172 The Story of the New England Whalers 



While the records do not, for obvious reasons, 

 contain the weights of adult whales, fair estimates 

 have been made. Scoresby calculated the size 

 or displacement of an Arctic whale at 81.5 cubic 

 feet, which would give a weight of about 114 

 tons. He estimated the weight of an ordinary 

 large right whale at seventy tons. 



The horse-power exerted by a finback whale 

 in propelling itself through the water was es- 

 timated by Sir William Turner, Professor of 

 Anatomy at the University of Edinburgh, assisted 

 by Mr. John Henderson, a Glasgow shipbuilder, 

 in 1886. A whale of this kind was stranded 

 at Longniddry. It was 80 feet long, its estimated 

 weight was 74 tons, and the tail was from 18 to 

 20 feet wide across the broadest parts. To 

 attain a speed of twelve miles an hour, for whales 

 of this kind often swim at that rate, required 

 the exercise of "a propelling force of 145 horse- 

 power." (Scientific American, March 5, 1887.) 



The records show that finbacks 120 feet long 

 have been killed. Sulphur-bottom whales (so 

 called because of the color of the under parts) 

 reach a length of no feet, according to The 



