332 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



with a blow which doubles him like a jack-knife, drive the 4 or 5 ft. of shank ' socket up ' into the 

 whale's side. If the whale does not in that moment rear its flukes and sound, a bold harponeer may 

 retain hold of the lance-pole and thrust the weapon vigorously up and down in the wound. I have 

 been present when a lance was ' churned ' in this way. Churning can only last a moment, for almost 

 at once as the boat is desperately backed clear, the flukes go up and the whale is sounding and the line 

 running again. Then the whole operation of towing, hauling line, and lancing is repeated. If the boat 

 is bowing-on (and in no enviable position, for it is travelling between the jaw and the thresh of the 

 flukes, the Sperm whale being ' dangerous at both ends ') or in an approach under oars that does not 

 end wood to blackskin, the u- or 12-ft. lance is tossed just as though it were a harpoon and up to about 

 the same distance. Even with a dart like this it is customary to get a good 3 ft. of entrance into the 

 whale. It will be remembered that the lance is fastened to the boat by the lance-warp, so that it can 

 be recovered and tossed or thrust again and again. Frequently the wrought iron shank is much bent 

 between thrusts, especially when the whale jerks away, towing or sounding. The harponeer commonly 

 straightens a bent shank against the gunwale or across his knee, and I have seen a harponeer actually 

 do this between thrusts whilst just laid off and practically still alongside a whale. In the late nine- 

 teenth-century American boats there was sometimes a 'lance straightener ' provided, a slot cut in the 

 gunwale just abaft the chocks, but I have not seen this provision in the present Azores whaleboats. 



A couple of lucky or shrewd blows can end the struggle at the first lancing and within a few minutes, 

 but commonly several approaches are required and several thrusts, interspersed with short tows 

 occupying a period of, say, an hour from the first lancing and sometimes much longer, before the 

 whale goes into his ' flurry '. The present Azores whalemen use none of the bomb-lances which assisted 

 to a quicker and safer kih both in the la er American fishery and in the Azores decades ago, but the 

 occasional or handy assistance of the motor-boat in lancing has reduced the time to the flurry in recent 

 years in the Azores. 



The flurry. The death struggle can occupy a single convulsion after a particularly successful thrust 

 with the lance, but commonly it takes several minutes, when it is called the flurry. Comparing my 

 own observations and first-hand accounts from the whaleship days, the flurry seems to take a similar 

 course in many whales captured with the hand harpoon and lance, and therefore it is interesting as an 

 aspect of behaviour. 



The movements of the flurry may be large in dimension but they are carried out slowly, with the 

 labouring exertion of an exhausted animal. The struggle is heralded by the spouting of blood from the 

 blowhole due to the mounting haemorrhage of the lungs. At this stage, called by the old whalemen 

 'red flag' or 'chimney afire', the respiratory beat is still sufficiently strong for the exhaled air to 

 atomize the blood, so that the blow is a red mist. The whale struggles at the surface describing a some- 

 what circular path. The head rears more and more from the water, rising at an abrupt angle between 

 6 and 15 ft. into the air whilst the gape of the open mouth increases. The jaw now clashes shut as the 

 head falls sideways back, making a splashing withdrawal to a few feet beneath the surface. Next the 

 whale rounds out, as though in an effort to sound. First the snout emerges and then the hump, and 

 then the flukes rear out, but when these are still far from the vertical they fall back and smite the water 

 with a report which, on a calm day, can be heard for miles. The head again emerges and pushes 

 upwards, the jaw clashes, and much the same labourings as those described may take place once or 

 twice again. The circular path is maintained, but the exertions become less and less large in scope. 

 The spout of blood is no longer a mist but a broad, low cascade welling at the blowhole. If it has 

 recently been feeding, the whale vomits squid, sometimes very large, in whole or part. So much blood 

 has been lost that the welling at the blowhole has ceased before the last convulsion takes place. The 

 flukes may sweep a little in a slow arc flat on the surface, and the head start to rear once more. Now the 



