Lippincott's Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, Old Series, Vol. 36—New Series, Vol. 10, July 1885Various
Science
Lippincott's Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, Old Series, Vol. 36—New Series, Vol. 10, July 1885
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
Among the Samoyeds, at Chabanova, on the Siberian coast, the white-whale
fisheries amount to fifteen hundred or two thousand pood of train-oil a
year. On the coasts of Nova Zembla and Spitzbergen they are captured by
enormous nets made of very stout material; and the Tromsoe vessels alone
have taken in a single season over two thousand one hundred and
sixty-seven white whales, valued at about thirty thousand dollars.
Magdalen a Bay is a favorite place for them, and often three hundred are
taken at a single haul in the powerful nets. Here and in most of the
northern localities the entire body is utilized,--the carcass being used
in the manufacture of guano. So perfectly are the bodies preserved by the
cold of these northern regions that if they cannot be removed at the time
of capture they are secured in the ensuing season.
As the boat reached mid-stream, where the wind was blowing against the
current, great rollers were met with, that tossed the light craft about
like a ball. But this was evidently the play-ground of the Beluga, and
dead ahead the white forms were seen darting about in the inky water with
startling distinctness, while faint puffs were occasionally borne down on
the wind.
Gradually we neared them, and suddenly a white dome appeared on the
weather bow. Then came the command and ensuing scene chronicled at the
commencement of this paper.
We were perfectly familiar with whaling-terms, and as the game was struck
we construed Captain Sam's impressive "git aft" to mean "starn all," and
even in that moment of stumbling and drenching felt a sense of
disappointment in the suppression of a time-honored term. To omit "There
she blows!" was enough; but to substitute "git aft" for "starn all" was a
libel on the chroniclers of the "Whaler's Own Book."
There was little time, however, for regrets. Our combined weight had
raised the bow a trifle, yet not enough to prevent the sea from coming in;
and, as the skipper, who was laboring with the steering-oar, said, the
small whaler was "hoopin' along, takin' everything as it came, and askin'
no questions." Now by the slight slacking of the line we were high on a
wave, the crest of which was dashed in our faces in the mad race; now down
in a hollow, taking the next sea bodily and plunging through it, causing
the oars and harpoons to rattle as if they were the very bones of the boat
shaking in fear and terror.
In a short time she was a third full of water, and the amateur whalers
were invited to man the pumps--namely, two tin basins--and bale the St.
Lawrence out as fast as it came in. The maddened animal soon carried us
beyond the area of heavy seas, and preparations were made for taking in
the slack. The boat was still rushing along at an eight-knot rate; and, as
the whale showed no signs of weakening, it was Captain Sam's opinion that
nothing short of the lance would stop him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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