248 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



chartered by Williams, Haven & Co. This steamer was accompanied by the schooner Helen F., 

 owned by that firm. The net was set from a seine-boat, made at St. John's, at a cost of $500, with a 

 carrying capacity of 25 tons and a deck 24 feet wide. This craft was towed into position by six 

 whale-boats. At the first setting the net was cut into three pieces by the sharp rocks and for the. 

 time being rendered useless. The men endeavored to keep the whales in deep water until ebb 

 tide, when they could have an opportunity of mending the net. It appears, however, that the 

 cunning dolphins did not like this mode of imprisonment; the entire school made a violent rush, 

 and carried away 150 fathoms of the bunt, and almost swamped the whale-boats. The net was 

 again rigged and a second attempt was made; but operations were delayed by the boats running 

 afoul of the rocks, and the whales escaped. It is estimated that about 2,000 dolphins were in the 

 net each time, but only about two hundred were captured. Neither of the above experiments 

 was regarded with much favor by the projectors of the scheme, and they have since practically 

 abandoned nets. 



In the fall of 1882 I met Capt. Josiah Ghenn, the veteran Provincetown whaleman, and he 

 told me that when he was master of the schooner Council, about the year 1848, he was cruising off 

 the coast of Labrador, and undertook to capture a bowhead whale by means of a net. The net 

 was made of whale-line on board his vessel; it was 159 fathoms long, 8 fathoms deep, and with 

 meshes of extraordinary size. It was set from the shore 50 fathoms in a straight line in an easterly 

 direction ; turning at right angles the remaining 100 fathoms were carried north parallel to the shore, 

 leaving the northern end open for the whales to enter. A bowhead whale entered this trap at 

 night and carried away the entire net ; and Captain Ghenn added that he has " never seen the 

 whale or net since." 



The fishermen of the Faroe Islands have been very successful in their captures, by means of 

 nets, of the "grind- whale" or blackfish (G. melas) at Vestmanhavn. This fishery is discussed in 

 the next chapter. 



It is altogether possible that nets may be used locally under favorable conditions to capture 

 the smaller species of cetaceans, such as the white whale and blackfish, but for the larger members 

 of the order they are without doubt impracticable. 



PBUSSIC ACID. Hydrocyanic acid has been used to destroy the life of the whale; but its 

 deleterious effects soon abolished its use. In low latitudes the men at work in the blubber-room 

 cut off the bottoms of their trousers and with bare feel and legs stow away the unctuous pieces of 

 fat. Several men, who possibly had sores upon their hands or feet, were fatally poisoned by the 

 blubber of a whale that had been killed with prussic acid. The news soon spread through the 

 fleet, and the beginning and end of this method of capture occurred almost simultaneously. 



As to the origin of the use of poison in the whale fishery there are many conflicting reports. 

 The American whalemen unanimously attribute the inauguration of this enterprise to the French, 

 from the fact that several of our ships fell in with French whalers that carried the so-called "prus- 

 sic acid harpoon "; but so far as I can ascertain the harpoons were not generally used. Mr. F. C. 

 Sanfoid, of Nantucket, Mass., tells me that poisoned harpoons were carried by the ship Susan 

 Swain, which sailed from Nautucket November, 17. 1833 ; but Charles E. Allen, an "apothecary" 

 in Nantucket, who was mate on the Susan on that voyage, says the crew never used them, as they 

 were frightened by reports concerning the death of whalemen from handling poisoned blubber. 

 Captain Allen also says that during a subsequent voyage on the northwest coast lie shipped a 

 Frenchman who reported that some of his countrymen killed a whale with a prussic-acid harpoon, 

 and that when " cutting-iu," the man who was working on the whale received a flesh wound and died 

 from the effects of the poison. Mr. Samuel Tuck, eighty-three years of age, of Williamsburg, 



