70 The American Angler 
and the whale having been dead some 
days, the smell was fully in keeping 
with the size of the subject. Total 
length, fifty-three feet; circumference 
of body, about forty-five feet; length 
of lower jaw around curve, fourteen 
feet; from eye to tip of upper jaw, 
nearly twelve feet; length of head 
about thirteen and one-half feet; width 
flukes of tail, seventeen feet; 
across one fluke, four feet two inches; 
diameter of eye-ball, about six inches; 
of blubber—on 
breast 
across 
tickness back, eight 
inches; on eighteen inches; 
average all over, about twelve inches. 
The length of the longest whalebone 
was seven feet two inches, and its total 
weight 864 pounds. The amount of 
oil this whale yielded was thirty-six 
barrels, first quality; of which the 
tongue gave about six barrels. The 
scrappers also made three barrels from 
the refuse left by the owners after they 
were through. The whalebone has 
been sold at $1.65 per pound, and the 
first quality oil at twenty-five cents per 
gallon, making the total amount shared 
by the captors $1,373.50. ‘The three 
barrels scrap oil is worth about sixteen 
cents per gallon, which will bring the 
total cash yield from this whale up to 
about $1,900. ‘The total weight of the 
animal, from carefully calculated mea- 
surements, must have been close to one 
hundred and twenty tons. 
The whale fishery carried on around 
Beaufort Inlet has been in existence 
many years, and the whalers of that 
locality are second to none in their 
knowledge of the business of whaling, 
and in coolness and courage in carrying 
it out. On the spring migration north- 
ward the whales come inshore below 
Cape Lookout, and during this season 
the whale boats are always kept in 
readiness along the beach, above high- 
water mark, ready to be run into the 
water as soon as a ‘‘fish”’ is sighted. 
The boats used are built specially for 
this purpose by the local boat builders. 
They are about twenty feet in length, 
sharp at both ends, clinker built, and 
each carries acrew of six men. The 
crew includes a steersman, four rowers, 
and a harpooner or gunner, who, while 
working up to a whale, pulls the fifth, 
or bow oar. The weapons and tackle 
used in each boat include a whale gun, 
several harpoons and lances, with short 
wraps, long wraps, drags, etc. The 
whale gun isa very heavy, short, single 
barreled shoulder piece, weighing in 
the neighborhood of fifty pounds. It 
is loaded with an explosive bomb nearly 
as long as the barrel, about eighteen 
inches, and one and one-half inches in 
diameter. This projectile is ground to 
sharp cutting edges at the point, while 
at the butt endit is narrowed to allow 
the rubber ‘‘feathers” to be wrapped 
around it to act asa gas check. When 
fired from the gun the ‘‘ feathers ”’ un- 
fold and act in the same way as the 
feathers to an arrow in keeping the 
bomb ‘‘end on” and preventing wab- 
bling. It contains one-quarter of a 
pound of powder and is exploded by a 
two-second fuse, the fuse being ignited 
by the discharge of the gun. Explo- 
sive bombs are displacing the older 
harpoon and lance to some extent, but 
are usually used in conjunction with 
them. The bombs cost about four dol- 
lars apiece. The harpoons are techni- 
cally known as ‘‘ irons,” and are of two 
patterns, the two-flued and the toggle 
iron. Both of these have a line at- 
tached and are thrown into the whale 
to make it fast. The former is the 
older pattern and is not as good a 
weapon as the latter. It is really a 
spear with a broad triangular blade 
