192 The Story of the New England Whalers 



secured and maintained their positions by good 

 fighting, and their aggressive character was fre- 

 quently shown toward the whalers as well as 

 toward venturesome individuals of their own 

 kind. 



The younger and smaller bulls thirty-barrel 

 whales also went in schools which were not 

 usually found near the larger schools of females. 

 Then as the whalers cruised to and fro, they 

 encountered big bulls, old and gray, that were 

 swimming solitary and alone, though two were 

 seen, now and then, heading the same course 

 but at some distance from each other. These 

 old bulls invariably showed the scars of battle, 

 for they had been driven from the schools of 

 females by younger and more vigorous fighters. 



"Whenever a lone whale meets with a drove 

 [of females] he forthwith turns upon the male 

 of the group and gives him battle," said the 

 New Bedford Gazette, in 1837. "Their manner 

 of fighting is bold and destructive. They run 

 backward from each other several rods and then 

 rapidly advance, their great square heads meet- 

 ing with dreadful suddenness. The scene [of 



