THE DUTCH WHALERS PREDOMINANT 161 



A whale can run out ten lines of one hundred and 

 twenty-five fathoms each, after which it is compelled 

 to come to the surface. This gives the opportunity 

 for the discharge of a second harpoon, and for 

 lancing with the six foot lances. Eventually the 

 whale is killed. Sometimes two boats from different 

 ships share in the killing of the whale, in which case 

 the ships take half shares. The tail is now cut off, 

 a hole made in the whale's body, which is then towed 

 alongside the ship by five or six boats. It is now 

 made fast, the tail end forward and the head aft. 



A fish of fifty kardels blubber gives two hundred 

 and forty to two hundred and fifty Maas barten 

 (bone of not less than eleven feet long) and about 

 two hundred Untermaas barten. The blubber is 

 put on board into the hold (Flensloch) and must be 

 prepared within forty-eight hours. 



The whalers usually returned home in September, 

 October, or November at the latest. The Dutch 

 made several attempts to winter in the North, at 

 Spitsbergen and Jan Mayen (1633-4); Spitsbergen 

 (1630-1) successfully, and 1633 unsuccessfully; in 

 the latter case the men died of scurfy due to the 

 lack of fresh provisions. 



During the next three decades, as already 

 described, the Dutch followed the whale fishery 

 with, on the whole, considerable success, while the 

 English took a very minor part. Already the 

 whales were becoming scarce in Spitsbergen waters, 

 and the ships had to go farther out to sea to make 

 their captures. The three Dutch wars with 



