AT SEA: ON THE WHALING GROUNDS i8i 



specimen yielded from sixty to one hundred barrels of sperm 

 oil J whereas the amount of whale oil secured from a large 

 right whale varied from one hundred to two hundred bar- 

 rels. And not only was there more oil, but it was heavier 

 and thicker, and all of it had to be tried-out from the blubber j 

 for the right whale had no great reservoir filled with oil in a 

 liquid state, such as that contained in the "case." 



Another laborious task confronting the right whaleman was 

 to extract and clean the hundreds of pounds of whalebone 

 which became more and more valuable as the nineteenth cen- 

 tury progressed. This bone, found in the right whale's head 

 in the form of dozens of long, heavy slabs, had to be extracted 

 from the ponderous jaws and painstakingly scraped and cleaned 

 before the pieces could be tied together into bundles of con- 

 venient size and stowed away in the hold. And since a single 

 large prize yielded from one to two thousand pounds of bone, 

 this was an operation requiring time and patience. 



V — WORKING conditions: arctic whaling 



Whaling in and near the frigid zones was carried on under 

 climatic disadvantages which greatly increased the ordinary 

 hardships and hazards of the industry. The severe cold was a 

 constant enemy, to be fought with heavy, burdensome clothing 

 of such weight that the strenuous duties of shipboard life were 

 rendered even more onerous than usual j and the long periods 

 of inactivity spent at the mast-head and at the helm frequently 

 resulted in frozen hands and feet. The coating of ice and 

 snow deposited on decks and rigging rendered it both difficult 

 and dangerous to handle the vessel, especially in rough weather. 

 Blizzards and snowstorms were likely to overtake the boats 

 when away from the larger craft and to blot it from view. 

 Icebergs, ice-floes, and field-ice proved to be both menacing 

 dangers to the whalemen and friendly allies to their preyj for 

 it was aggravatingly common to have a whale escape by sound- 

 ing under a large area of ice, often carrying valuable lines and 

 other equipment in its wake. And for those captains who 

 dared to continue their operations until late in the season there 



