THE WHALE FISHERY. 43 



majority of them taking to the water, like youug ducks, immediately after their advent into a sandy 

 world, and becoming experts in the navigation of its depths and the capture of its treasures even 

 before their school days have fully passed. 



"Provincetown occupies the extremity the curling finger of this cape, and its situation is 

 in every way peculiar. With the exception of a narrow strip or neck of sand heaps which unites 

 it to the main cape, it is surrounded by water the salt water of the Atlantic which rolls 

 unchecked between its outer shores and those of Europe. Itf^outer coast line, beginning at a point 

 opposite the narrow neck alluded to, sweeps around in a grand circle almost the entire circuit of 

 the compass, its outlines nearly resembling those of a gigantic capital O, as that letter is usually 

 found in manuscript. The inclosed water of this circle is the harbor of Provincetown, and the 

 town is built along the inner shore, at the bottom of the basin. Outside is the Eace, Wood End, 

 and sundry interesting points of light-house, life-saving station, all of vast moment to mariners 

 and ship-owners. Inside is one of the singular harbors of the world, deep enough and spacious 

 enough to shelter a fleet of hundreds of the largest ships of the world at one time, and with pecu- 

 liarities belonging to itself sufficient to make it famous wherever these ships may sail. 



"If there are any kinds of fish, or any methods of taking them, which are not familiar to the 

 waters or the people of Provincetown, their description is now in order. From the fry and minnow 

 for pickerel bait up to the 100-barrel right whale, Provincetown waters have witnessed the capture 

 of all kinds, and have frequently contributed specimens over which savants have puzzled and 

 wondered. The beaches of her shores have received as loot mighty carcases of whales and black- 

 fish ; shoals of porgies at one time, which all the teams of all the region could hardly remove soon 

 enough, so immense was the deposit, while fish-weirs (one of them took 700 barrels of mackerel a 

 few mornings since), try-works, and the implements and appliances of various fisheries mark the 

 scene in all directions. 



" Now, it has been no unusua^ thing, at any time since the establishment of this exaggerated 

 fish-net yclept Provincetown, for a whale of some variety to be occasionally stranded upon her 

 beaches, or captured by her cruisers or boatmen. But it is only within the past three years that 

 the systematic pursuit of a leviathan within her waters has been established ; in other words, that 

 the home whale-fishery has been a feature of her business operations. A whale in the harbor of 

 Provincetown, especially at certain seasons, is almost as common a presence as that of a turtle in 

 a mill-pond ; but they are usually representatives of a class disliked and scorned by old-school 

 whalemen, and not remunerative to their capturers, unless the latter be men of enthusiasm and 

 desperate enterprise. So that, although there are plenty of veteran whalers in the region, it has 

 been left to the young Provincetowners of the present generation to inaugurate and establish an 

 enterprise which has already shown good results. One young captain, with his crew, last year 

 took upward of 250 barrels of oil off Provincetown, and is scoring fair results the present season, 

 though the conditions have, so far, been very unfavorable. Some of his whales he captured in the 

 harbor ; but mainly his game was chased and killed in the water outside and near by. 



" The variety of whale mostly found in Massachusetts Bay waters is the finback, a long, 

 clean, perfectly formed creature, growing sometimes to 75 or 80 feet in length, but usually from 

 45 to 55 feet. He is the most complete model of craft for speed and easy working in the water 

 that can be imagined, and his tail in motion the most perfect development of the screw motor ; 

 and, indeed, the finback moves through the water when occasion offers as the most rapid express 

 train never does on its tracks on land. It is timid and non-resistant, and it is principally on 

 account of its great speed and its habit of immediate fight when stricken that the old whalemen 

 detest it. Your veteran has no relish for being drawn to the bottom, boat and all, by an aqua- 

 tic race-horse possessing the traveling qualities of a meteor. 



