was a +surplus of £315,795 assets over liabilities, of which £300,302 became +earmarked for the Research Fund. It is thus that the research vessel +_Discovery_ was able to set forth from Portsmouth in the summer of 1925 +on these investigations about which so much is expected in the future. + +Formerly the catch consisted chiefly of humpback whales, though +latterly it is the blue, and also the fin whale, which have +predominated. But a greater incentive has been offered towards +capturing the two last; for the bonus to the gunner, additional to his +monthly pay, works out in the following number of kroner:--for that +somewhat rare right whale, 200; for the less rare sperm whale, 100; for +the blue whale, 80; for the fin whale, 50; for the humpback, 30 kroner. +The reason for this becomes obvious when we state that a blue whale +usually yields from 70 to 80 barrels of oil, a right whale 60 to 70, a +sperm whale 60, a fin whale from 35 to 50, but a humpback from 25 to +35 only. We spoke some time back of New Island, one of the Falkland +group. Here in the year 1908 the British firm of Messrs. Salvesen & Co. +of Leith established a whaling factory which continued until 1916, when +it was dismantled and removed to South Georgia, which is now the only +one of the Dependencies where whaling can be carried on in both summer +and winter. + +In the old sailing-ship days one of the customs was to attack a +whale calf, well knowing that the mother whale would not desert its +young; and thus the elder and more valuable whale would fall to the +hunter. This cruel and wasteful method is strictly forbidden in the +Dependencies. Neither a calf nor a female whale accompanied by a calf +may be killed. Apart from sentimental reasons this is sound policy +unless it be desired to endeavour to exterminate the species. And +as further illustrative of the broad, sensible lines of the whaling +legislation in these parts it is worth noting that the lessees are +required to keep an accurate record of meteorological observations and +to maintain a stock of coal and provisions which are to be supplied at +cost price to any ship requiring them. We know that both Shackleton and +Charcot availed themselves of this privilege. + +In reckoning the amount of oil we count six barrels to the ton, and +it is worth while to consider now the relation which the whale to-day +bears to commerce. Before the war whale oil was used for burning, for +lubrication, for soap-making and currying leather. It then found itself +in great demand in the manufacture of glycerine for munition-making, +and also for the different fabrication of margarine. Sperm oil is +used for such delicate machinery as sewing-machines and watches. The +demand for whalebone is not what it once was, but in the thirteenth +century it was used among other purposes for the plumes on helmets. +From the meat and bones are obtained whale-meat meal, largely used in +feeding cattle; whale guano, which is rich in phosphates; and there is +produced from the bones alone what is called bone meal, also rich in +these phosphates. But the entire carcase may be turned into guano after +extracting the blubber for oil. Ambergris is used in order to make +perfumes more lasting. + +During the war whale oil was so invaluable to the British Government +that one of the greatest authorities has remarked that without it +we should have been able to produce the required amount of neither +food nor munitions. It seems strange to think that a number of whales +cruising innocently in the neighbourhood of the Antarctic can have the +slightest effect on a war being fought many thousand miles away in +Europe: but it shows the interrelation of affairs and mutual dependence +in our modern civilization. Glycerine we all remember to have been +difficult to obtain during the latter stages of the war even by medical +men. Before hostilities it was just a by-product in the manufacture +of soap: but after the demand for explosives became so tremendous +soap-making became a by-product of the glycerine industry. The British +Government during the war made special arrangements with three English +firms for utilizing the whole of the whale oil imported. + +Modern sub-Antarctic whaling is very different from the old Greenland +industry, quite apart from the change from sail to steam. It is +different, too, from that fine, romantic period when American whaling +ships under sail used to hunt the cetacean in every tropical sea of +the world. The latter vessels were of lighter build and greater speed +than those which had to be so strong and heavy in order to resist the +ice pressure. Those American ships were not intended for ice work, and +their working costs were not great. They could build cheaply along the +New England coast where there was plenty of timber near to the sea. +But about the year 1846 American whaling with its fleet of 735 ships +reached its high-water mark, and the ebb set in with such certainty +that from 1877-86 an average of only 159 such craft was annually +employed. So also by the year 1886 the best type of Norwegian whaler +was a vessel of only eighty tons and of thirty horse-power. Fitted with +the Svend Foyn harpoon-gun these comparatively cheap vessels had been +able to kill for their oil and bone most of a thousand blue whales, +humpbacks and other rorquals, and then tow them into the fjords of +Finmark. + +But in the Antarctic the conditions are all so serious that no one +can embark on this undertaking except in a big way. Everything seems +multiplied by comparison with the circumstances of the nineteenth +century. Thus, before the whaler can reach his cruising ground a far +longer distance must be covered, with a greater cost in fuel. The +vessels need fewer hands, but they cost more to build and to run. +Moreover the value of the individual Antarctic whale is inferior to +the Greenland species. Greater activity, at a greater distance, more +detailed organization but far more initial capital are the conditions +which have in this twentieth century become essential. Not for a +century have the Greenland whales been hunted in those Arctic waters +between East Greenland, Spitzbergen and Jan Mayen Islands, where the +cetacean was once numerous and in convenient proximity to the fleets +of the north. And alongside our optimism in regard to the Antarctic +we must place the plain observed fact that when a species of whale +has by over-fishing been wiped out of any area, he does not go back to +that region even long years after the fleets have given up using those +waters. Of this we may quote two historical instances. For centuries +the whale was hunted in the Bay of Biscay, right up till the sixteenth +century, when it was about to be exterminated, had not the Greenland +whaling grounds been discovered. To this day the Biscayan whale has +never recovered its former numerical preponderance. Similarly, the +Finmark rorqual was hunted to extermination so that the industry came +to a full stop after a few intensive years. If, then, the whales +should be exterminated for a period in the waters of the Falklands +Dependencies, it is improbable that even after a respite they would +return. Thus the whole commercial value of these distant parts would +vanish as soon as the whaling stations ceased to have any financial +reason for existence. Indeed, there are those who believe that by the +time the twentieth century has run out, there will be no more whales to +hunt: they will become as past and banished as the prehistoric animals +are to us to-day. + +This is the extreme pessimistic view, but it has to be borne in mind +so long as our scientific knowledge is incomplete, especially in +regard to the whale’s migrations. This of course arouses the question +of protective measures to control the hunting: and these, again, are +capable of crippling the industry as a dividend-earner. For instance, +it might be found theoretically advisable to prohibit occasionally all +whaling for several years in order to allow the stock of cetaceans to +increase. But what company could afford to let its plant and shipping +remain in harbour idle and deteriorating during those years? How would +it be possible to keep together those skilled gunners and flensers +until such time as their services were again required? + +These are some of the problems which have to be faced sooner or later, +and we cannot possibly ignore them too long. + + + + + THE NAUTILUS + LIBRARY + [Illustration: [Illustration: + Nautilus] Nautilus] + _3s. 6d. each, cloth bound, + gold lettered._ + + +A +great+ literature has grown up around the sea and ships, and “THE +NAUTILUS LIBRARY” has been designed as an attractively produced +standard series of sea books with an appeal to every class of reader. +As such it is unique. + +All the volumes appeared originally in more expensive form, achieved +considerable popularity, and for their interest and literary merit are +now included in “THE NAUTILUS LIBRARY.” + +The books are produced in a form handy for the pocket yet suitable for +the book-shelf, and as each volume is a permanent historical record of +some happening, achievement, or disaster, they constitute interesting +and useful additions to the library. + +Selections for the series are most carefully made and its very rapid +growth is not possible. Several new volumes are, however, added each +year, and if you are interested the publishers will gladly advise you +as new volumes are published. Write to the publishers at Quality House, +Philip Allan & Co., Ltd., 69, Great Russell Street, London, W.C. 1. + + +_LIST OF THE VOLUMES_ + + 1. MYSTERIES OF THE SEA, by +J. G. Lockhart+. + + Tales of inexplicable happenings and unsolved problems, from + the disappearance of the _Waratah_ to the sinking of H.M.S. + _Hampshire_. + + 2. SEAMEN ALL, by +E. Keble Chatterton+. + + True tales of the sea--adventure--in every kind of ship and by + every kind of seaman--during the last two hundred and fifty years. + + 3. PERIL OF THE SEA, by +J. G. Lockhart+. + + A book of the most notorious sea disasters, from the foundering + of the White Ship to the _Titanic_. + + 4. SEA WOLVES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN, by +E. Hamilton Currey+. + + The rise and fall of the Barbary Corsairs in Mediterranean Waters. + + 5. SEA VENTURERS OF BRITAIN, by “+Taffrail+.” + + Relating the thrilling voyages of Hawkins, Frobisher, Drake, + Dampier, Anson, and Captain Cook. + + 6. THE CRUISE OF THE _ALERTE_, by +E. F. Knight+. + + The true story of an expedition to hunt for hidden treasure on + the desert island of Trinidad. + + 7. THE STORY OF H.M.S. _VICTORY_, by +Geoffrey Callender+. + + The absorbing story of Nelson’s flag-ship in which he + triumphed--and died. + + 8. STRANGE ADVENTURES OF THE SEA, by +J. G. Lockhart+. + + A collection of tales of Maroonings, Treasure-hunts, Piracies, + Mutinies, and Horror on the High Seas. + + 9. SMUGGLING DAYS AND SMUGGLING WAYS, by +H. N. Shore+. + + A full account of famous English smugglers, their history, + haunts, and exploits. + + 10. SEA ESCAPES AND ADVENTURES, by “+Taffrail+.” + + A very remarkable collection, beginning with a true and gruesome + story of cannibalism in 1765 and ending with the first attempt to + fly the Atlantic in 1919. + + 11. THE BUCCANEERS, by +A. H. Cooper-Prichard+. + + A fascinating history of the palmy days of the Spanish Main and + the picturesque ruffians who sailed its seas. + + 12. THE LOSS OF THE _TITANIC_, by +Lawrence Beesley+. + + A vivid yet dispassionate account by a survivor of the most + famous of all disasters at sea. + + 13. GREAT STORMS, by +L. G. Carr Laughton+ and +V. Heddon+. + + A fascinating record of famous storms, gales, and hurricanes. + + 14. A GREAT SEA MYSTERY. The True Story of the _Mary Celeste_, by + +J. G. Lockhart+. + + An accurate and exhaustive account of that most notorious of + derelicts in fact and fiction. + + 15. THE DIARY OF A RUM-RUNNER, by +Alastair Moray+. + + A crazy ship, a mutinous crew, vile weather, revenue men and + ‘hi-jackers’--such are the incidents in the life of a rum-runner. + + 16. WHALERS AND WHALING, by +E. Keble Chatterton+. + + The first reprint at a popular price of Mr. Keble Chatterton’s + famous book on the romantic business of Whaling. + + + + +Transcriber’s Notes + + +New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public + domain. +In the .txt version, surrounding characters have been used to indicate + _Italics_ and +Mixed-Case Smallcaps+ +Inconsistent hyphenation has been retained. +Minor typographical, formatting and spelling errors have been corrected. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78974 *** |