SEA MONSTERS. 179 



CHAPTER XVI. 



MONSTERS OF THE DEEP.* 



Mark Twain on Whales A New Version of an Old Story Whale as Food Whaling in 1670 The Great Mammal's Enemy, 

 the " Killer "The Animal's Home The So-called Fisheries The Sperm Whale Spermaceti The Chase The 

 Capture A Mythical Monster The Great Sea-SerpentYarns from Norway An Archdeacon's Testimony Stories 

 from America From Greenland Mahone Bay A Tropical Sea-Serpent What is the Animal 1 Seen on a Voyage to 

 India Off the Coast of Africa Other Accounts Professor Owen on the Subject Other Theories. 



SOME years ago, when an invalid wrote to Mark Twain seeking advice as to the value of 

 fish as " brain food/' the answer of that humourist was plain indeed : ' ( Fish-food 

 is good : abounds in phosphorus and nutrition. In your case I must recommend a 

 small whale ! " Unfortunately, Mark Twain fell into a very common error. The whale 

 is not a fish ; it is a mammal : it suckles its young. The writer has eaten whale 

 that is, a little bit of one. Whale brain, enclosed in batter, and treated as a fritter, 

 is not to be despised. 



The British whaler of about 1670 is quaintly described by Frederic Martin, who visited 

 Spitzbergen and Greenland that year. He says : "Whoever of the ships' crews sees a dead 

 whale cries out, ( Fish mine ! ' and therefore the merchants must pay him a ducat for his care 

 and vigilance. Many of them climb often into the mast in hopes to have a ducat, but in vain. 

 When the dead whale is thus fastened to the ship, two sloops hold on the other side of the fish, 

 or whale, and in each of them doth stand a man or boy that has a long hook in his hands, 

 wherewith he doth hold the boat to the ship, and the harpooner stands before in the sloop or 

 upon the whale, with a leathern suit on, and sometimes they have boots on. Underneath the 

 hook are some sharp nails fixed, that they may be able to stand firm. These two men that cut 

 the fat off have their peculiar wages for it, viz., about four or five rix dollars. First they cut 

 a large piece from behind the head, by the eyes, which they call the kenter-piece, that is as 

 much as to say, the winding-piece; for as they cut all the other fat all in rows from the whale 

 towards the end, so they cut this great Center-piece larger and wider than all the rest. This 

 piece, when it is cut round about from the whale, reaches from the water to the cradle (that is, 

 the round circle that goes round about the middle of the mast, and is made in the shape of a 

 basket), whence you may guess of the bigness of a whale. A strong and thick rope is 

 fixed to this kenter-piece, and the other end is fixed to underneath the cradle, whereby the 

 whale is as it were borne up out of the water, that they may come at it, and by reason of the 

 great weight of the whale the ship leans towards that side. One may judge how tough the 

 fat is, for in this piece a hole is made, through which the rope is fastened, yet not deep into 

 the fat, wherewith they turn the fish at pleasure. Then they cut another piece down hard by 

 this, which is also hauled up into the ship, where it is cut into pieces a foot square. The 

 knives used are, with their hafts, about the length of a man/' and so on. 



Mr. Brierly tells us that the most important natural enemy of the whale on the coast of 

 Australia is the " killer/' a kind of large porpoise, with a blunt head and large teeth. These 



* The contents of this chapter are derived mainly from the works of Owen, Beale, Maury, Soammon, Goese, 

 and Tiinbs. 



