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HUNTING THE WHALE
ZJECAY OF A ONCE PROFITABLE
NDUSTRY
ihe Old Ship Crews and Implements
Km ployed in the Industry that
Formerly Enriched the New England
Coast Towns Perils of Whaling
An Almost Forgotten Fish
The city of New Bedford Mass re
cently celebrated Its fiftieth anniversary
as a municipality It is a typical New
England city whose people with Yankee
adaptiveness have replaced the whaling
industry once its principal reliance with
many more modern business enterprises
The whaler like the Indian the cow
boy and the logger is a vanishing type of
America A centuiy linds him relegated
from among the foremost featuies of the
New England seaboard to be an almost
forgotten figure The famous fortunes
down East were built on a foundation
of cetaceous blubber and the wheels of
prosperity were lubricated with sperma
ceti but when the rock farms of Penn
sylvania began geyserlike to spout pe
troleum the hollow roar sounded the
death knell of the whaling industry The
keen Yankee however was equal to the
emergency and the millions that had ac
cumulated through sperm oil were invest
ed in manufacturing The rusting har
poons were transformed to shining spin
dles the tempest tossed timbers of aban
doned ships fed the glowing grates of new
enterprise romance of the sea fled away
as the electric shadowed the astral lamp
but thrifty profit cheerily nestled in the
embrasure of the old New England man
tle trees smiling at the ghostly memories
and heroics of long ago
Bare OJd New Bedford
What of the fleet of 400 whaling ships
once registered from New Bedford Nan
tucket Gloucester and ProvincetownV
One would find only a few remnants of
this glory to day New Bedford indeed
is one of the largest manufacturing cen
ters of the East but Nantucket is merely
an exhibition stand for tourists after a
dip or in search of colonial curios while
Provincetown is a sleepy point at lands
end Down at the moss grown wharves
of New Bedford there is an aggregation of
queer old ships floating monuments of
the ancient fleet There they lie in their
quiet reservations hoary in age linked in
pairs as though to keep up the old form
of gam whalers gossip and look in
mild reuuke at the wheezy impudent lit
tle tugs that bustle about tie harbor ag
gressively attached to large and lazy ships
that are coming from or going to foreign
shores These old heroes that were once
the pride and glory of American seamen
-when our flag floated in every port on the
globe are freighted with rare romance
and curious in contrast with the craft of
to day The largest of them did not
measure over 125 feet or exceed 500
gross tonnage Take the old Commodore
Morris as a type She was built in 1S41
tonnage 33821 length 107 beam 27
depth 17 The quaint old figurehead is
battered almost beyond recognition but
may take pride in the fact that it cleared
200000 for owners in a brief commis
sion
The Whaleship Structurally
Their bows broad round are heavily
timbered ornate with curious carving
and their sterns are straight and square
giving an ungainly look yet these old
ships have boldly battered arctic ice and
scorcned under the line They have sail
ed in every sea roving in unending com
mission until their water casks were filled
with oil Notwithstanding the Standard
Oil Co venturesome whalers still sail
into New Bedford and unload their car
goes on the ancient wharves where bar
rels and barrels are waiting a favorable
market protected from the weather by
masses of dried seaweed packed about
them Sperm oil is now 38 cents per gal
lon it used to command from 1 to 150
Two old whaleships came sailing into
New Bedford recently the Rising Sun
odoriferous with oil after a three months
cruise and the Dolphin packed with
whalebone after a cruise of thirty three
months around Cape Horn The Rising
Sun will serve as a type The distinctive
architectural feature of her deck forward
was the big brick furnaces inclosine the
oil trv nots A firp insrjppfrnr mio li nii -
target but whalers soaked as they
are with oil and when trying out blubber
the roll of the ship seeming to send flames
up to the masthead seldom burn a fact
due only to the most extraordinary cau
tion the wooden water backing about the
furnaces being kept constantly filled The
cooks galley -was no larger than a dog
house and did not admit of that function
ary standing up while at his labors
to the forecastle upvin the bow where
th -sailors -smoked andsept and spurn
theirJyarusJ uey werespucKea m ukq
sardines Only alimitedsupply of light
and air can get through the little hatch
which is sealed up in rough weather How
over a score of men can live and keep
healthy jnd happy in this dark and fear
some hole for months or years is a mys
tery
A whalers crew usually enlists from
twenty four to thirty men each man on
his lay for they all share in a percent
age of the profit the first mate 1 in 24
the second mate 1 in 30 the others shar
ing down according to rank the figures
varying with the market and the size of
the ship There aie four mates a stew
ard a cook a cooper ordinary seamen and
green hands the last getting the drudg
ery and the light lay The latter are
out for experience and they generally
get it iu large unvarnished quantity
It is estimated that it requires 30000
to fit for a long voyage as every emer
gency must be anticipated and provided
for say a period of three years Into
the hold are packed 150 barrels of salt
beef seventy five barrels of salt pork
thirty barrels of ship biscuit thirty or
forty barrels of flour 300 gallons of mo
lasses 200 pounds of coffee 200 pounds
of tea 500 pounds of sugar equal quan
tities of rice meal beans dried apples
hams butter raisins cheese canned
goods vinegar and food staples The
new oil casks are filled with fresh water
and there are quantities of oak and pine
staves headings and iron hoops with a
thousand and one things from paint and
tar to pills and gunpowder in the spare
supplies
The Whaleboat
The conspicuous equipment of the whal
er is the sharp double prowed boats that
hang from awkward looking wooden da
vits one on the larboard and two or three
on the starboard side The Yankees that
devised this craft built for speed stability
and buoyancy These twenty-four-foot
boats stepped for a mast and arranged
for six oarsmen with platforms at each
end for lancer and steersman have
brought more wealth from the nether
world of the deep than can be computed
Aside from their complete equipment their
distinctive furnishing is a tub where spir
ally coiled in concentric layers or sheaves
is the whale line This line is a manila
rope two thirds of an inch in thickness
and measures something over 200 fath
oms This line is attached to the harpoon
and the other end is unattached first as
a matter of safety second for fastening
to a second line should the whale sound
so deep as to take up the entire length of
line Scoresby records an instance where
the quantity of line withdrawn from the
different boats engaged in the capture of
one whale amounted to 10400 yards or
nearly six English miles The upper end
PERILS OF THE CHASE
The master Captain Taylor extended
an invitation to go into the cabin The
- steps inclined at 90 degrees and were very
slippery so we descended on the air line
so to speak The little room was about
seven 03 eight feet with three open berths
on a side and a small folding table in the
center Things were neat enough and
lockers all about the sides and under the
berths showed where things not in use
were preserved A trap door in the floor
opened into the lazarette where the table
delicacies were stored
In the Captains Cabin
The captains wife a delicate and re
fined little woman had made a number of
soyages with him and found this cabin
quite comfortable The apartment was
rooinv and distinctly swell compared
of the line is taken aft from the tub and
after passing around a loggerhead is car
ried forward the length of the boat rest
ing upon the handle of every mans oar
so that it jogs against hi wrist in row-
ing passing between the men as they
alternately sit at the opposite gunwales
to the grooves in the extreme prow where
I a little wooden pin prevents its slipping
out The whale line thus enfolds the
boat in its complication and all its crew
in its contortions when it whirls out fast
to a frightened and frenzied whale it
fairly smokes and keeping the line free
is essential to the safety of all concerned
The harpooning is done by the man who
handles the steering oar this merely gets
I the boat fast to the fish the officer in the
I bow does the lancing which is to give
the whale the quietus In modern whal
ing bomb lances are fired at the harpoon
s edhvhaJe from atshortEiin that kicks like
a muleJVEven with these powerful aids
a whale is not always easy same
i
A whaling captain recently told the
writer that it took no less than seven mod
ern lance bombs to finish a big whale on
his last voyage The modern German
whalers steam ships attack the whales
directly without the aid of small boats
the harpoon and bomb lances being fired
from a big swivel gun in the bow This
was the way Emperor William captured
a whale two years ago in the North Sea
It may appear uncanny that man should
feed upon the creature that feeds his
lamp but others than the not
fermline had a great porpoise grant from
the crown serving and seasoning the meat
Kke veal balls Zogoranda an old time
doctor recommended strips of blubber
for infants as very juicy and nutritious
In the case of a small -sperm whale the
brains are accounted a fine dish by epi
cures The scraps of blubber are called
fritters and taste like pork cracklings
on the whalers however they are used
for feeding the flames that try out the oil
Whalers wrecked in Greenland have been
known to subsist upon moldy scraps of
blubber that had been left ashore which
is a tribute to their nourishing quality in
a pinch
In the order of leviathans the sperm
whale and the right whale are the most
important as the only ones regularly
hunted for by man The external differ
ence between them is mainly marked in
their heads the sperm species having a
symmetry that is lacking in the right
whose chief treasure is whalebone Cant
over the sperm whales head that it may
lie bottom up and have a peep down the
mouth What a really beautiful mouth
From floor to ceiling papered with a glis
tening white membrane glossy as bridal
satins Pry up the lower jaw and expose
its rows of great ivory teeth it seems a
terrific portcullis and such alas it proves
to many a poor wight in the fishery upon
whom its spikes fall with impaling force
But far more terrible is it to behold when
fathoms down in the sea you see some
sulky harpooned whale floating there
suspended with his prodigious jaw some
fifteen feet long hanging straight down
at right angles with his body for all the
world like a ships jibboom
The Powerful Lower Jaw
The lower jaw can be unringed by a
practical artist and hoisted on deck for the
purpose of extracting the ivory teeth that
the sailors decorate with India ink de
signs and the hard white whalebone that
they fashion into canes and whip handles
during their long days of inactivity There
are forty two teeth those in old whales
much worn down but never decayed
One of the darkest tragedies of the
ocean resulted from a whale sinking the
whaleship Essex Nov 1G 1819 The in
furiated monster first struck the ship just
forward the fprechains with a tremen
dous shock that started her butts The
fated ship was settling when the whale
returned and struck her under the cat
head and completely stove in her bows
Some of the survivors of the crew drifted
in open boats for three months their lives
being sustained by cannibalism
As for the head of the right whale look
at that hanging lip what a mammoth sulk
and pout By measuring it is twenty feet
long and five feet deep and will yield you
some 500 gallons of oil or more The
roof of the mouth is about twelve feet
high and runs up to a sharp angle like
a ridge pole while these ribbed arched
hairy sides present us with those wonder
ful vertical scimiter shaped slats of whale-
l bone say 300 on a side -which depending
from the upper part of the crown bone
form flexible Venetian blinds The edges
of these are fringed with hairy fibers
through which he strains the water and
in whose intricacies he retains the small
fish when open mouthed he goes through
seas of brit a minute yellow substance
upon which the right whale largely feeds
in feeding time off the famous Brazil
banks The colonades of bone so method
ically arranged resemble a pipe organ For
a carpet to this organ is a tongue that the
bold voracious aharks occasionally snatch
aj5
- - 77i
LANCING A WHALE
ous Eskimo have so feasted without the
odoriferous vintage of train oil It is re
corded that three centuries ago the tongue
of the right whale was esteemed a rare
delicacy in France and in the time of
Henry VIII a certain court chef won
royal recognition for concocting a sauce
to be served with barbecued porpoise a
species of whale The monks of Dun-
out sometimes when the tormented
whale is alive before the whaler can cen
vert it into five barrels of oil whalebone
commands from 3 to G per pound The
right whale has two external spout holes
on top of his head the sperm whale only
one The great battering ram of the
sperm whales head yields his most pre
cious oily vintage the highly prized
A pAir op otp jiivjgi - - j
NEW BEDFORD RELICS OF A GREAT AND HEROIC INDUSTRY
spermaceti in its pure limpid and odorifer
ous state nor is this precious substance
found unalloyed in any other part of the
creature A large whales case yields
500 gallons of sperm In a whale eighty
feet long the head is about twenty six
feet long One may assume that the blub
ber is the epidermis it has something of
the consistence of close grained beef but
tougher more elastic and compact and
ranges from eight to ten or even fifteen
inches in thickness In the case of a
large sperm whale there will be a blubber
yield of 100 barrels of oil When one con
siders that this only represents three
fourths of the entire coat and that ten
barrels to the ton is a fair allotment one
may guess that a whale weighs as much
as a small locomotive
Fpcrm Whales Characteristics
The sperm whale like other leviathans
but unlike other fish breeds indifferently
at all seasons Again it is warm blooded
and requires air to fill the lungs The in
haling is done through the spiracle or hole
in the top of his head not through his
mouth which is eight feet below the
Sc
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FAST TO A FISH
face when the big fish comes up to blow
and inhale something like an hourly pro
ce3
Aside from the wide expanding and
massive jaw of the sperm whale his tail is
his powerful arm of defense To begin
with at that point where it tapers to the
girth of a man it comprises on its upper
surface an area of fifty square feet the
compact body of its root expanding into
two broad flukes shoaling away to less
than an inch in thickness The entire
member is a webbed bed of wedded sin
ews with subtle elasticity and amazing
strength that sends the owner through
the sea like a flash flourishes gloriously
graceful in the sunshine as he dives or
deals out death in a stroke when vicious
ly aiming at a whaleboat hurling boats
I with their entire crews into the air as a
i juggler tosses up a ball
I When a whale has succumbed to lauc
j ing and dyed the sea with spouting blood
the huge body is towed to the ship and
large chains are put about the head and
flukes to hold the body fast Enoraiojs
tackles are swayed up to the tuafn top
and firmly lashed to the lower mast head
the strongest point above the ships deck
to the end of a hawser like rope Winding
through the intricacies is the blubber
hook weighing a hundred pounds The
blubber envelopes a whale like a rind does
an orange and as the ship careens to the
strain of the tackle fixed to the heaving
windlass the hook takes hold and follow
ing the line scarf made by the keen cut
ting spades the great body rolls over as
strip after strip of the blood dripping blub
ber is pulled aloft and lowered through
the mainhatch to the blubber room There
it is cut up by double handed knives and
passed up to the deck to be tried out in
the smoking brick furnaces with wooded
water backs about their base
Edged Tools of the Whaler
The whaling spade like all the lancing
and cutting equipment is of the best steel
is kept as sharp as possible and is honed
like a razor This spade is about as large
as a mans spread hand and has a socket
in which is a pole handle twenty feet long
These edge tools are kept in canvas pock
ets lined with wool
One of the most profitable and curious
products derived from the sperm whale is
ambergris gray amber a morbid secre
tion of the liver or intestines It is a
solid opaque inflammable substance
lighter than water having the consist
ency of wax and having when heated a
fragrant odor It is highly soluble in
alcohol and is used particularly as the
holding base of perfume and was once
considered as having great medicinal
properties as an aphrodisiac and for spic
ing wines It is sometimes obtained from
post mortems on diseased whales or found
floating on the water in the neighborhood
of the Bahamas in masses of from sixty
to 225 pounds Ambergris of the best
grade is now quoted at 27 per ounce
Chas E Nixon in the Chicago Inter
Ocean
AN ABSENT MINDED MAN
Results of a Iearned Professor loosing
Himself in Realms of Thought
When I was younger than I will
ever be again said the professor with
a three story head and eyeglasses of
telescopic power I was the victim of
such intense mental abstraction that I
removed myself entirely from the world
of practical affairs I was in the
boundless realms of thought and paid
but fleeting attention to the active field
of human action It was necessary to
notify me when I should attend my
class eat my meals and even when I
should retire
I was at one time requested to lec
ture in a Western village and agreed
to do so The theme was one that had
received nay best thoughts and the
mere prospect of delivering it was a
physical pleasure When I arrived at
the depot my thoughts were concen
trated upon the proposed address I
realized that my train was an hour late
and that I must hurry but beyond the
mere fact of hurrying I did not grasp
a detail
Drive fast I shouted to the driver
of a dingy looking vehicle as I sprang
in and handed him a 3 bill Spare
neither horse nor whip
Away we went with a plunge The
carriage rolled like a ship in the trough
of the sea Street lights seemed a
torchlight procession moving rapidly
the other way Constables shouted
dogs barked small boys chased us
and business ceased that people might
stand on the sidewalk and gaze Up
one street and down another we dashed
madly We took corners on two wheels
grazed telegraph poles and knocked
over such movables as ash barrels and
dry goods boxes
After half an hour of this bewilder
ing experience I stuck my head from
the window and shouted Are we
nearly there
Where did yez want to go sorr
came the edifying answer
The Oldest Plow Maker
Chicago has the oldest plow maker in
the United States His name is David
Bradley and he is at the head of a big
manufacturing company on the West
Side Mr Bradley first worked at the
business in Syracuse N Y in 1832 In
1835 he came to Chicago which then
numbered about 2500 inhabitants and
a camp of several thousand Indians to
help erect the first iron foundry estab
lished here Mr Bradley was the first
man to bring pig iron into Chicago In
connection with the foundry which he
helped build was a machine shop and
the establishment soon began along
with its other business the manufac
ture of plows Mr Bradley by the
growth of his business was finally
forced to build a little town of his own
which is known as Bradley 111 Mr
Bradley has passed his 85th birthday
but is still hale and hearty and thor
oughly enjoys the prosperity which
hard work has brought him The ac
tive business has been surrendered to
his sons Chicago Tribune
Where Duels Are Fought
More duels are fought in Germany
than in any other country Most of
them however are student duels
which culminate in nothing more se
rious than slashed cheeks or torn
scalps Of all German university towns
little Jena and Gottingen are most de
voted to the code In Gottingen the
number of duels average one a day
year in and year out On one day se
eral years ago twelve duels were
fought in Gottingen in twenty four
hours In Jena the record for one day
in recent times Is twenty one Fully
4000 student duels are fought every
year in the German Empire In addi
tion to these there are the more serious
duels between officers and civilians
Among Germans of mature years tho
annual number of duels is about 100
Streets in Big Cities
London has 1380 miles of streets
Paris 600 miles and New York 575
miles
THE FIRST PRAYER
Initial Invocation Delivered Before
the American Congress
It does not matter who the mcmbeP
of Congress was who was doing the
talking but he is one that Is supposed
to know as little about religion as he
knows much about politics
Dont be alarmed about me he said
io three or four correspondents the
other day during a passing visit to the
capital but Ive got something you
havent thought of in a thousand years
and Im going to read it to yon It
may remind you of our very dear and
good old friend Chaplain Milbum but
thats no harm What I have here is
a copy of the first prayer ever delivered
in Congress I found It in an issue of
Thatchers Military Journal bear
ing date of 1777 and it is credited to
Rev Jacob Duche rector of Christ
Church Philadelphia who subsequent
ly proved traitorous to the noble cause
of independence The prayer is as fol
lows
Oh Lord our Heavenly Father
high and mighty King of kings and
Lord of hosts who dost from thy throno
behold all the dwellers on earth and
reignest with power supreme and un
controlled over all the kingdoms em
pires and governments look down In
mercy we beseech tliee on these Amer
ican States who have fled to thee from
the rod of the oppressors and thrown
themselves on thy gracious protection
desiring to henceforth be dependent
only on thee to thee they have appeal
ed for the righteousness of their caase
to thee do they now look up for that
countenance and support which thou
alone canst give take them therefore
Heavenly Father under thy nurturing
care give them wisdom in council and
valor in the field defeat the malicious
designs of our cruel adversaries con
vince them of the unrighteousness oi
their cause and if they still persist In
their sanguinary purposes oh let the
voice of thine own unerring justice
sounding in their hearts constrain them
to drop the weapons of war from their
unnerved hands in the day of battle
Be thou present O God of wisdom
and direct the counsels of this honora
ble assembly enable them to settle
things on the best and surest founda
tion that the scene of blood may be
speedily closed that order harmony
and peace may be effectually restored
and truth and justice religion and
piety prevail and flourish among thy
people Preserve the health of their
bodies and the vigor of their minds
shower down on them and the millions
they represent such temporal blessings
as thou seest expedient for them ir
this world and crown them with ever
lasting glory in the world to come All
this we sisk in the name and through
the merits of Jesus Christ thy son ou
Savior Amen Washington Star
The Elephant Minded the Baby
Some time before an elephant hunt
my husband was at a station in Ben
gal His work kept him out nearly all
day and being ill J used to lie for
hours in a long garden chair on theA
veranda too weak to read or enjoy
any more exciting amusement than my
eyes supplied to me
We had three elephants for our tents
and baggage and one dear creature
used to feed from my hands every day
and semed as gentle as a pet dog oi
cat
One of our government ebaprasis
was particularly devoted to her anc
invariably shared his meal of fruit oi
flower cakes with his dumb friend On
a particularly hot day the chaprasi t
my surprise placed his tiny chikl cl
six months at the elephants feet
warning her expressively that the in-
was in her charge and was to hi
cared for till his return I myself wa
an eye witness of her wonderful sagac
ity Large banana trees and fig tree
grew around and to my surprise th
elephant broke off one of the former
spreading leaves held it like a fan Iv
her trunk and from time to time grace
fully waved it over the slumberinj
child whether to temper the heat oj
unable to say The gentle way
the atmosphere or to keep off flies I an
which she moved her feet over tin
child and across to each side astonish
ed me I sent for a white loaf anc
some oranges and calling her by naini
she was never chained tried in vair
to tempt her to my side on the lov
veranda Nothing would induce her t
leave her charge The warm air anC
the monotonous wave of the swinging
fan overpowered me with drowsiness
to which I yielded and after a slei p ol
some duration I was awakened b
quiet subdued snorts beside me Tc
my surprise I found that the cbapni
had just returned to his offspring auc
the elephant stood near the verands
beside me patiently waiting and gen
tly asking for the tempting dainties s
bravely withstood for over two hours
JBtot Water Womans Friend
Hot water is womans best friend
If she drinks hot water an hour be
fore her breakfast she will be able U
ward off dyspepsia If she drinks htf
water flavored vith lemon and Bwcet
ened with sugar when she ha3 beet
out in the cold she will ward off chills
The same agreeable medicine taker
early enough in the progress of a cole
will stop it
When a nervous headache inakej
the forehead throb and back of the
neck ache hot water will relieve thi
pain Sufferers from sleeplessness
find themselves deliciously drowsy
after a hot bath Wrinkles flee beforf
ir and blackheads vanish before iti
constant use Great is hot water
Pittsburg Dispatch
The Usual Way
Mrs Bongtong proud mother of the
accomplished girl graduate I hope
Alice that you addressed that French
count in his native tongue What die
he say in reply
Alice He apologized and said he was
sorry but he understood nothing bu
inmu
1
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