HUMP-BACKED WHALE 97 



It was a female. In its stomach were six cormorants, and a 

 seventh, on which it was presumed to have choked, was 

 sticking in its throat. It was sold for £17, 2s. 6d., and 

 yielded only about eighteen gallons of very inferior oil. In 

 Bell's reference to this specimen ("British Quadrupeds," 

 2nd ed., p. 394) there are two mistakes, namely, that it was 

 cast ashore near Newcastle, and was 26 feet long. 



Notices of the " Tay Whale " appeared in most of the 

 newspapers at the time, the best account perhaps being 

 that in the "Weekly Scotsman" of 5th January 1884. 

 Subsequently, in 1888 and 1889, a very elaborate account 

 of it by Professor Struthers was published in the " Journal 

 of Anatomy and Physiology " (vols. xxii. and xxiii.). It 

 was a male 40 feet in length, with pectoral fins 12 feet 

 long, and was believed to have been attracted to the Tay 

 by the abundance of young herring then in the firth. 

 Some idea of its great strength and endurance may be 

 formed from the following facts: — After several fruitless 

 attempts, the animal was at length successfully harpooned 

 on 31st December (1883) — two, and finally three harpoons 

 being shot into it. Large iron bolts, &c., were also fired 

 into it, and hand-lances were driven three feet deep in its 

 back. At first two six-oared rowing boats and a steam 

 launch were made fast to it, and four or five hours after- 

 wards a steam tug was added. With this heavy drag it 

 swam wildly about the firth for a time, and then took out to 

 sea, pulling all but the launch after it. For some time it 

 pursued a northerly course till off Montrose, when it turned 

 and proceeded towards the Bell Kock, then towards the mouth 

 of the Firth of Forth, and finally turned north again when 

 six or seven miles off the Carr Eock. One by one the harpoon 

 lines had parted, and during the morning of 1st January, 

 when a little to the south of the Bell Eock, the last gave way, 



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