THE WHALE FISHERY. 261 



always a desirable point to be gained ; for, on the contrary, the liarpooner will have a left-handed 

 thrust over the second iron, which, even with a left handed man, would be an awkward movement. 

 An officer of a boat never follows the wake of a right whale, for the moment the boat strikes the 

 "suds"* it is maintained that the whale is immediately made acquainted with the fact through 

 some unknown agency, and will be gallied, without fail, and soon widen the distance between 

 itself and the crew. 



So far as I can glean reliable facts from intelligent whalemen, I am of the opinion that the 

 majority of whales do not willfully or maliciously attack the boats, and that most of the accidents 

 now on record are due chiefly to the violent convulsions of the whales in their eagerness to make 

 their escape rather than to their ferocity or pugnacity. A whale may be quietly and peaceably 

 making its passage, it may be asleep, or it may be feeding or perhaps cruising over its ground, 

 when suddenly it is arrested by a harpoon buried several feet in its flesh. There may be times, 

 when thus suddenly aroused and smarting under or angered by their wounds, if a sperm whale, it 

 has rushed headlong upon the boat and demolished it instantaneously. Usually the whale is 

 terrified beyond measure by this unexpected thrust, and its first impulse is to get out of the way 

 immediately by burying itself in the depths of the ocean, or to escape by running. The mo- 

 ment a whale is struck a violent thrashing of the flukes ensues, and they are just as apt to cut 

 down a boat as not, should it be in the way, and. of course, the work of destruction would be as 

 complete as if the whale had premeditated the attack. Several whales of this species, however, 

 have not only attacked the small boats but have gone " head on" to vessels and disabled them, 

 and Capt. Isaiah West tells me he has had them to chase him " like a dog" in the whale-boat. The 

 remarkable loss of the Essex will ever be fresh in the memory of the whalemen of all nations, as 

 evincing the terrible anger and revenge of the mighty cachalot. 



While in New Bedford I met Capt. Martin Malloy, who was the master of the bark Osceola 

 3d when she was attacked by an angry sperm whale after it had demolished three boats. 

 Captain Malloy tells me that this occurred to the west-northwest of Cape Verde Islands, lati- 

 tude, 190 degrees north, longitude 28 degrees, December 16, 1866. A large bull sperm whale was 

 raised; the waist boat and the starboard boat struck it and were " stove." The mate picked up the 

 crews of the two "cracked " boats and took them to the ship. The whale in the mean time con- 

 tinued to light the portions of the boat and the boat gear, angrily seizing pieces of wood and other 

 articles and breaking them to pieces with his jaws. Captain Malloy did not think it prudent to 

 attack the whale in the small boats, and went on it with the ship. When within 300 feet of the 

 whale it turned on one side and made for the ship, with its mouth wide open, as is the habit of the 

 species in making an attack. The whale struck the vessel on the blufl'of the port bow, knocking 

 off the the cut-water. The ship trembled from stem to stern, and so great was the concussion that 

 many articles on board, such as crockery and glassware and other small utensils, were dislodged 

 from the places where they are usually kept. As the whale crossed the bow two hand-lances and 

 a bomb lance were thrown into it. The vessel made for the whale the second time, but it kept off. 

 All this time the two tow-lines and a portion of one of the stove boats were fastened to the whale, 

 tin- lines being entwined about its body. Captain Malloy, with a picked crew, finally approached 

 the whale and killed it after a desperate fight of twelve hours. The whale stowed down 115 barrels 



* Another peculiarity of the whale is the " glip." When the sperm whale is alarmed or on the alert against pur- 

 suit, on going down for a run beneath the surface it emits a portion of oil, or its equivalent, which, for a considerable 

 period of time, onuses a smooth, bright surface on the water. This is termed the glip or wake. The mystery of the 

 glip is in a real or supposed communication between this smooth spot and the whale occasioning it. Should the bout- 

 header incautiously pull his boat into this glip, or cross the line between the ret real ing whale and his glip, the effect 

 will betogallie the animal. Capt. WILLIAM M. DAVIS, Nimrod of the Sea, p. 181. This is maintained and substan- 

 tiated by whalemen generally. (J. T. B.) 



