PYGMY SPERM WHALE PIERS. 1 1 1 



men were killed, although a small boat was smashed to pieces. 

 Hawsers and steel cables were made fast to some of the whales 

 but were snapped with great ease. Some of the infuriated 

 animals dashed themselves against the cliffs and so died. In 

 al' thirty were killed. 



The services of a man who for ten years had been foreman of 

 a "whale factory" were secured, and he identified them as Sperm 

 Whales. Wells were made in the heads of the monsters, and 

 a great quantity of pure oil was dipped therefrom; from one to 

 four puncheons of fluid being taken from each head. 



Additional particulars of this very remarkable occurrence 

 were forwarded to me on 19th January, 1923, by the De- 

 partment of Mines and Fisheries of Newfoundland, which had 

 obtained the information from a most reliable source, Mr. J. F. 

 Murphy of St. John's, who had visited Keels and examined the 

 dead animals. Mr. Murphy says that they were undoubtedly 

 Sperm Whales, the most valuable of the cetaceans, and he en- 

 closed a carefully prepared drawing with measurements made by 

 himself, which proves conclusively that their specific identity 

 had been correctly determined. They were all young males, 

 and varied in length from 45 to 48 feet, whereas an adult 

 male sometimes measures as much as 80 feet. The one he 

 measured particularly was 47 feet in greatest length from the 

 anterior end of the truncated snout to the tip of the flukes or 

 tail. From the snout to the posterior angle of the mouth it 

 measured 12 feet; and from the angle of the mouth to the ex- 

 tremity of the flukes, 35 feet. The vertical depth of the head, 

 from the dorsal region to the mouth, was 7 feet; and the distance 

 between the two ends of the flukes was from 9 to II feet. It 

 had 22 teeth in each side of the lower jaw. Three of the teeth, 

 forwarded by Mr. Murphy to the Provincial Museum, are 

 definitely the teeth of the true Sperm Whale. 



He says that about forty-four of the whales were driven ashore 

 at Keels, the harbour of which is of circular form, everywhere 

 surrounded by vertical cliffs except at the entrance. The fish- 

 ermen killed thirty of them, using guns, axes, mowing-scythes, 

 and sharpened sticks employed as lances. In some cases stout 

 pieces of timber with pointed ends were driven into the blow-hole 

 of the animals, which maddened them, and so furious did they 

 become (probably because of the difficulty experienced in their 

 efforts to breathe) that they dashed themselves against the cliffs, 



