204 A HISTORY OF THE WHALE FISHERIES 



tion becomes biased, as in the case of the whale 

 which, in its struggles, smashed up three of the 

 " shaloups " and kept the others, in which Kohler 

 was engaged, fighting from twelve to sixteen hours 

 until it was killed. During this time, as Kohler 

 laments, they were without bread or water, and 

 thought that every minute would be their last. 

 The Greenland caught three whales in all, from 

 which they extracted sixty-four, forty-five, and two 

 barrels of oil. The first whale, which was fifty feet 

 long, was captured in August towards the end of 

 the voyage. This was the beast that smashed the 

 three sloops above. The forty-five kardels whale 

 was an easier capture, the third was a young whale, 

 still a suckling. Dead whales were occasionally 

 met with. Kohler's ship found one. As they 

 proceeded to flense it, Kohler complained of the 

 abominable stink. One of the ship's company 

 replied that this stink was quite bearable, and 

 nothing to the smell of a dead whale they had 

 encountered on a previous voyage, the odour of 

 which was so powerful that " der Mannschaft waren 

 die Kopfe von den scharfen Ausdunstungen 

 angeschwollen." From which it would appear that 

 the crews of whaling ships occasionally indulge in 

 a little exaggeration. 



This pleasant reminiscence did not satisfy 

 Kohler, who goes on to lament " Das Walfisckaas 

 st'inkt uberhau-pt sehr widrig" but the most abomin- 

 able of all is the smell of those whales which have 

 expired for some days prior to their flensing. Had 



