65 
Whaling in Finmarken is carried on by means of small 
steamers about 30 tons register. The guns, harpoons and 
other apparatus used on board these vessels may be seen 
in the Norwegian section. This occupation dates from the 
close of the sixties, and has in the eighties been carried on 
by about thirty steamers, manned by about 500 men, with 
an annual catch of about 1,000 whales. 
To take part in the pursuit of one of these mighty mon- 
sters of the deep, is one of the most interesting of sports. 
If the whale does not die at once, which rarely happens, 
it dives straight to the bottom and rushes off with the ves- 
sel in tow, at a rate which, although the engine works full 
speed astern, may reach fifteen to sixteen knots. One case 
has been reported in which this venturesome chase was 
continued uninterruptedly for twenty-four hours, when 
the towline was cut, the whale—a real cachelot (hump- 
back)—seeming still in possession of its full strength. 
Sealing is carried on in the ocean around the coast of 
the small island Jan Mayen, between 67° and 75° N. lat. 
and 5° EK. and 17° W. long. (Greenwich). The number of 
the Norwegian sealers is a little over twenty, exclusively 
steamers from 200 up to 600 tons register, and manned 
by about 1,000 men. 
Bottlenose whaling is carried on at about the same place 
as the sealing. The number of vessels engaged has in later 
years been about sixty, with a crew of about 900 hands ; 
a few of these vessels are steamers, averaging a little more 
than 100 tons register. The annual catch has been in 
later years upwards of 2,000 whales. 
The Arctic Ocean expeditions are fitted out from the 
Finmarken ports, Troms6, Hammerfest and Vardo, with a 
number of large boats and about fifty small vessels, from 
thirty to forty tons register. The scene of operation is the 
Arctic Ocean, the White Sea, and the waters in the vicinity 
of Spitzbergen and toward Nova Zembla, where eiderdown 
is collected, fishing carried on and where the capture of the 
