54 
CETACEA. 
The following paragraph which appeared in the Derry Sentinel (Janu- 
ary, 1842), may have related to this species : — 
“ Whale caught at Newtown-Cunningham. — A bottle-nosed whale, about 
twelve feet in length, was caught last week at the embankment near Newtown- 
Cunningham. It has been purchased by Captain Coppin for the purpose of ex- 
tracting the oil, and we believe may be seen at his establishment on the Strand 
road.” 
The Spermaceti Whale, Physeter macroceplialus, Linn., 
Has been taken on the ocean coasts of the island. 
In the Philosophical Transactions for 1695-6, Dr. Molyneux remarks, 
“ Nor is the kind of whale-fish that * * affords the true spermaceti a 
stranger to the coast of Ireland that respects America. This we may properly, 
I think, * * call the Cetus dentatus, from its large solid white teeth fixed only 
in the lower jaw, to distinguish it from the species that gives the whalebone 
* * of which kind likewise there have been three or four stranded in my time, 
but on the eastern coast of this country that regards England. 
There have been three of this kind \_Cetus dentatus~\ taken to my knowledge in 
the space of the six years, all on the western coast of this country ; one near 
Coleraine in the County of Antrim, another about Shipharbour in the County 
of Donegal, and a third in Aug., 1691, 71 feet long (exceeding that discovered 
by Clusius 19 feet), towards Ballyshannon, where Lough Erne discharges its 
waters into the western ocean.” Vol. xix. p. 508. 
In Smith’s History of Cork, published in 1750, it is observed that a whale, 
“ which I take by the account I heard of it to be the Balcena major , or sper- 
maceti whale, Ray, Synop. Pise. 15, was a few winters ago cast on shore near 
Castlehaven, and towards 60 feet long.” Yol. ii. p. 299. 
Arthur Young in his Tour in Ireland, made in the years 1776 — 1779, 
remarks that, 
“ In all the bays on the coast [of Donegal] in March and April there are 
many whales, the bone sort; they appear on the coast in February, and go off to 
the northward the beginning of May; sometimes they are in great plenty, and 
in November to February there are many spermaceti whales ; * this is what 
induced Thomas Nesbit, Esq., of Kilmacredon, to enter into a scheme for estab- 
lishing a fishery on the coast, and in executing it was the inventor of the gun- 
harpoon. Mr. Nesbit first used the gun-harpoon for killing whales in the year 
1756 * * * [In this year] one whale was caught by the hand-harpoon 
* * * In 1761, with the gun-harpoon, he killed three whales and got them 
all ; after which he every year killed some, except one year, when he killed forty- 
two sun-fish f in one week, each of which yielded from half a ton to a ton of oil. 
Mr. Nesbit has since given it up,J not from want of success in the mode of taking 
the whales, but from being put by his partners, for want of knowledge in the 
business, to useless expenses. From many experiments he brought the opera- 
tion to such perfection, that for some years he never missed a whale, nor failed of 
* At the beginning of August, 1845, a large whale was seen by Mr. Hyndman 
and others between Horn Head and Tory Island off Donegal. 
f Basking shark. Selachus maximus , Cuv. 
X The following paragraphs appeared in 1776, copied in 1839, from a book 
of extracts made by Dr. Aquila Smith : — “ A large Whale. By letters from 
the Co. Donegal we have an account that Mr. Thos. Nesbit killed and brought 
into port, the 11th inst., a large whale ; and as many others now appear on the 
coast, there is reason to hope for a successful season in that fishery.” — Freeman’s 
Journal , May 17, 1776. 
“We hear from Port in the Co. of Donegal that Mr. Thos. Nesbit had 
brought in a' whale there which measured 63 feet in length.” — Freeman’s 
Journal , June 10, 1776. 
