HOW LONG A WHALE MAY CARRY A HARPOON 137 



The following note from Captain Knowles, of the Pacific Steam 

 Whaling Company, was attached to the harpoon when presented 

 to Senator Perkins : 



" Harpoon head found in a whale taken in Bering sea in August, 1890, 

 by steam whaling bark Beluga, Captain R. D. Wicks, of the Pacific Steam 

 Whaling Company's fleet. This iron was from the whaling bark Monte- 

 zuma, as you will see by the mark. The Montezuma was sunk in Charles- 

 ton harbor during the war of the rebellion. She was in Bering sea some 

 ten years previous to being sold to the government, so this iron must 

 have been in the whale forty years. J. N. Knowles." 



I was discussing the matter recently with Capt. E. P. Heren- 

 deen, of the U. S. National Museum, and mentioning cases re- 

 ported where whales struck in Greenland waters had got away 

 and afterward been taken in Bering strait with the first iron in 

 them, or vice versa, when Captain Herendeen observed : 



" In regard to the whale iron or harpoon found in a whale 

 with the name of a ship on it which had never been in the 

 Greenland fisheries and had always been employed in this in- 

 dustry in the region of Bering strait, I can only say that while 

 it is most likety that the whale does make the passage from the 

 vicinity of Point Barrow to the waters around Greenland and 

 Hudson bay, still I do not think the evidence of the irons con- 

 clusive, for the following reasons : Ships were often changing 

 ownership and being withdrawn from the service and their in- 

 ventory of whaling implements sold and put on board other 

 ships, and while it is true that the ship receiving such weapons 

 would erase the marks of the former ship if put in use, there re- 

 mains the possibility of such irons being given or traded to the 

 Eskimo, and such a whale may have been struck by an Eskimo 

 in the vicinity of its final capture with a second-hand iron from 

 which the name had not been erased. 



" We know that the ships of the Franklin search expedition 

 approached very near each other to the east of Banks land, and 

 we know the whale is able to make long journeys beneath the 

 summer ice floes, for they easily see any places where the light 

 shows through the ice, which denotes a possible breathing place. 



" I have often heard whales blowing among the ice when I 

 could not see any sign of water anywhere." 



These notes appear to have a certain interest on account of 

 tin- stories current from time to time of whales supposed to have 

 made the northwest or northeast passage, and also throw light 

 on the possible age which may be attained by these animals. 



' Wm. H. Dall. 



