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The period of expiration is, however, often varied when the approach of a boat, or any other circumstance, tends to alarm the whale. In this case, although he has made but half his number of expirations, he disappears in a horizontal position, leaving a vortex where his body before floated, but it is soon seen near the surface completing his usual number. This downward motion is effected by powerful strokes with his swimming paws and flukes; and in that motion which has been described and which is termed by the sailors "going with the head out," the spout is thrown up at every time it appears above the surface, and the expiration is more hurried and unequal. It is somewhat extraordinary that so huge an animal as the whale should be easily alarmed, yet such is the fact; and when intimi. dated by the approach of a ship, it appears to search for all objects near it by moving its tail in a wide sweep from side to side on the surface. When a harpoon is struck into his side, he often turns over and over into the water, and thus frequently winds an immense length of rope around him. His positions are various. Sometimes he assumes a perpendicular position, with only his head above water, seemingly for the purpose of surveying the broad expanse of his watery home, when his head seen at a distance resembles a huge black rock in the ocean. At other times he turns over on his side, to view a ship or any other object which is approaching; the rays of the sun striking directly upon his eye, and seeming to enable him to see a greater distance. At other times the whale appears to exercise itself by beating the water with its tail into foam, which, of course, can be seen at a great distance. A more curious habit which marks the whale is that of leaping completely out of the water, or "breaching," as it is called, that appears to be effected by descending to a certain depth, and working his tail by powerful strokes, that are increased near the surface until the whole body is projected out to an angle of 45 degrees. This action is probably caused by its attempt to rid its body of the sucking fish and other animals which adhere to its surface, or of avoiding the encounters of the swordfish, its greatest enemy, while the "thresher" attacks it from below, and thus prevents it from descending.

The habits of the sperm whale are peculiar. They herd in large schools, the females being protected by from one to three of the other species. The males appear jealous of intrusion, and fight with great power to prevent it. The large whales generally go alone in search of food, and when seen in company, are supposed to be travelling from one "feeding ground" to the other. These large whales being quite incautious, are easily overcome, and even after the plunge of the harpoon, often lay exposed to their destroyers like a log of wood, scarcely appearing to feel the blow. Sometimes, however, they are found possessing extraordinary courage, doing dreadful havoc with their principal weapons, their jaws and tails. They breed at all seasons, producing one and sometimes two at a birth, the size of their cubs being, when first, born, from twelve to fourteen feet. The females are much smaller than the other sex, being not more than one fifth part as great. These manifest strong attachment to their young, taking them under their fins, and urging them to escape from danger. Their attachment to each other is no less remarkable, and when one is wounded, its companions will remain around her to the last, so that they often fall a sacrifice to their affection. The attachment on the part of the young towards its parent is no less extraordinary, and they are often seen around the ship for hours after their parents have fallen a prey to the harpoon. The young

males swim in schools until they are about three fourths grown, when they separate and seek their prey upon the ocean alone. The difference between them and the female droves is evident and striking from the fact that when one of their number is struck it is left to its fate, scarcely an instance being known of its companions having "heaved to." They are cunning and shy, and accordingly are more difficult to take, as from their vigor and activity, great despatch is necessary in order to give them no oppor. tunity to recover from the terror and fright occasioned by the blow of the harpoon. One singular circumstance may here be mentioned, that the whale, both great and small, appears to have the power of communicating intelligence to its kind when any danger approaches, for the distance of four, five, or even seven miles; but the mode in which this is done has never been ascertained.

We shall not here enter into a description of the "fin-back" whale, an animal of larger size than the sperm, but so uncertain and active in its motions as to elude the most expert whale fishermen.

The " right whale," another species, which, with the sperm whale, constitutes the most prominent staple of our whale fishery, we have considered. It is similar in its general form to the sperm, and possesses the same gen eral habits, although the oil extracted from it is of inferior quality. There are also other species, such as the razor-back, the broad-nosed whale, and the beaked whale, and species of a smaller kind, to which we shall merely allude.

The wide domain of the ocean is the home of the whale, and we find it spouting in every latitude of the sea, from the icebergs of Greenland to the African coast. It is admitted, however, that the sperm whale is seldom seen in the colder latitudes, confining itself to the more genial climates, while the Greenland whale, which is of extraordinary size, appears to delight in tumbling among the mountains of ice which float in the region of the north pole. We find the whale fishermen hurling the harpoon upon the coast of New Zealand, as well as New Holland, near the shores of Peru and Madagascar, Chili and California, Japan and the China Sea, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. It is indeed not unusual for the whaling ships from our American ports to ransack the world for their gigantic prey, entirely circumnavigating the globe, although the enterprises of the British whale fishermen are directed more particularly to the coast of colder cli

mates.

We here present the figure of a sperm whale, marked at the various points to which we have referred.

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, the spout-hole; b, the position of the case; c, the junk; d, the bunch of the neck; e, the eye; f, the fin; g, the blanket-pieces; h, the hump; i, the ridge; k, the small; 1, the tail, or flukes.

Having given a brief sketch of the general appearance and resort of the whale, we now proceed to describe more particularly the mode of this spe

cies of traffic as it is conducted in the United States. The whale ships which are destined for the fishery, are generally from three to five hundred tons burden, and carry from twenty-eight to forty men and the officers, in which, in the English traffic, the surgeon is included. These are provisioned for three years, with all those substantial articles of food to which we have before alluded, required for the subsistence of the whale fishermen. Sometimes the ships are accompanied by what are called "tenders," or smaller vessels, which serve as convoy to the principal ships, and that either aid them in distress, or themselves procure the whale. Each ship is provided with four or six whale boats, about twenty-seven feet long, and four broad, in which the whale is generally captured. These boats are built with great strength and lightness, sharp at both ends, in order to withstand the action of the waves, to float with great buoyancy upon the tops of the billows when the sea runs high, and to be propelled both ways. Near that end which may be considered the stern of the boat, a rounded piece of wood is placed, called the "loggerhead," through the hole of which the rope is run which is attached to the harpoon. Each boat is allotted two lines of a singular construction, of two hundred fathoms in length, and carefully coiled in their tubs in a circle. They are also provided with small flags, called "whifts," which are stuck in the dead whale in case the whale. men are driven off from their object by untoward circumstances, and in order that their position may again be found. A few "drogues," or quadrangular pieces of board, are likewise procured, which are fastened occasionally to the harpoon-rope, so as to impede the motion of the whale after he has been struck. A keg, containing a tinder-box, lanterns, and other articles, which will enable them when benighted to strike a light, and four harpoons and a few lances, constitute the equipment. The boats are each manned by six men, two of whom are called the "headsman" and "boat-steerer." In the chase of the whale four of these boats are used, and all is made ready for attack from the commencement of the Voyage.

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The principal instruments used in the whale fishery, are the harpoon, the lance, the spade, and the try-pot. The harpoon is a spear of iron about three feet in length, with a barbed point, and is required to be wrought with great strength from the toughest iron, so as to withstand the encounter with the huge animal, while the "shank," which is frequently bent by its struggles, must be composed of pliable and soft iron, for the purpose of enabling it to bend if required, but not to break. Another weapon of importance in the whale fishery is the lance, which is also an iron spear of about six feet in length, and into which is fitted a handle of fir, or other hard wood; its point is sharp and thin, the blade being seven or eight inches in length, and two and a half broad. This is used to wound the whale in a vital part after he has been struck, so as to hasten his death. The spade, another instrument similar to the lance, is also frequently required to cut up the blubber into small pieces; and the try-pot, a large iron tank with three legs and two flattened sides, is used for the boiling of the blubber into oil, after it is taken from the whale.

Another instrument, called the harpoon gun, and invented in 1731, was formerly used for the purpose of throwing the harpoon into the body of the whale, which could be done with effect at the distance of forty yards; but as great skill is required in its management, and numerous accidents have occurred from its use, the instrument has been relinquished

We here subjoin also the figure of this gun, which, although of no particular utility, may be interesting to our readers.

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In considering the subject of the whale fishery, it may be proper here to give a brief sketch of the character of its active agents, the sailors. Selected, as they are, from the most ardent, unsettled, daring, and, in great measure, reckless class of the population on our coast, comprised of young men who are unwilling to devote themselves to those slow and persevering habits, that minute and scrupulous attention to detail required in the successful prosecution of any form of business, and that plodding and unvaried labor which is always exacted by the cultivation of the soil, they are bold, warm in their imaginations, impulsive, generous, and from their mode of life, cast about as they are by storms from sea to sea, wide in their range of view, and devoid of the stability which would induce them to be confined long to any one place. Their habits of adventure in attacking the monsters of the deep upon their native element, give to their character a hardihood which could scarcely be acquired by any form of occupation upon the land. The day-book and the leger, those mighty engines which form important parts of the machinery of commerce, have no charms for them. In the words of one of our most distinguished jurists, "upon their native element, they are habitually buffeted by winds and waves, and wrestling with tempests; and in time of war, they are exposed to the still fiercer elements of the human passions."*

Accustomed to strict subordination by the discipline which the law has provided for our whaling ships, to toil and deprivation when on duty, their hardships are mingled with glimpses of sunshine in its intervals. The natural ardor of their character appears to break out, when they are relieved from its burdens, and have their foothold once again upon the land. Their views become as expansive as the broad ocean which stretches around them, and their impulses as wild as the waves which dash against its shores. Conscious that they are all embarked in one common enterprise, hazardous in the extreme, in which the success of the voyage is the measure of their rewards, and mutually depending upon each other for success, their affections become kindled into sympathy for their companions; and this feeling operates always upon the land, so as to induce them to sacrifice their

* See Kent's Commentaries, vol. 3d, p. 176-7.

own comfort to that of their friends. The money which they have procured by the most severe toil, they are ever ready to spend liberally in every form of indulgence, by dissipation; and their loose habits of economy and want of calculation, frequently cause them to fall a prey to those greedy “land sharks," which always show their fins in great numbers through all our seaport towns.

With such habits, to which there are many and honorable exceptions, it could hardly be expected that the great body of sailors should accumulate large fortunes. The earnings of years of toil are expended in as many months at the bar or the brothel, and the sailor, stripped of his means, has only the last resort, to ship again and resume his march upon the mountain wave, and return to his home upon the deep. Dressed in red woollen shirts, coarse pantaloons, pumps, and tarpaulin hat-removed, as they are, from the restraints of the civil law, and without those habits of reflection which would arise from the more steady and sober pursuits of the land, they frequently exhibit riotous habits, which would lead one to think that they were exempted from the jurisdiction of the laws.

The most prominent exceptions to this class of men, are those who have arisen by successive steps from the station of common sailors to that of boatsteerers, and to the posts of captains of their ships. These are, for the most part, temperate in their habits, with physical and moral powers fully adequate to bear the great responsibilities which devolve upon them, and to stand at the head of these stormy expeditions. We see many along our coast who have acquired fortunes by their business, and the beautiful houses which whiten our shores attest the success of their labors. A few remarks may be proper in this place, respecting the discipline of the whaling ships. which is permitted by our laws. In the first place, it is well known that the ships which ply from our ports are chiefly owned by different individuals, who combine their capital in this species of stock usually to a large amount of value. Not only is the custody of the ship, which is of great cost, but also that of the outfits and crew, and the prosecution of the voyage, intrusted to the keeping of a single man, the captain of the ship. Numerous sailors of diverse and frequently insubordinate habits, are placed under his control, and on their obedience depend not only the success of the expedi tion, but even the safety of their lives. The law gives to the master of the ship a despotic power within certain prescribed bounds. It invests him with entire and full command of his ship, with the right to inflict personal chastisement upon those who break its discipline, to control the operations of the crew, and generally to exercise the same government that a schoolmaster exerts over his scholar, or the parent over his child. Doubtless many acts are committed on the part of the master which are founded in injustice, but then the sailor has his remedy by bringing his action for civil damages in a court of law. It has indeed been our lot during a limited professional practice in a seaport town, to have frequent applications from sailors claiming maltreatment on board ship from their captains, which, however, proved to furnish no ground for a legal claim of damages. Certain old "law salts" are always found on board ship ready to give in their advice when a sailor has been unjustly punished or chastised with improper weapons, and a jury away from the coast, it is well known, are seldom backward in awarding damages full as great as the injury. Doubtless extraordinary discretion, forbearance, and determination, are required on the part of the master, to exercise the power which the law gives him for the purpose of preserving

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