CHAPTER XX 

 A DEEP-SEA SPERM WHALE HUNT 



EVERY time I see a sperm whale shot with a 

 bomb harpoon from the bows of a steamship, 

 I have more respect for the old-time hunters 

 who kill the huge brutes with a hand harpoon and 

 lance. The vitality of a sperm is enormous, and even 

 when several bombs have exploded in its body the 

 animal will often fight for hours before it spouts 

 blood and dies. 



When Captain Olsen secured the sixty- foot sperm, 

 the skeleton of which was sent to the Museum, he 

 got fast with one iron but did not kill the whale. After 

 some time the vessel was near enough for a second 

 shot, and Olsen fired a harpoon which was bent slightly 

 upward at the point. The heavy iron, instead of pene- 

 trating the blubber, rebounded, and when it was drawn 

 back by the winch was found to be actually bent 

 double, the point of the bomb being within a few 

 inches of the opposite end. It required three harpoons, 

 each weighing one hundred and ten pounds, to finish 

 the whale. 



Yet with a magnificent courage which is only half 

 appreciated by a landsman, the fearless New Bedford 

 whalers attack these colossal animals with merely a 



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