Sometimes in the
immediate impulse of rage, she will attack the boat and demolish it
with one stroke of her tail; in an instant the frail vehicle
disappears and the assailants are immersed in the dreadful element.
Were the whale armed with the jaws of a shark, and as voracious,
they never would return home to amuse their listening wives with the
interesting tale of the adventure. At other times she will dive and
disappear from human sight; and everything must give way to her
velocity, or else all is lost. Sometimes she will swim away as if
untouched, and draw the cord with such swiftness that it will set
the edge of the boat on fire by the friction. If she rises before
she has run out the whole length, she is looked upon as a sure prey.
The blood she has lost in her flight, weakens her so much, that if
she sinks again, it is but for a short time; the boat follows her
course with almost equal speed. She soon re-appears; tired at last
with convulsing the element; which she tinges with her blood, she
dies, and floats on the surface. At other times it may happen that
she is not dangerously wounded, though she carries the harpoon fast
in her body; when she will alternately dive and rise, and swim on
with unabated vigour. She then soon reaches beyond the length of the
cord, and carries the boat along with amazing velocity: this sudden
impediment sometimes will retard her speed, at other times it only
serves to rouse her anger, and to accelerate her progress. The
harpooner, with the axe in his hands, stands ready. When he observes
that the bows of the boat are greatly pulled down by the diving
whale, and that it begins to sink deep and to take much water, he
brings the axe almost in contact with the cord; he pauses, still
flattering himself that she will relax; but the moment grows
critical, unavoidable danger approaches: sometimes men more intent
on gain, than on the preservation of their lives, will run great
risks; and it is wonderful how far these people have carried their
daring courage at this awful moment! But it is vain to hope, their
lives must be saved, the cord is cut, the boat rises again. If after
thus getting loose, she re-appears, they will attack and wound her a
second time. She soon dies, and when dead she is towed alongside of
their vessel, where she is fastened.
The next operation is to cut with axes and spades, every part of her
body which yields oil; the kettles are set a boiling, they fill
their barrels as fast as it is made; but as this operation is much
slower than that of cutting up, they fill the hold of their ship
with those fragments, lest a storm should arise and oblige them to
abandon their prize. It is astonishing what a quantity of oil some
of these fish will yield, and what profit it affords to those who
are fortunate enough to overtake them.
The river St. Lawrence whale, which is the only one I am well
acquainted with, is seventy-five feet long, sixteen deep, twelve in
the length of its bone, which commonly weighs 3000 lbs., twenty in
the breadth of their tails and produces 180 barrels of oil: I once
saw 16 boiled out of the tongue only. After having once vanquished
this leviathan, there are two enemies to be dreaded beside the wind;
the first of which is the shark: that fierce voracious fish, to
which nature has given such dreadful offensive weapons, often comes
alongside, and in spite of the people's endeavours, will share with
them their prey; at night particularly. They are very mischievious,
but the second enemy is much more terrible and irresistible; it is
the killer, sometimes called the thrasher, a species of whales about
thirty feet long. They are possessed of such a degree of agility and
fierceness, as often to attack the largest spermaceti whales, and
not seldom to rob the fishermen of their prey; nor is there any
means of defence against so potent an adversary. When all their
barrels are full, for everything is done at sea, or when their
limited time is expired and their stores almost expended, they
return home, freighted with their valuable cargo; unless they have
put it on board a vessel for the European market. Such are, as
briefly as I can relate them, the different branches of the economy
practised by these bold navigators, and the method with which they
go such distances from their island to catch this huge game.
The following are the names and principal characteristics of the
various species of whales known to these people:
The St. Lawrence whale, just described.
The disko, or Greenland ditto.
The right whale, or seven feet bone, common on the coasts of this
country, about sixty feet long. The spermaceti whale, found all over
the world, and of all sizes; the longest are sixty feet, and yield
about 100 barrels of oil.
The hump-backs, on the coast of Newfoundland, from forty to seventy
feet in length.
The finn-back, an American whale, never killed, as being too swift.
The sulphur-bottom, river St. Lawrence, ninety foot long; they are
but seldom killed, as being extremely swift.
The grampus, thirty feet long, never killed on the same account.
The killer or thrasher, about thirty feet; they often kill the other
whales with which they are at perpetual war.
The black fish whale, twenty feet, yields from eight to ten barrels.
The porpoise, weighing about 160 lb.
In 1769 they fitted out 125 whalemen; the first fifty that returned
brought with them 11,000 barrels of oil. In 1770 they fitted out 135
vessels for the fisheries, at thirteen hands each; four West-
Indiamen, twelve hands; twenty-five wood vessels, four hands;
eighteen coasters, five hands; fifteen London traders, eleven hands.
All these amount to 2158 hands, employed in 197 vessels.
