THE FINWHALE FISHERY OF FINMARK. 419 



During the short interval that I had remained below we had 

 commenced hunting two Common Eorquals in company. Pre- 

 sently we saw the whaler, which was fast to the Humpback, 

 lower a boat and proceed to lance the unfortunate animal ; my 

 shipmates, who although Norwegians, are I suppose the kindest- 

 hearted people in the world, had grown callous to the sufferings 

 of a whale, and shouted with laughter at every fresh scream 

 uttered by the huge beast in its agony. Exactly an hour from 

 the time of harpooning it the "flurry" took place; the whale 

 turned on its side, churned the water with its long flipper, at 

 length died, and immediately sank. 



We continued meanwhile hunting our Finner, and half an 

 hour later it gave us a chance. It rose just ahead of us, and 

 came right towards us, shaving close past our starboard bow — so 

 close that I for one expected to feel it collide with our hull. At 

 the moment when he was right under our bow the harpooner 

 pulled, but the cap again missed fire ! Everybody's disgust and 

 disappointment may perhaps be imagined. We continued 

 hunting it, and three-quarters of an hour later it passed us on 

 the starboard side ; the harpooner again pulled, and this time 

 the gun went off, but the harpoon fell harmlessly into the sea. 

 The men said afterwards they thought the whale was too far off, 

 and that the harpoon fell short. By the time that we had 

 reloaded it was too dark to hunt, being about a quarter to ten ; 

 so steam was let off, and we lay by for the night. 



The following morning we were under steam soon after five 

 o'clock, again a beautiful morning. We hunted a Common 

 Rorqual — whether the one seen the previous evening there was 

 nothing to show. Meeting the steamer that we had seen kill a 

 Humpback yesterday, we stopped for a talk. She had towed it 

 into Tana Fjord, and came out again without loss of time. She 

 had taken a large Blue Whale on the 26th, which I afterwards 

 saw in Vardo. 



After some time our Finner disappeared, and we went after a 

 Humpback, which we soon perceived was the same one that we 

 had hunted so long the previous day with the wound on its 

 right side, showing that they keep their ground to some extent. 

 Just before eight o'clock it gave us a chance, coming up on our 

 starboard bow, and the harpooner fired. The whale, as is usual, 

 disappeared instantly, and then came a few minutes of almost 



