Chapter II: Part 2

Although now confined to the icy seas of the Arctic circle, the Walrus was probably not uncommon on our shores in times long past. The skull is said to have been found in the peat near Ely, and Hector Boece, in his ‘Cronikles of Scotland,’ mentions it as a regular inhabitant of our shores in the end of the 15th century: in the present century it has occurred several times, although it must be considered as a very rare straggler, sadly out of its latitude. Wallace says that its fossil remains have been found in Europe as far south as France, and in America probably as far south as Virginia, and it was common in the Gulf of St. Lawrence so late as 1770 (Leith Adams). In recent times it has retreated before its great enemy, man, from the northern coasts of Scandinavia to the circumpolar ice of Asia, America, and Europe, sometimes, but rarely, reaching as far south as lat. 60°. In Smith’s Sound the Walrus does not appear to move further north than Cape Frazer, the meeting-place of the polar and southern tides: at this point Captain Feilden saw a single example. Whenever met with, it is the object of ruthless persecution, and is rapidly and surely becoming exterminated wherever man can reach it; and but for its ice-loving habits, which render its present strongholds always difficult, and sometimes impossible, of access, it would doubtless long ere this have become extinct.

Recently it has been met with on our shores, according to Bell, on the coast of Harris in 1817; in the Orkneys in 1825; one was seen in 1827 in Hoy Sound, but not captured; and in 1841 one was killed near Harris. Dr. Brown also states that two were seen, one in Orkney and the other in Shetland, in 1857. Prof. Heddle also informed Mr. Harvie-Brown that in 1849 or 1850 he saw an adult, and a young one, off the coast of the parish of Walls, in Orkney (Harvie-Brown, _Proc. Nat. Hist. Soc. of Glasgow_, 1879, p. 97.)[15]

The _Trichechus_ may be considered as intermediate between the true Seals and the Eared Seals, to both of which families it has affinities: it is carnivorous, feeding on mollusks, fish, and when it can get it, the flesh of whales. The stomach of one, examined by Captain Feilden, contained a large amount of green fluid oil, in which small particles of _Ulva latissima_ could be detected, and minute fragments of the shells of _Mya_. Its habits were so well and succinctly described by Captain Cook a hundred years ago, that I cannot do better than quote his own words, the accuracy of which has since been amply confirmed. Whilst in Behring’s Straits, in lat. 70° 6′, and long. 196° 42′, on the 19th of August, 1778, Cook first met with the Walrus: “they lie,” he says, “in herds of many hundreds upon the ice, huddling one over the other like swine, and roar or bray very loud; so that in the night, or in foggy weather, they gave us notice of the vicinity of the ice before we could see it. We never found the whole herd asleep, some being always on the watch. These, on the approach of the boat, would wake those next to them, and the alarm being thus gradually communicated, the whole herd would awake presently. But they were seldom in a hurry to get away till after they had been once fired at, then they would tumble one over the other into the sea in the utmost confusion; and if we did not at the first discharge kill those we fired at, we generally lost them, though mortally wounded. They do not appear to us to be that dangerous animal some authors have described; not even when attacked. They are rather more so to appearance than in reality. Vast numbers of them would follow and come close up to the boats, but the flash of a musquet in the pan, or even the bare pointing of one at them, would send them down in an instant. The female will defend the young one to the very last, and at the expense of her own life, whether in the water or upon the ice. Nor will the young one quit the dam, though she be dead; so that if you kill one you are sure of the other. The dam, when in the water, holds the young one between her fore-fins.”[16] Since Cook’s time the Walrus has learned to fear man, its only enemy except the Polar Bear, and is more difficult to approach. When wounded, or its young in danger, it has been known fiercely to attack the boats sent for its capture, striving to overturn them, and piercing their sides with its tusks: many serious accidents have been the result.

The number of Walruses killed annually by the Norwegian and Russian hunters is very considerable; probably nearly an equal number are wounded and lost. As the female produces only a single young one at a birth, which is said to remain with the mother nearly two years, “until its tusks are grown long enough to be used in grubbing up the shell mud at the sea-bottom,” it will readily be imagined that the destruction is greatly in excess of the production, and that they are rapidly decreasing in numbers. A communication in the _Field_ of March 27th, 1880 (p. 381), received from St. Francisco, points out even more serious consequences resulting from the reckless destruction of the Walrus than the mere extermination of a species, itself a matter of no small regret. “If,” says the writer, “the whalers reach Behring Strait before the ice breaks up, they remain on the coast, and often hunt the Walrus for weeks together, with startling and serious results. Last year’s campaign was considered successful, as about 11,000 Walruses were secured, most of them within the Arctic Sea. But to attain this result, _between thirty and forty thousand animals were killed_, so that only _one-third_ of the number destroyed were actually utilised. There can be no doubt as to the ultimate consequence of such glaring imprudence; but last year they were so painfully apparent as to touch even the hearts of those who occasioned them. Not that the whalers were moved to compassion by the victims themselves, but by the sufferings of the human beings who were deprived of their chief source of subsistence. The hardy tribes in the neighbourhood of Behring Strait literally cannot exist without the Walrus, and so long as they were its only human enemies the number destroyed was inconsiderable. But the herds soon dwindled under the superior weapons and appliances of civilised nations, and the survivors retreated, like the Whales, towards the Pole. By the end of last season, not a single Walrus was left on the coast, and the immediate result was such a terrible famine among the natives that the whalers themselves speak of it remorsefully. The population north of St. Lawrence Bay has been reduced by one-third; and in a village which formerly contained 200 inhabitants, only one man survived. Several of the whalers have consequently refused to take any part in future Walrus hunts on the coast; they assert that for every hundred animals killed, a native family must perish by starvation, and they will not incur so heavy a responsibility.”

About the month of August they repair to the shore, and congregating in vast herds on the beach of some secluded bay, lie for weeks together in a semi-torpid condition, without moving or feeding. Should their retreat be discovered whilst in this state, great is the slaughter. Mr. Lamont, in his ‘Seasons with the Sea Horses,’ says that in 1852, on a small island off Spitzbergen (one of the Thousand Islands), two small sloops discovered a herd of Walruses consisting of three or four thousand, nine hundred of which they succeeded in killing, only a small portion of the produce of which, however, they were able to carry away.

The colour of the Walrus is brown, paling with age, and the skin is thickly covered with short hairs; the adult reaches the length of 10 or 15 feet, or, according to some authorities, even more, and weighs from two to three thousand pounds. Its rounded head, heavy muzzle, thickly set with stout bristles, small, round blood-shot eyes, and formidable tusks, give to this animal a ferocious appearance which is foreign to its nature, except when greatly excited or at pairing time, when the old bulls are said to fight with great fierceness and determination. A full-grown Walrus will yield from five to six hundred pounds of blubber, the oil from which, however, is not so fine as that of the Seal. The ivory tusks were formerly much used by dentists; at present, I believe, owing to the introduction of vulcanite, very little is applied to that purpose. Mr. Lamont mentions 24 in. in length and 4 lb. each in weight, as the size of a good pair of bull’s tusks: a pair in the Norwich Museum measure 32 in. in length, and the heavier of the two weighs 9 lb. 9 oz. The immensely elongated canine teeth which form the “tusks,” are found in both sexes, but are shorter and more slender in the female than in the male. The skin of the Walrus is valuable for many purposes.

Few animals, so long known to man, have, when figured, been represented so inaccurately as the Walrus: the hind feet are almost invariably depicted extended backwards, like those of the Seal (so also in stuffed specimens), whereas in the living animals they can be directed to the front, and serve as supports to the body in progression on the land or ice, in the same manner as the hind limbs of the eared seals. Dr. J. E. Gray, in an article ‘On the Attitudes and Figures of the Morse,’ in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London for 1853, pp. 112-16, reproduces some of the wonderful prints of this animal from old authors, most of which are purely imaginary: Fig. 8, p. 37, is copied from one of these. By far the best portrait known, till quite recently, is one published in Amsterdam in 1613, where an old female and her young one are very accurately depicted: this has been reproduced in Bell’s ‘British Quadrupeds,’ 2nd edition, p. 269. Fig. 10 is copied from the “Sea Horse,” in the foreground of Cook’s illustration in ‘A Voyage to the Pacific,’ &c., 1784 edit., vol. ii., p. 446; as will be seen, this figure forms the source from which most subsequent illustrations were derived. Fig. 7 is taken, by kind permission of the late Mr. F. Buckland, from his ‘Log-book of a Fisherman and Zoologist,’ and represents “Jemmy,” the young Walrus, whose brief sojourn in the Zoological Gardens has already been referred to. One of Mr. Wolf’s “Zoological Sketches” represents a herd of Walruses in almost every conceivable attitude, and of course beautifully drawn and coloured.

Some authors recognise two distinct species of Walrus, one of which is said to be confined to the northern shores of the Atlantic, the other to the Pacific Ocean. Mr. Allen, in the ‘North American Pinnipeds,’ enters at length into the subject, and minutely describes the peculiarities which characterise each species. Reviving, after the example of Malmgren, the almost obsolete generic name of _Odobænus_, he describes the Atlantic Walrus under the name _O. rosmarus_; the animal found in the Pacific he calls _O. obesus_. The chief external points of difference in the latter appear to be in the facial outline, the longer and thinner tusks, “generally more convergent, with much greater inward curvature; the mystacial bristles shorter and smaller, and the muzzle relatively deeper and broader, in corelation with the greater breadth and depth of the skull anteriorly.” The eyes are also said to lack the “fiery red” appearance attributed to the Atlantic Walrus, and to be smaller and very protuberant. Cook’s figure reproduced at p. 41, also that at p. 177 of Scammon’s book, are those of _Odobænus obesus_, and the fine pair of tusks mentioned at p. 40, as now in the Norwich Museum, were probably also obtained from a Pacific Walrus. The figure at p. 33, and the excellent figure by Wolf, at p. 457 of Lloyd’s ‘Game-birds and Wild-fowl of Sweden and Norway,’ are of the Atlantic Walrus.

It is much to be regretted that the extinction of this harmless and useful animal is merely a matter of time, and that perhaps before many years have passed it may have ceased to exist; the only hope appears to be that when it has become too scarce to render its pursuit remunerative, a remnant may still be left to continue the species around the far off and unapproachable islands of the Arctic seas. Even in Franz Josef Land, where, in the summer of 1880, Mr. Leigh-Smith found the Walrus very abundant: it will probably not long remain unmolested, for that gentleman informed Captain Feilden that the Norwegian walrus-hunters, when they heard of his discovery, talked of pushing on for Franz Josef Land next summer, the Spitsbergen walrus-hunting having become very uncertain, from the paucity and wariness of the animals.[17]

CETACEA.

The occasional stranding upon our shores of some monster member of the order CETACEA serves from time to time to reawaken our interest in these wonderful animals, and sets us thinking how little we know about them, and how small is our acquaintance with their life-history.

Nor is this lack of information surprising when we consider that the difficulties in the way of studying the larger Cetacea, are so great as to be almost insuperable to any ordinary person, and even to the leaders of zoological science rarely does the opportunity present itself of examining specimens in the flesh; for, of the rare instances in which they are cast ashore, the majority occur in wild and unfrequented parts of the coast, where they are probably cut up for their oil before a naturalist has an opportunity of examining them. From their unnatural position when cast up, and their altered appearance, owing to the falling in of some parts and the distension of others, correct portraiture is almost impossible; and their great size renders it difficult and expensive to make them serviceable to science, while from the putrid condition in which they are frequently found, a close examination is too often anything but agreeable. If seen in their native element, where alone they _should_ be seen duly to appreciate their grand proportions and perfect adaptation to their mode of life, the view must be brief and too often distant, certainly affording rare opportunities for close observation. There is thus little left for naturalists to study, except the bony skeletons, and of these often mere fragments. Under these circumstances, we shall cease to wonder at the great confusion which, till recently, existed in the classification and nomenclature of the _Cetacea_, and which has been only partially cleared away, chiefly by the labours of Professors Flower and Turner in this country, and by Professors Eschricht, Reinhardt, Van Beneden, Gervais, and others on the continent. The literature of the subject is widely scattered and difficult of access; and, although Dr. Gray and Professor Flower have done much to condense and systematize what is known, our acquaintance with the tropical and southern species of this interesting order is not at present sufficient to furnish materials for a monograph worthy of the subject. No class of animals has been called so many names, or so vilely caricatured in portraits, as the unfortunate Whales.

It is scarcely necessary now to say that the _Cetacea_ hold a fully recognized place in the great class _Mammalia_, although this honour has not always been accorded to them. Ray classed them with the Fishes; and although Linnæus finally placed them in their true position, Pennant, following his earlier mistake, failed to do so. The members of this order, which includes the Whales proper, Narwhal, Dolphins, and Porpoises (with which, until recently, the Dugong and Manatees were improperly associated under the name of Herbivorous Cetaceans), bring forth their young alive. These are nourished by the female, which, for this purpose, is furnished with two inguinal mammæ. They are warm-blooded, and breathe by means of lungs, rendering frequent visits to the surface of the water necessary, as the animal can only respire when the orifice of the nostrils, called the blow-hole, which is placed on the top of the head, is above water. The breathing apparatus is very peculiar, being so modified that the air is admitted into the trachea without passing through the mouth; the Whale can thus breathe freely, provided the blow-hole be above water, even when its mouth is submerged or filled with water. There are no external ears, but a small aperture situated just behind the eye, communicates with a perfectly-constructed internal hearing apparatus, and this, as the water is an excellent conductor of sound, is all-sufficient. The food of the _Cetacea_ consists of various forms of marine animals, from the Seal, which frequently forms a meal to the fierce Grampus, to the minute creatures which go to build up the giant form of the Right-Whale. Some possess numerous formidable teeth in both jaws; others have teeth in the lower jaw only; and in one section the teeth are only present in the embryo, but in their stead, from the upper jaw depend curious plates, arranged side by side, to which the name of _baleen_ has been given. The animal is encased in a layer of fat called “blubber,” which lies beneath the skin, and serves to retain the heat of the body, and the skin is smooth, polished, and quite devoid of hair or scales. On the back of most species is found a fleshy dorsal fin, and the fore limbs are represented by flippers externally undivided; the hind limbs, so far as external appearance is concerned, are altogether absent, but a rudimentary pelvis is found embedded in the flesh. The tail-fin forms the chief organ of locomotion: it is always fixed horizontally, and is of great size and power, enabling the animal, by its vigorous use, to attain great speed. There are many and striking peculiarities in the bony skeleton which it is not necessary here to enumerate.

=Br.=, brain cavity; =J=, =J*=, upper and lower jaw-bones; =bo=,
=bo=, being roughened parts of the bone sawn through; arrows indicate
the narial passages, which open at =s=, spout-hole; =w=, whalebone;
=t=, tongue, in dotted outline; =n=, nerve aperture, lower jaw.
]

Before proceeding to give some account of the species which have been found in the British Seas, it will first be necessary to say a few words as to the arrangement of the genera and species. I shall enter into this part of the subject, however, so far only as is necessary for us clearly to understand the relative positions of the species which we shall have to consider.

Professor Flower divides the order _Cetacea_ into two sub-orders: First, _Mystacoceti_, or _Balænoidea_, in all the members of which baleen takes the place of teeth, which are never developed, disappearing before birth; second, _Odontoceti_ or _Delphinoidea_, in which teeth (sometimes very numerous) are always developed after birth. The first sub-order is a very restricted one, embracing only two families, _Balænidæ_ and _Balænopteridæ_, to the former of which belong the two genera of Right-Whales, _Balæna_ and _Eubalæna_; and to the latter, two genera, namely, _Megaptera_ and _Balænoptera_. To these two genera[18] belong the Rorquals, which occasionally occur in the British seas. The second sub-order, _Odontoceti_, contains the families of _Physeteridæ_, represented by the Sperm Whale, Beaked Whale, and several allied species; _Platanistidæ_, consisting of some curious forms found only in India and South America; and _Delphinidæ_, comprising the Narwhal, Beluga, or White Whale, Grampus, Porpoise, and Dolphins. The total number of British _Cetacea_ has been variously estimated; Dr. Gray, in 1864, described thirty, and in 1873 thirty-three species; while Bell, whom we shall follow, recognised only twenty-two species in his second edition, published in 1874.

The following table of the British Cetacea will serve to indicate at a glance the precise position assigned to each species, in the two main divisions into which the order is divided:--

BRITISH CETACEA.

+---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | SUB-ORDER. FAMILY. SUB-FAMILY. GENERA. | | | | {Balænidæ Balæninæ Balæna | | =1.= { | |MYSTACOCETI { {Megapterinæ Megaptera | | (=Whalebone-Whales.=) {Balænopteridæ { | | {Balænopterinæ Balænoptera | | | | | | | | {Physeterinæ Physeter | | {Physeteridæ { {Hyperoodon | | { { { | | { {Ziphiinæ {Ziphius | | =2.= { {Mesoplodon | |ODONTOCETI { { Beluginæ {Monodon | | (=Toothed Whales.=) { { {Delphinapterus | | {Delphinidæ { {Orca | | { {Grampus | | { Delphininæ {Globicephalus | | {Phocœna | | { | | { Delphinus | | | | | +---------------------------------------------------------------------+

+------------------------------------------------------------------+ | SUB-ORDER. SPECIES. | | | | {(?) B. mysticetus, _Right-Whale_ | | =1.= {B. biscayensis, _Atlantic Right-Whale_ | |MYSTACOCETI M. longimana, _Hump-backed Whale_ | | (=Whalebone-Whales.=) {B. musculus, _Common Rorqual_ | | {B. sibbaldii, _Sibbald’s_ ” | | {B. laticeps, _Rudolphi’s_ ” | | {B. rostrata, _Lesser_ ” | | | | P. macrocephalus, _Sperm Whale_ | | {H. rostratum, _Beaked Whale_ | | {H. latifrons, _Broad-fronted Beaked Whale_| | Z. cavirostris, _Cuvier’s Whale_ | | =2.= M. bidens, _Sowerby’s Whale_ | |ODONTOCETI M. monoceros, _Narwhal_ | | (=Toothed Whales.=) D. leucas, _White Whale, or Beluga_ | | O. gladiator, _Grampus, or Killer_ | | G. griseus, _Risso’s Grampus_ | | G. melas, _Pilot Whale_ | | P. communis, _Porpoise_ | | {D. delphis, _Common Dolphin_ | | {D. tursio, _Bottle-nosed Dolphin_ | | {D. acutus, _White-sided Dolphin_ | | {D. albirostris, _White-beaked Dolphin_ | +------------------------------------------------------------------+

MYSTACOCETI (WHALEBONE WHALES.)

_BALÆNIDÆ._

THE GREENLAND RIGHT-WHALE.

The first species, both in order and importance, of the Family _Balænidæ_ is the well-known _Balæna mysticetus_, the GREENLAND, or RIGHT-WHALE as it is called by the whalers. So extremely doubtful, however, are the claims of this animal to a place in the British Fauna, that it is retained in the present treatise solely on account of the great interest attaching to it as a species, and not from any idea of maintaining for it a position, which, although hitherto assigned to it, has now become untenable. The use of the term well-known is perhaps unadvised; for, although this species has engaged the energies and industry of the merchant seamen of Northern Europe for centuries, so little was known of it scientifically, that not a single skeleton had ever found its way into any European museum, until Eschricht obtained one from Holsteinborg, in Greenland, in 1846. The recorded instances of the supposed occurrence of this species in the British Seas are unsatisfactory in the extreme. The most positive record is that in Messrs. Paget’s ‘Natural History of Great Yarmouth.’ They say: “_Balæna mysticetus_--common Whale--a small one taken near Yarmouth, July 8, 1784.” Sir James Paget, however, in a letter to the Author, is unable to add to the brief statement, as will be seen from the following extract from his communication:--“I am sorry I can give you no information respecting the Whale taken off Yarmouth in 1784; I have no notes as to the source from which I derived the statement, but probably it was from some MS. of Mr. Dawson Turner’s. It is not likely that any bones of the Whale were kept in Yarmouth, for there was no naturalist there at the time, and the whaling-trade, which was then actively carried on from the port, must have made Whales’ bones very common.” This is all that is ever likely to be learned of the Yarmouth Right-whale; but the season at which it occurred would render the heated seas on our coast utterly unbearable to an ice-loving inhabitant of the Arctic seas. This, with its small size, would seem to point to a closely-allied species to be mentioned soon. Sibbald records the occurrence of what he considers was probably a Right-whale, at Peterhead, in 1682; and a Whale recorded at Tynemouth by Willughby may have been of this species. In the first edition of Bell’s ‘Quadrupeds’ is a communication from the Rev. Mr. Barclay to the effect that on the coast of Zetland dead or very lean Whales of this species have several times been found or have run aground; but in the second edition of the same work the authors state that “there is no proof these references do not apply to some other species.” The same may be said with reference to Low’s remarks in the ‘Fauna Orcadensis,’ p. 158. This is all we know of the supposed occurrence of Right-Whales in British waters in recent times, and there is little doubt that these, if Right-Whales at all, should be referred to the next species.

The extreme northern habitat assigned to this species by those who have devoted much time and labour to the investigation of the subject, clearly proves that it must either have changed its habitat, which its present habits seem to render improbable, or that some other species formerly inhabited the temperate seas outside the Arctic circle extending southward to the Atlantic as far as latitude 40°, for it is beyond doubt that a brisk whale-fishery was carried on in former times by the Basque population in the Bay of Biscay and adjacent seas as far back as the 8th or 10th century. That such a southern species, distinct from the northern Right-whale did exist, is proved by Professors Eschricht and Reinhardt in their splendid memoir of the ‘Greenland Whale,’ a translation of which, edited by Professor Flower, was published by the ‘Ray Society’ in 1866, and of that species we shall give some account further on.

It has been asserted that the Greenland Whales supposed formerly to have visited our coasts, have been driven north by the increased traffic in the more frequented seas of temperate Europe; but from the habits of this species as observed on the west coast of Greenland, at the fishing stations established by the Danish Government, and recorded in the memoir just referred to, no confirmation of this theory is afforded. The fishery at these stations was prosecuted from the shore when the Whales appeared upon the coast in the winter months; as the spring advanced they followed the receding ice-line, and were seen in summer as far north in Baffin’s Bay as ships had at that time succeeded in penetrating, whilst their southward range in winter was always limited by a rather northerly degree of latitude. This, it is shown, went on with the greatest regularity for at least 80 years, during which the Whales constantly made their appearance at the same places, at the same season, without the slightest alteration taking place. The fact of the Whales always moving northward as the ice breaks up, will account for their being found in the spring in different latitudes; thus, on the Greenland coast, they are found, at this season, in latitude 65° 25′; but in Davis’ Strait, in 61° to 62°, always, however, inseparable from the ice. Messrs. Eschricht and Reinhardt thus conclude: “It seems, therefore, that the Whales have not retreated further north, as they are still found within precisely the same limits in which they were found at the beginning of the persecution, but in numbers so diminished that the fishery will hardly repay the trouble and expense attending it.”

Capt. Feilden, the naturalist to Sir Geo. Nares’s Arctic expedition, speaking of the Northern range of this species, says he is quite satisfied that “no Whale could inhabit at the present day the frozen sea to the north of Robeson Channel. To penetrate from the North-water of Baffin Bay to Robeson Channel, would be a hazardous task for this great animal, and in this opinion the experienced whaling quartermasters, who accompanied our Expedition, coincided. We may dismiss from our minds the idea or hope that nearer to the Pole, and beyond the limits of present discovery, there may be haunts in the Polar Sea suitable for the Right-whale. I do not look for the speedy extinction of the Greenland Whale; but it is probable that in a few years the fishing will no longer prove profitable to the fine fleet of whalers that now sail from our northern ports, and I see no hope of Arctic discovery increasing our knowledge of the range of this animal.”[19]

The southern limit of the Right-whale in the Northern ocean may be shown by a line drawn from the coast of Lapland at 70°, just touching the southern point of Iceland, and ending on the coast of Labrador at about 55° north latitude.

The whaling-trade, which once employed so many hardy seamen, is now reduced to very narrow limits, and appears to have passed almost entirely into the hands of the English, or rather Scotch. The Biscayans were not content with exterminating the Whales found in their own seas, but in 1721 they had twenty vessels in the Greenland fishery; the Dutch also took a large part in the trade; and in the year 1680, when they appear to have been the most actively engaged in the fishery, they are said to have had about 260 ships and 14,000 men employed. In 1725 the South Sea Company embarked in the trade, but meeting with considerable losses, speedily gave it up. The Government, in order to encourage this languishing branch of industry, in 1732 granted a bounty of 20s. per ton on the oil; this, being found insufficient, was increased in 1749 to 40s. per ton, which caused a considerable increase in the number of vessels; but upon Parliament, in 1777, reducing the bounty to 30s. per ton, the number of vessels rapidly fell off from 105 to 39; the bounty was then, in 1781, raised to its old level, with a corresponding increase in the number of vessels employed. Then followed a gradual process of reduction, until in the year 1824 the bounty altogether ceased, and the ships fell off from 112 in 1824, to 88 in 1827.[20] During the nine years ending 1818 there was an average of 91 English (sailing from eight ports), and forty-one Scotch ships (sailing from nine ports) employed in the trade; in 1830 they were reduced to 41 English vessels (sailing from five ports), to which Hull contributed 33, and 50 Scotch vessels (sailing from seven ports), to which Peterhead contributed 13, and Dundee 9.

The years 1819 and 1830 were both very disastrous to the whale-trade; in the former year fourteen British vessels were lost, and in the latter, nineteen British ships were totally wrecked, and twelve seriously injured. The number of ships employed has since gradually decreased, and at present Dundee and Peterhead are the only two ports in Great Britain engaged in the whale-fishery. Dundee sends out fifteen powerful steam-vessels, which leave about the beginning of May, and if fortunate in filling up, return, according to circumstances, from August to the beginning of November. Peterhead sends five steamers and one sailing vessel; they are ship-rigged, and from two to five hundred tons register, and 40 to 100 horse power. The expense now incurred renders it necessary that a large number of Whales should be taken to make the voyage pay: the _Arctic_, in her voyage of 1873, captured twenty-eight Whales, which were estimated to produce in oil and bone £18,925, or about £678 per Whale, the best Whale, a female with sucker, was estimated at £1,500, and the smallest at only £110. An average Whale produces 9½ tons of oil, a ton measuring 252 gallons, and 7 ft. 6 in. of whalebone; the longest bone cut of the twenty-eight fish was 11 ft. 9 in. and the shortest 2 ft. 6 in. This was considered a very successful year. The whale-fishery was commenced at Peterhead in 1788; since that time, up to the year 1879, Captain David Gray informs me that 995 voyages have been made to the Greenland and Davis’ Straits whale and seal-fisheries, and there have been brought home 4195 Whales, furnishing 30,975 tons of oil, and 1549 tons of whalebone, besides 1,673,052 Seals, yielding 20,913 tons of oil, leaving a nett profit of £583,020, or £586 per ship per voyage. The Dundee whale-fishery commenced in 1790, and the seal-fishery in 1860; since that time up to the season of 1879, 538 voyages have been made to the Greenland and Davis’ Straits whale and seal-fisheries, including Labrador, which have produced 4220 Whales, yielding 32,774 tons of oil and 1640 tons of whalebone, besides 917,278 Seals, yielding 10,464 tons of oil, valued together at £2,160,400, leaving a nett profit of £652,320, or £1212 10s. per ship per voyage. Capt. Gray adds: “I have often been asked where all the Whales are gone to; let the above figures be the reply.”

The present price of whale-oil is from £28 to £30 per ton, the whalebone ranging as high as £1100 per ton, according to the length of the bone; but although there are exceptions, of late years the fishery, as a whole, is said, on good authority, not to have paid the heavy expenses of the fleet engaged in it, nor does there seem much prospect of improvement, mineral oil being now used for many purposes for which formerly whale and seal oil was required. One of the chief uses to which whale and seal oil are now applied is in the preparation of the jute fibre, the manufacture of which is so extensively carried on at the port of Dundee, also the chief centre of the whaling-trade.

An interesting account of a whaling voyage in the ship _Arctic_, and full particulars of the mode pursued in taking, and subsequent treatment of the fish, is given by Captain A. H. Markham, in his ‘Whaling Cruise to Baffin’s Bay.’[21]

The usual length of a full-grown Right-whale is about 50 feet; but Dr. Brown, in his paper on the Cetaceans of the Greenland Seas (_P. Z. S._, 1868, p. 539), gives the dimensions of one which measured 65 feet. The general colour is black. The mouth occupies about one-third of the entire length, and the baleen is from 10 to 12 feet long; it has been known to reach the great length of 13 ft. 2 in., and 9 in. in width. This baleen, which is found depending from the upper jaw, consists of a number of horny plates, similar in structure to the horn of the rhinoceros, consisting of a fibrous mass glutinated together in the solid portion, and placed transversely along either side of the palate; they are arranged closely together, with the external edge smooth, and gradually thinning off towards the inner margin, which ends in a fringe of long hair-like fibres: the number of laminæ is about 300 on each side.[22] Captain David Gray, of the _Eclipse_, an experienced whaler, in a communication to ‘Land and Water,’ on December 1, 1877, pointed out and first satisfactorily explained the means by which these extraordinary appendages are disposed of when the mouth of the Whale is closed. He shows that when the mouth is shut, the slender ends of the whalebone curve backwards towards the throat, the longer ones from the middle of the jaw falling into the hollow formed by the shortness of those behind them; when the animal opens its mouth to feed, the whalebone springs forward and downwards, thus always by its elasticity, filling up the space between the upper and lower jaws, whether the mouth be fully or only partially open, and interposing a strainer between the cavity of the mouth and the external water, effectually preventing the food which enters the mouth from passing out with the flow of water which passes through the mouth as the great beast pursues and captures its minute food.

The Whale whilst feeding swims along with its mouth open, until it has collected a quantity of the small marine animals which form its food; then, closing its capacious under jaw, it forces out the water between the plates of baleen, leaving the captive prey stranded on its huge tongue, when it swallows them at leisure. The food of the Greenland Whale consists entirely of small marine animals, particularly a kind of shrimp, found in great abundance in the Arctic seas. This species seldom remains under water longer than from ten to fifteen minutes, returning to the surface to breathe, which, if undisturbed, occupies from two to three minutes. Capt. Gray, however, has known it when harpooned to stay under water fifty minutes. Professor Owen describes the wonderful provision for storing of blood in a vast plexus of blood-vessels found in the Cetacea, at the back of the lungs and between them and the ribs, thus enabling them, although lung-breathing animals, to stay under water for so protracted a period, and states that the peculiar non-valvular structure of the veins of the Cetacea, and the pressure on these reservoirs of blood at the depths to which they retreat when harpooned, explain the profuse and lethal hæmorrhage which follows a wound, that in other mammalia would not be fatal.[23]

The Right-Whale is believed by Eschricht and Reinhardt to bring forth its single young one (rarely two) about the end of March or beginning of May, and the time of gestation to be thirteen or fourteen months, so that it will bring forth only every other year; Scoresby considers that they go eight or nine months, and bring forth in February or March.[24] The young one is supposed to be suckled for twelve months, during which time the baleen is gradually developed. In disposition, the Greenland Whale is timid and retiring; the chief danger in its capture arises from its rapid descent when harpooned; the line is then carried out with such speed that, should it foul or all run out and not be immediately cut, the boat will be upset or carried under water. Capt. David Gray estimates the speed of a struck or scared Whale at about eight miles an hour, and the ordinary speed at about four miles, whether sounding or along the surface. It has never been known to attack a boat, but accidents sometimes happen if approached too closely in its death “flurry,” which is said to be very terrible to witness. Its fondness for its young is such that if the “sucker” be killed the old one readily falls a victim, and the whalers do not fail to avail themselves, for their own advantage, of this amiable trait in its character.

THE ATLANTIC RIGHT-WHALE.

Until recently it was believed that a Whale formerly common in the temperate waters of the North Atlantic was identical with the Right-Whale of the Arctic seas, of which we have just given an account, but Professors Eschricht and Reinhardt have successfully shown, as stated in the previous article, that such is not the case, the habits of the two animals, as well as the localities frequented by each, being totally distinct. They have, therefore, described the more southern form as a distinct species, under the name of _Balæna biscayensis_, or the ATLANTIC RIGHT-WHALE, the “Sarde” of the French, “Nordkaper” of the Dutch, and “Sletbag” of the Iceland whalers of former days.

As early as the twelfth century, long before the whale-fishery was prosecuted in the Arctic seas, a brisk trade was carried on by the Basque fishermen from the Biscayan ports. That this fishery must have been of considerable importance, in a mercantile point of view, there can be no doubt, from the numerous references to be met with in early records; for instance, in 1261, a tithe was laid upon the tongues of all Whales imported into Bayonne, where they formed a much-esteemed article of food, and in 1338 a duty of £6 a Whale on those brought into the port of Biarritz was relinquished by Edward III. to Peter de Puyanne for services rendered; these and other like records extant show that for a long period this branch of industry was briskly prosecuted. Gradually, however, the Whales became more and more scarce, and the hardy Basque seamen, after following their prey to Newfoundland and Iceland, shortly after the discovery of Spitsbergen in 1596 found their all-but-lost occupation suddenly revive; the “Sletbag” was left behind, but the home of the true Greenland Whale, a much more valuable animal, was for the first time invaded, and that species, which then abounded in the seas surrounding Spitzbergen, speedily became the object of the whalers’ attack; many vessels were fitted out for its pursuit which carried Biscayan harpooners, the crews, also, generally consisting, in part, of these hardy seamen.

So recently as the close of the last century, the Atlantic Right-whale was not infrequent in the North Atlantic; it was regularly caught on the coast of Nantucket, and occasionally by the American Whalers on the coast of Iceland; it has, however, now become very rare. Professors Eschricht and Reinhardt thus summarise the distinctive characters of the “Sletbag,” “Sarde,” or “Nordkaper,” so far as they have been able to glean from all the sources accessible to them, and consider the species identical with their _B. biscayensis_:--

1. “That it was much more active than the Greenland Whale, much
quicker, and more violent in its movements, and, accordingly, both
more difficult and more dangerous to catch.”

2. “That it was smaller (it being, however, impossible to give an
exact statement of its length), and had much less blubber.”

3. “That its head was shorter, and that its whalebone was,
comparatively speaking, much thicker, but scarcely more than half
as long as that of the Greenland Whale, being, however, still much
longer than that of even the very largest Fin-Whale, although the
‘Sletbag’ itself probably scarcely attained to half the length of the
last-named.”

4. “That it was regularly infested with a Cirriped belonging to the
genus _Coronula_, and that it belonged to the temperate Northern
Atlantic as exclusively as the Greenland Whale belonged to the icy
Polar Sea, so that it must be considered as equally exceptional when
either of these species strayed into the range of the other, and,
moreover, that in its native sea it was to be found farthest towards
south in the winter (namely, in the Bay of Biscay, and near the coast
of North America, down to Cape Cod), while in the summer it roved
about in the sea round Iceland and between this Island and the most
northerly part of Norway.”[25]

In addition to the British Right-Whales mentioned at the commencement of the previous article, which may almost with certainty be referred to this species, I am enabled, through the kindness of my friend, Captain David Gray, of Peterhead, to record two other instances of the occurrence of the Atlantic Right-Whale in British waters. With regard to the first case, Captain Gray was good enough to obtain for me the independent testimony of two old men, James Webster and John Allan, both of whom are still living at Peterhead, and were witnesses of the events which they relate. The two statements coincide so remarkably, making allowance for the lapse of so many years, that it is only necessary to give one. James Webster, 85 years of age, remembers Greenland Whales coming into South Bay of Peterhead: at that time he would have been about 10 years of age [Jno. Allan says “it was in 1806 or 1807, same year as the new parish church was opened;” this was in 1806, and agrees with Webster’s statement that he was 10 years old at the time]. Remembers them being an old Whale and a sucker. Saw five boats go out after them; as far as he recollects, thinks it was the month of October [“in the summer-time,” Allan]. They struck the old Whale, and put three harpoons into her, then they struck the sucker and killed it; brought the sucker ashore and flenched it at the South Quay. [Allan says “they killed the young Whale, and flenched her at the South Quay: she, having sunk, it was two or three days after, before they got her in.”] After they had three harpoons in the old Whale, she went twice up into the head of the Bay, going so far that she turned the sand up, and then she stove two of the boats, and broke Mackie’s, one of the harpooners, legs. [Allan does not remember the name of the injured man, and thinks only one boat was stove.] After this, the Whale took a run, and went out of the Bay, blowing blood. They followed her as fast as they could, they cut two of the boats from her, and left her towing one boat with their Jack blowing, after taking the crew out of her, and in this condition the Whale went out of sight, and they never saw or heard of her again. Allan says that when she went round the South Head, a heavy sea being on at the time, and darkness coming on, the boats cut and let her go, leaving the boat which was stove, fast to the Whale, the flag still blowing, and that she went out to sea and was never seen again. Capt. Gray adds that “Capt. Wm. Volum, of the ‘Enterprise,’ and Capt. Alex. Geary, of the ‘Hope,’ both took part in the chase, and in that year the ‘Hope’ returned from Greenland on 30th June, and the ‘Enterprise’ on 30th July; consequently, it must have been some time after the latter date that the Whales came into the Bay; probably Webster is right when he names October.”

The second instance referred to by Captain Gray came under his own observation. Whilst taking a walk round the “Heads,” one Sunday morning before church, to the best of his recollection early in October, 1872, “I saw,” says Captain Gray, “a Greenland Whale within half a mile of the rocks off the South Head; its appearance and movements were exactly the same as those I have seen in Spitsbergen waters.” Accustomed, as Captain Gray has been for many years, to watch the appearance and actions of the northern species of Right-Whale, in the Polar seas, it seems impossible for a man of his great experience to have mistaken any other species of Whale for one of the _Balæninæ_.

Of course, there still remains the question as to whether these Whales were the Greenland or Atlantic species, but I think the consideration of the circumstances under which they occurred, leaves no doubt what the reply must be. Captain Gray writes--“Until you began to question the identity of these Whales harpooned here in 1806, no one had ever had the smallest doubt of their being Greenland Whales,” and that had there been any marked difference in their appearance, it would have been at once noticed by such experienced men as those who captured the Whale at Peterhead; but he adds that “so far as the habits of the Greenland Whale are known, it is contrary to our experience that they should visit our shores at the season of the year at which these Whales were seen here, when we know that the Arctic Whale regularly disappears into the depths of the Polar ice towards the end of summer, where no ships or steamers can follow them.” It would naturally be expected that, towards the end of summer the Atlantic Whale would also be approaching the northern limit of its range, and this is precisely the season when all the Whales of this description, of which the date is given, appear to have occurred, except two in a much more southerly locality, (their proper winter habitat) shortly to be mentioned. That the Peterhead men did not speak of any marked difference in the Whale which visited their Bay and those they had just returned from pursuing in the Polar ice may perhaps be accounted for partly by the similarity of the two species, and partly by their not having killed the adult individual; whilst the restless activity of the latter may possibly be due, not only to the presence of its young one, but, in part, to the superior activity of the Atlantic species, which is said to render it so much more dangerous and difficult to catch.

But it may be said that if there be such a species, having a range, which in summer extends from the entrance of Davis’ Strait to Iceland and the North Cape, why are they not occasionally met with by the whalers in crossing the Atlantic to and from their more northern fishing grounds? Although such an encounter with a creature confessedly of rare occurrence would be in the highest degree improbable, still here again, through the kindness of Capt. Gray I am able to say that such encounters have taken place, and could we know the experience of all the whalers who have crossed the Atlantic, perhaps other instances might be put on record. Captain David Gray’s father told him that while mate to his father (Capt. David Gray’s grandfather), when crossing the Atlantic on the homeward voyage from Davis’ Strait, the vessel ran into a Greenland Whale (as he supposed it) and that he was anxious to lower some boats and go after it, but that his father would not allow him to do so, there being too much sea running at that time. This again would be in the summer season. It seems probable that not being aware of the existence of a Southern species of Right-Whale, or in consequence of the high sea which was running at the time, the Grays did not observe, or, at least, failed to mention, the peculiarities which distinguish the Atlantic species. But I am indebted to Capt. Gray for other instances of the occurrence of this species not far from Cape Farewell, and in at least one case the species was identified, the observer being aware of the existence of the Atlantic Whale, and the circumstances apparently favourable for close observation. On the 1st May, 1868, Capt. Alexander Murray, now commanding the S.S. “Windward,” at that time trading to South Greenland, in the “Sir Colin Campbell,” saw near Cape Farewell, several Right-Whales, close enough to distinguish their different features and general appearance. Capt. Murray remarks that, “they are a shorter Whale than the Greenland and much flatter in the crown;” he also noticed “Barnacles and grass near the blow-holes,” and states that from conversations he has had with American shipmasters employed in hunting these Whales, that these parasites are always present in this species, whereas the Greenland Whales are as invariably free from them. Capt. Murray adds that in 1867 three American whalers came into Cumberland Gulf, one having six, one three, and the other two Atlantic Whales on board, all of which were taken in the summer, a little to the eastward of Cape Farewell; and, finally, Capt. Gray’s brother, who commands the Hudson Bay Company’s Steamer, “Labrador,” told him that in June, 1879, he saw two of these Whales in lat. 57 N. and long. 33 W.; they were close alongside, and the weather at the time calm: they went away in a south-westerly direction. It would seem, indeed, that this species is not at all an infrequent summer visitor to the open sea, lying to the east of Cape Farewell.

Two recent instances of the occurrence of this species on the eastern side of the Atlantic are on record, both of which were met with in winter, and in the warmer latitudes of the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean Sea. On the 17th of January, 1854, a young one with its mother appeared in the harbour of St. Sebastian; the mother escaped, but the little one was caught, and a drawing of it made by Dr. Monedero (reproduced in Bell’s ‘Brit. Quad.,’ 2nd Edit. p. 387); the skeleton was preserved for the museum of Pampeluna, thence it was removed by Prof. Eschricht in 1858 to the Copenhagen Museum, for which he purchased it. Also, on the 9th February, 1877, a Whale was captured in the Gulf of Taranto, which has been referred to this species, and these, I believe, are the only specimens which have been taken in European waters of late years; it seems very probable, however, that the “Black-Whale” of the temperate shores of N. America (the _B. cisarctica_ of Cope) is identical with _B. biscayensis_, and that, although extinct on the eastern side of the Atlantic, individuals from the American waters occasionally find their way into the European seas, where the race formerly existed as a native. The skeleton of the Taranto specimen is now in the Museum of Comparative Anatomy of the University of Naples, and M. F. Gasco states positively that “both the Taranto Whale and that of Philadelphia (_B. cisarctica_, Cope) belong to the species _B. biscayensis_, of Eschricht, which, for several centuries was pursued with avidity--I was going to say exterminated--throughout the temperate regions of the North Atlantic, first by the Basques, and then successively by the Saintongeois, the Normans, the Dutch (who called it _Nordkaper_), the Danes, Norwegians, English, and Americans.”[26] The cervical vertebræ in the British Museum, which form the type of Gray’s _Halibalæna britannica_ are also believed to belong to this species.