270 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES, 



worthy of mention that a dead whale, when cast adrift, will beat to windward, the natural motions 

 of the flukes having a tendency to propel the body. 



SUNK WHALES. Since the whale is very nearly of the same specific gravity as the water of 

 the ocean,* some individuals sink when dead, and others float heavily as if water-logged, the line 

 of flotation being considerably above the axis of the body, Hence it is difficult to locate a freshly- 

 killed whale. Subsequently, as it commences to decompose, the animal becomes more buoyant. 

 When several whales are killed, therefore, the "floaters" are conspicuously marked by attaching a 

 small flag, previously referred to as the boat waif, the blackfish poke, or perhaps an implement 

 termed a " waif-drug." When the waif is used, a hole is morticed in the blubber with a boat-spade, 

 and the pole, which has several notches at the lower end to retain its hold, is planted therein. A 

 whale is said to be " waifed" when this flag is hoisted over it ; it then becomes the property of the 

 ship whose agents were instrumental in its death, and in case it floats off during the capture of 

 other whales, its whereabouts may be ascertained by means of the flag, either from the boats or 

 from the mast head of the vessel. 



When the "pokes" are used, the officer gives the order to "Blow up! Blow up!" and a man 

 witli sound lungs grasps one of these membranous pouches and inflates it until it has the external 

 appearance of an "overgrown hypertrophied dropsical spider." It is then attached to the whale, 

 and being of a white color may be readily seen at quite a distance from the ship. 



The "waif-drug," or "flag-drogue," may be used to impede the flight of a wounded whale and 

 to waif a dead whale as well. This kind of drug consists merely of a flag rigidly fastened by its 

 pole to a small piece of plank; the latter is loaded with lead to retain the flag in an elevated posi- 

 tion. It is fastened to the whale with a harpoon and line. 



It is not unusual for the right whale to sink when killed; the sperm whale sometimes sinks, 

 but the humpback and finback almost always go to the bottom. 



Bowhead whales sink oftener than right whales, but it is seldom they descend so far below 

 the surface that they cannot be hauled up by one or two boats' crews. They are generally cap- 

 tured in shoal water, where the carcasses may be anchored or buoyed, and usually rise a day or 

 two afterwards, while whales that sink in very deep water may never come to the surface. Some 

 whales float when first killed, but shortly afterwards commence to sink gradually until they descend 

 so far that the boats have to cut their lines. 



In consequence of their great tendency for sinking, the capture of humpbacks and finbacks, 

 in order to be accomplished successfully, must be conducted on soundings. The Immpbackers 

 go prepared for this contingency. Some of them use the large harpoons, previously described, 



* Scoresby says that the whalo heing very nearly of the sauie specific gravity :is sea water the weight may be 

 calculated with considerable precision. The body of the whale may he divided into three segments, forming toler- 

 ably regular geometric solids. First, the head, a parabolic conoid, which, in the sucking whale, is 4 feet in diameter 

 and o-} feet in height ; its solid content about 34i cubic feet. Secondly, the middle segment, extending from the head 

 to the thickest part of the body; this is a frustum of a cone, in the sucking whale, :i feet in length and 1 to 5 feet in 

 diameter, producing a solid content of 48 cubic feet. Thirdly, the posterior segment, extending from the greatest 

 circumference to the tail ; this segment is a paraboloid, or parabolic conoid, with its .smaller end truncated. Its 

 length in the sucking whale is 8 feet, its diameters 1 and 5 feet, and its solid content 81$ cubic feet; and to these 

 products may be added about 10 cubic feet, the estimated bulk of the fins and tail, which make an amount of 174 

 cubic feet; this sum divided by 35, the number of cubic feet of son water in I he Creenland ocean in a ton weight, 

 gives the weight of the animal 5 tons within a cubic foot. 



One of the largest niysticete, of 60 feet in length, the head 20 feet in length by 12 feet in diameter, the middle 

 section 6 feet by l:i diameter, the third section 2i> feet in length by 12 and 2 feet diameter, will appear (if calculated 

 the same way, with an allowance of 5 tons for the tins and tail) to be of the prodigious weight of 114 tons! But as 

 the last section is somewhat more slender than the body to which it is referred, this calculation maybe a little in excess. 

 The largest animals of this species may, however, I conceive, be safely stated at 100 tons in weight, and an ordinary 

 lull-grown animal at 70 tons! SCORESBY : Journal of a Voyage to the Northern Whale Fishery, pp. 155, 15C. 



