FISHES 471 



For tliis navigation, the Biscayneers, in favourable seasons, 

 fitted out thirty ships, of two hundred and fifty tons each, with 

 (if'ty choice men apiece, and a few boys. These were stored 

 with six months' provision ; and each ship had its boats, which 



severe cold, where the master often sits for hours in a temperature thirty 

 or forty degrees below the freczing^-point, and whence he can descry all the 

 movements of the surrounding' seas and ice, and give directions accordingly. 

 He is provided «ith a telescope, a speakiug'-trumpet, and a rifle, ^^^th which 

 he can sometimes strike a uarwal, as it floats around the ship. 



The whaling vessels usually take their departure in such time as to leave 

 the Shetland Isles aoout the beginning of Ajiril ; and before the end of tho 

 month arrive within the polar seas. It was long customary to spend a few 

 weeks at what is calh'd the Seal-fishers' Bight, extending along the coast of 

 Greenl.ind, ere they pui.ned into those more northern waters, where, amid 

 fields and mountains of ice, the powerful and precious mysticetus is tossing ; 

 but in later times it has become usual to sail at once into that centre of 

 danger and enterprise. 



As soon as they Iiavc arrived in those seas \A'hich are the haunt of tho 

 whale, the crew must be every moment on the alert, keeping watch day and 

 night. The seven boats are kept hanging by the sides of the ship, ready to 

 be launched in a few minutes ; and, where the state of the sea admits, one 

 of them is usuallymanned and afloat. These boats are from 25 to 28 feet long, 

 about 5j feet broad, and constructed with a special view to lightness, buoy- 

 ancy, and easy steerage. The captain or .some principal oflicer, seated in 

 the crow's nest, surveys the waters to a great distance, and the instant he 

 sees the back of the huge animal, which they seek to attack, emerging from 

 the waves, gives notice to the watch wlio are stationed on deck ; part of 

 whom leap into a boat, which is instantly lowered down, and followed by a 

 Bccond, if the fish be a large one. Each of the boats has a harpooner, and 

 one or two subordinate officers, and is provided with an immense quantity 

 of rope Coiled together, and stowed in different quarters of it, the several 

 parts being spliced together, so as to form a continued line, usually e.xceed- 

 ing 4000 feet in length. To the end is attached the harpoon, an instrument 

 formed, not to pierce and kill the animal, but, by entering and remaining 

 fixed in the body, to prevent its escape. One of the boats is now rowed 

 towards the whale in the deepest silence, cautiously avoiding to give an 

 alarm, of which he is very susceptible. Sometimes a circuitous route is 

 adopted, in order to attack him from behind. Having approached as near 

 as is consistent with safety ; the harpooner darts his instrument into tho 

 back of the monster. This is a critical moment; for when this mighty ani. 

 mal feels himself struck, be often throws himself into violent convulsive 

 movements, vibrating in the air his tremendous tail, one hish of which is 

 sufficient to dash a boat in pieces. More commonly, however, ho plunges 

 with rapiii flight into the depths of the sea, or beneath the thickest fields 

 and mountains of ice. While he is thus moving at the rate usually of eight 

 or ten miles an hour, the utmost diligence must be used that the line ti> 

 which the harpoon i« attached may run ofl' smoothly and readily along with 

 him. Should it lie ent;uigli'd for a moment, the strength of the whale i.s 

 such, that he would ilraw tin- boat and crew after him under the wavea. 



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