158 WHALE FISHER Y IN THE SO UTHERN SEAS. 



huge carcass is abandoned to the birds and sharks, which 

 are always waiting for their share, and speedily devour it. 



In the early period of the Northern whale fishery, the 

 animals being numerous and easy of capture, settlements 

 were formed on the ice-coasts for boiling the blubber and 

 extracting the oil, which was sent home in cabks ; but when 

 the whales diminished, and the fishermen were obliged to 

 seek them in the open sea, the capture became more diffi- 

 cult and dangerous, the settlements were abandoned, and 

 the blubber was, for economy's sake, sent home to be boiled. 

 In the different parts to which whale-ships are bound, there 

 are establishments for extracting the oil; those at Hull are 

 on the outskirts of the town. The blubber when conveyed 

 to the boiling house is emptied from the casks into large 

 vats, where it undergoes certain processes for extracting 

 the oil. 



The whale fishery in the Southern seas does not present 

 the same amount of dangers which beset the whalers of the 

 ice-regions, and differs in some particulars, being specially 

 for the capture of the sperm whale. 



It w^as well remarked by an old whaling captain that " if 

 the Almighty had gifted the whale with a knowledge of his 

 strength, few indeed would be caught." It is truly so, and 

 there are occasions w^hen the w^hale, inoffensive in its general 

 habits, displays an amount of power and hostility which 

 forms one of the grandest and most exciting spectacles that 

 could be witnessed. In fact, the dangers which the whalers 

 incur in their hazardous occupation, are most imminent. 



As an instance of the spirit of mischief which sometimes 

 animates the ocean monarch, I will relate what happened to 

 the whale-ship, the Essex, Captain Pollard, in the Pacific 

 Ocean. A number of sperm whales being signalled by the 

 look-out, three boats were manned and sent in pursuit. The 

 mate's boat was struck by one of them, and he was obliged 

 to return to the ship to repair the damage. While he was 



