William E. Gibbs

Whales are the most important members of a large family of land animals including also the seals, walrus, and porpoise, that have gradually become adapted to live in the sea. They have acquired an externally fish-like form, but in every other respect they retain the characteristic features of mammalian structure. They are warm-blooded, air-breathing quadrupeds, that suckle their young. In the whale, the fore-limbs have become simple five-fingered flippers, while only isolated, vestigial bones of the hind-limbs remain buried uselessly in the body. Unlike fishes, the tail is set horizontally, thus enabling the creature to rise easily to the surface to breathe. The warm-blooded body is kept warm by a layer of fat placed immediately beneath the skin, and varying in thickness from 8 to 20 ins., and known as the blubber. The nostrils, instead of being situated at the end of the snout, are placed far back at the apex of the head to form the blowhole.

Whales are divided into two well-marked groups, known as the whaleboned and the toothed whales respectively, according to the particular form of their dentition.

The most important of the whaleboned whales is the Greenland, or Arctic Right, whale. It attains a length of upwards of 45 to 50 ft., and is remarkable for the enormous extent of its head and mouth cavity. The head extends for a third of the length of the body, so that the mouth cavity may be as much as 18 ft. long, 12 ft. broad and 11 ft. in height, the dimensions of a small chapel! The upper jaw is narrower than the lower and arches backwards, thus increasing the actual height of the mouth cavity and providing ample room for the blades of whalebone with which the jaws are furnished in place of teeth. These blades of whalebone number about 380, and range in length from 8 ft. to, in exceptional cases, 12 ft. They are suspended in the mouth of the whale like stalactites, set fairly close together, and, since the edges of each blade are fringed with fine whalebone, the whole arrangement forms a very efficient strainer. This enables the whale to feed upon the plankton—or “krill,” as it is called by the whalers—and small fish, e.g. herring and capelan. The whale fills his enormous cavern of a mouth with water containing the floating food particles, and then, by raising his tongue, slowly expels the water through the whalebone sieve. The food particles are retained by the whalebone, and are then licked off and swallowed.

The Greenland whale inhabits the Arctic seas north of latitude 54°N. A closely related variety, the Bowhead whale, forms the basis of a fishery in the Behring Sea.

The largest whales known are the so-called Rorqual whales. The name of these whales is derived from the large number of longitudinal folds or pleatings that form a characteristic feature of their throat. Rorqual whales attain a length of from 80 to 85 ft. The head is relatively small, and the long, slender body carries a distinct dorsal fin. The whalebone is coarse and short. The Rorqual whales are the most abundant and widely distributed of all whales. They are found in all open seas, with the exception of those in the extreme Arctic and Antarctic regions.

The Southern Right whale, or Black whale, is found in the temperate seas of both Northern and Southern hemispheres.

Fig. 20
A WHALE’S MOUTH
The carcass is ready for cutting up at a Shetland whaling station.

Of the toothed whales, the most important is the Cachalot or Sperm whale. It is chiefly captured in Southern seas, and is killed in large numbers for the sake of the spermaceti and sperm oil that occur in large quantities in its head cavity. Sperm and other toothed whales feed upon fish and cuttlefish.

The breeding habits and migrations of the different species of whales are at present little understood. During the summer, when the water in the Polar circles swarms with certain varieties of pelagic crustacea, the whales congregate in these regions and are then most profitably hunted. At the end of the summer they appear to migrate towards warmer water nearer the Equator. They bring forth their young in warm, shallow water, and return to the whaling grounds in the spring. A young whale calf may be as much as 20 ft. long at birth.

Whales were captured by the Norwegians over 1,000 years ago. In the Middle Ages—from the ninth to the seventeenth centuries—the Basques hunted the Black whale in the Bay of Biscay, and supplied Europe with oil and whalebone. Towards the end of the sixteenth century, as the Biscay whales became rare and more difficult to find, the whalers ventured further afield, and in 1612 discovered the Greenland whale. The Black or Biscay whale is now almost extinct, and there is every likelihood that the Greenland Right whale will also soon be exterminated. The capture of Sperm and Rorqual whales, although equally important, is a comparatively modern development.

Modern whale fishing has become a very efficient art, owing largely to the invention of the shot-harpoon by a Norwegian, Sven Foyn, in 1870. This harpoon is discharged from a gun from the deck of a fast steamship. It penetrates the body of the whale in the vital region just behind the flipper. The invention of this weapon has made the killing of whales a matter of comparative ease and certainty. The inevitable consequence of this is that the whales are being killed in such large numbers that they are in danger of general extermination. Even before the introduction of the shot-harpoon, whales were being destroyed at an astonishing rate. Thus, during 40 years in the middle of the last century, over 300,000 whales were captured by the United States whale fisheries alone. The value of these whales was £65,000,000, so that each whale realized on an average £216. Of recent years—before 1914—a single large Greenland whale has realized as much as £900 for whalebone and £300 for oil. At the present time, over 20,000 whales are killed each year.

The old eighteenth century whaler of about 400 tons burden carried about 30 officers and men, and was equipped for a three years’ voyage. Each whaler carried six whale boats. These whaleboats were about 27 ft. long and built sharp at each end. Each boat was furnished with mast and sails, and was provided with two 200-fathom whale lines. When a whale was sighted four of these boats, each manned by six men, started in pursuit. The boats ranged themselves alongside the whale and a harpoon was driven into it from each boat. The whale immediately dived to the bottom of the sea and remained there sometimes for as long as forty minutes. When he returned to the surface to breathe, more harpoons were thrown and he dived again. Ultimately, owing to loss of blood, the whale kept near the surface and was then dispatched by a lance thrust behind the flipper into the vital parts.

The modern Greenland whaler is an iron vessel of about 500 tons. She is fitted with auxiliary engines of 75 horse-power. She carries from fifty to sixty hands and eight whaleboats. She is fitted with tanks for 250 tons of oil. Before the war she would cost about £17,500 to build and £500 a month to maintain. Each whaleboat carries a harpoon gun in order to make sure of the first harpoon getting a good hold.

In Rorqual fishing, off Newfoundland, the harpoon is tipped with a bomb and time fuse. This explosive harpoon is discharged into the whale from the deck of the whaler—a fast steamer—and explodes with fatal effect.

The chief whale fisheries are carried on off Greenland for the Greenland whale, off the coast of Newfoundland for Rorquals. There is the Norwegian bottlenosed-whale fishery around Iceland, and the American Bowhead-whale fishery in the Behring Sea. In Southern Seas the Humpback, Fin whale, and Blue whale (Sibbald’s Rorqual) constitute an overwhelming majority of the whales captured. The Right whale and the Sperm whale, although captured in relatively small numbers, are individually more valuable. Other smaller species, e.g. the Sei whale (Rudolph’s Rorqual), the lesser Rorqual and the Killer or Grampus, are also found in large numbers in the Antarctic.

When the whale has been killed it is either made fast alongside the whaler and cut up, or it is towed ashore to a “factory” to be cut up and stripped. The blubber is stripped off, cut up into small pieces, and boiled down with water to separate the oil. The yield of oil varies for different species, as shown in Table II. The whalebone is removed and, if a Sperm whale, the oil is removed from the skull cavity with buckets. An average large Sperm whale will yield from 2¹/₂ to 3 tons of Sperm oil.

Whale oil is marketed in five grades: Nos. 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4. Nos. 0 and 1 are made entirely from blubber; No. 2 from tongues and kidney fat and from the residue of the blubber boilings; No. 3 is made from the flesh and bones, and No. 4 from refuse. The different grades contain progressively from ¹/₂ to 1 per cent water and dirt, and from 2 to 30 per cent free fatty acid.

Grades 0, 1 and 2 of whale oil are used in the manufacture of soap, glycerine being obtained from it as a by-product. In its natural condition the oil is soft, and has to be “hardened” before it can be used for soap making. The hardened whale oil is white, odourless and tasteless, and is an excellent substitute for tallow. In this condition it is also used as a substitute for lard and, to a small extent, is used in making margarine.

Grades 3 and 4 are used in the manufacture of lubricating greases. Whale oil alone is used for shafting and machinery bearings. When mixed with mineral oil, it is used for looms, spindles and textile machinery. Whale oil is also used as an illuminant, for currying leather, and in making chamois leather, for batching flax and other vegetable fibres, and in oiling wool for combing.

In 1913, the world’s annual catch of whale oil had reached 800,000 barrels. During the war the supply was considerably less, for example in 1917 it was only 358,000 barrels.

Whalebone. Whalebone from the mouths of the Right or whaleboned whales is in considerable demand among dressmakers and milliners. Its principal use is in the brush trade, chiefly in making brushes for mechanical purposes. It is prepared for use by being boiled in water for about 12 hours until it is quite soft. It is then cut into strips or bristles or filaments, according to the use for which it is intended. It is light, flexible, tough and fibrous.

Sperm Oil. Sperm oil is really a liquid wax. It is an excellent lubricant—particularly for rapidly moving machinery, e.g. spinning spindles, or for delicate machinery such as watches. It does not become gummy or rancid, and retains its viscosity at high temperatures. It has no corrosive action.

When cooled to low temperatures, it deposits a solid wax—spermaceti—which is used in the manufacture of high grade candles. Sperm oil is also used for dressing leather, in oil tempering steel, and as an illuminant.

Ambergris. Ambergris is a solid, fatty, inflammable substance, dull grey in colour, which occurs as a concretion in the intestines of sperm whales. It is generally found floating in the sea or on the shore. It is used in the perfume industry mixed with other perfumes.

The development of the whaling industry in the south seas has led to the industrial development of previously uninhabited islands. On South Georgia, which was previously uninhabited, actual industrial villages have been established. A church has been erected, and there are three slips for cutting up the whales, two guano factories, reservoirs for the oil, and houses for the staff. This Antarctic island has a floating population of many hundreds of sailors and workmen. A doctor resides there during the whaling season and, since 1908, the British Government has established a post office in this polar land. In 1922 the eyes of all the world were turned to this far-away land, the Gate of the Antarctic, as the body of Sir Ernest Shackleton, the hero of the Antarctic, was laid to rest there.