CHAPTER IV.

Whale Grounds.--Whaling Seasons, and where Species of Whales are found.--Sperm Whale Grounds.--Right Whale Grounds.-- Humpbacks and Bowheads, where found.--Right Whale not crossing the Equator.--Arctic Passage for Whales.--Maury's Opinion of the Haunts of the Whale in the Polar Sea.--Confirmed by Dr. Kane.--Vessels fitted for Whaling.--Several Classes.--Time of Sailing.--Arrival at Home.--Length of Voyages.--Seasons and between Seasons.

WHALE GROUNDS, OR PLACES WHERE WHALES MAY BE TAKEN. The following embrace all or nearly all the prominent localities which are familiar to whalemen as whale grounds.

The Charleston ground, Brazil Banks, Tristan de Cuna Islands, Indian Ocean, Sooloo Sea, New Holland, New Zealand, King Mill's Group, Japan and Japan Sea, Peru Coast, Chili Off Shore ground, California, Kodiak, Ochotsk Sea, and Arctic Ocean.

WHALE SEASONS AND THE PLACES WHERE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF WHALE ARE FOUND. Sperm whales are taken in the North and South Atlantic Oceans in every month of the year. Sperm whales are taken on the coast of Chili from November to April, and on the coast of Peru in every month of the year. In the vicinity of the Gallipagos and King Mill's group, sperm whales are found. On the coast of Japan, they may be taken from April to October. They are also taken off New Zealand and Navigator's Island, from September to May. From November to March, there is good sperm whaling south of Java and Lombock. In June and July, sperm whales may be found off the north-west cape of New Holland. March, April, and May are considered good months for sperm whaling off the Bashee Islands, but ships are obliged to leave this ground after that time, in consequence of typhoons. From March to July, there is good ground for sperm whaling in the Sooloo Sea, to the west of the Serengani Islands. In the same months, sperm whales are found off Cape Rivers and Canda, close in to the land. In the Molucca Passage, there is good sperm whaling the year round; the best months, however, are January, February, and March. The English whalemen have taken, in years past, a large number of sperm whales in the Red Sea. The area over which sperm whales roam may include the immense space of the ocean or oceans included between the parallels of 60 deg. of latitude, on both sides of the equator. "The sperm whale is a warm water fish," and, according to the opinion of Maury, though it "has never been known to double the Cape of Good Hope, he doubles Cape Horn."

_Right_ whale season off Tristan de Cuna is from November to March; and from January to March off Crozetts and Desolation Islands. Sperm whales are seldom seen near these islands. Right and sperm whaling off the south coast of New Holland, from October to March. In August, there is good ground for humpback whaling around the Rosemary Islands. Right whales are taken in the Japan Sea from February to October, but bowhead whales have never been seen there. Right whales are taken on the Kodiak ground from May to September; and from March, or as early as the sea is free from ice, until November, in the Ochotsk Sea. Right whales are found in the _southern_ part of the sea, and _bowheads_ are found in the _north_ and _western_ part of it at the same time. Bowhead whales are found and captured in the Arctic Ocean as soon as the ice breaks up, which is usually in June, until October.

The right whale is a cold water fish. It has been found by the examination of "records kept by different ships for hundreds of thousands of days, that the tropical regions of the ocean are to the _right_ whale as a sea of fire, through which he cannot pass, and into which he never enters."

It has also been supposed, that since the right whale does not cross the torrid zone, which to him is as a belt of liquid fire through which he cannot pass, therefore "the right whale of the northern hemisphere is a different animal from that of the southern."

It is, however, a well-established fact, "that the same kind of whale which is found off the shores of Greenland, in Baffin's Bay, etc., is also found in the North Pacific, and about Behring Straits; the inference therefore is, that there must be an opening for the passage of whales from one part of the Arctic Ocean to the other."

The following facts are taken from Maury's recent work on "The Physical Geography of the Sea," and cannot fail of being interesting to whalemen, and indeed to all classes of readers:--

"It is the custom among whalers to have their harpoons marked with date and name of the ship; and Dr. Scoresby, in his work on 'Arctic Voyages,' mentions several instances of whales that have been taken near Behring's Straits side with harpoons in them bearing the stamps of ships that were known to cruise on the Baffin's Bay side of the American continent; and as, in one or two instances, a very short time had elapsed between the date of capture in the Pacific and the date when the fish must have been struck on the Atlantic side, it was argued, therefore, that there was a _north-west_ passage by which the whales passed from one side to the other, since the stricken animal could not have had the harpoon in him long enough to admit of a passage around either Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope.

"Thus the fact was approximately established that the harpooned whales did not pass around Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope, for they were of the class that could not cross the equator. In this way we are furnished with circumstantial proof affording the most irrefragable evidence that there is, at times at least, open water communication through the Arctic Sea from one side of the continent to the other; for it is known that the whales cannot travel under the ice for such a great distance as is that from one side of the continent to the other.

"But this did not prove the existence of an _open_ sea there; it only established the existence--the occasional existence, if you please-- of a channel through which whales had passed. Therefore we felt bound to introduce other evidence before we could expect the reader to admit our proof, and to believe with us in the existence of an open sea in the Arctic Ocean.

"There is an under current setting from the Atlantic through Davis's Strait into the Arctic Ocean, and there is a surface current setting out. Observations have pointed out the existence of an under current there, for navigators tell us of immense icebergs which they have seen drifting rapidly to the north, and against a strong surface current. These icebergs were high above the water, and their depth below, supposing them to be parallelopipeds, was seven times greater than their height above. No doubt they were drifted by a powerful under current."

Dr. Kane reports an open sea north of the parallel of 82 deg.. To reach it, his party crossed a barrier of ice 80 or 100 miles broad. Before reaching this open water, he found the thermometer to show the extreme temperature of 60 deg. below zero. Passing this ice-bound region by traveling north, he stood on the shores of an iceless sea, extending in an unbroken sheet of water as far as the eye could reach towards the pole. Its waves were dashing on the beach with the swell of a boundless ocean. The tides ebbed and flowed in it, and it is apprehended that the tidal wave from the Atlantic can no more pass under this icy barrier to be propagated in seas beyond, than the vibrations of a musical string can pass with its notes a fret upon which the musician has placed his finger.... These tides, therefore, must have been born in that cold sea, having their cradle about the north pole. If these statements and deductions be correct, then we infer that most, if not all, the unexplored regions about the pole are covered with deep water; for, were this unexpected area mostly land or shallow water, it could not give birth to regular tides. Indeed, the existence of these tides, with the immense flow and drift which annually take place from the polar seas into the Atlantic, suggests many conjectures concerning the condition of the unexplored regions.

Whalemen have always been puzzled as to the place of breeding for the right whale. It is a cold water animal; and, following up this train of thought, the question is prompted, Is the nursery for the great whale in this polar sea, which has been so set about and hemmed in with a hedge of ice that man may not trespass there? This providential economy is still further suggestive, prompting us to ask, Whence comes the _food_ for the young whales there? Do the teeming waters of the Gulf Stream convey it there also, and in channels so far down in the depths of the sea that no enemy may waylay and spoil it on the long journey? These facts therefore lead us to the opinion that the polar sea may be an exhaustless resource for the supply of whales for other seas, as well as a common rendezvous for them during the intense cold of arctic winters. Dr. Kane found the temperature of this polar sea only 36 deg.!

Vessels that are fitted out for the purpose of whaling, whether for _sperm_ or _right_ whaling, and the time for which they are fitted, may be classed as follows:--

1. Small vessels, principally schooners, though barks and brigs are included, cruise in the North and South Atlantic Oceans. They are fitted for six to eighteen months, and even two years. 2. Ships and barks that cruise in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans are usually fitted for two to three years. 3. Ships and barks that cruise on the Peru coast, or Off Shore ground, are fitted for two to four years. 4. Ochotsk Sea and Arctic Ocean whalers are fitted for two, three, and four years. 5. New Zealand whalers, sperm and right, are fitted for two, three, and four years.

THE TIME WHEN WHALING VESSELS SAIL TO THEIR RESPECTIVE WHALE GROUNDS. Ships and barks fitted for the North Pacific, the Ochotsk Sea, the Kodiak, or the Arctic Ocean, usually leave our ports in the fall of the year, so as to make the passage of the Horn, or Cape of Good Hope, in the southern summer; these ships will arrive at the Sandwich Islands in March or April, remain in port a week or two, recruit, and sail to the north. On their return from the north in October and November, and sometimes as late as December, they usually touch at the islands again, take in a fresh supply of provisions, it may be ship their oil home, and sail to some other whale ground in a more southern latitude, either for sperm or right whaling, or both, and continue this cruise until the season comes around for them to go to the north again. The first is called the "regular season" for whaling, and the second "between seasons."

Ships that have completed their voyages, and intend returning home, when they leave the Ochotsk or Arctic, generally touch at the islands, or some other intermediate port, for recruits, and arrive on our coast some time in the spring months, and even as early as February or March, though not generally. The great majority of the ships sail in the autumn, and the largest arrivals are usually in the spring.

THE LENGTH OF A WHALE VOYAGE IS DETERMINED BY THE NUMBER OF SEASONS. One season in the Ochotsk or Arctic, including the outward and homeward passages, consumes _one year and a half_. Two seasons at the north, including the passages outward and home, and one "between seasons," require _two and a half years_. Three seasons, including the passages and two "between seasons," will require _three and a half years_.

Sperm whalemen, who are not governed by these seasons and between seasons, as right whalers are, are absent from home three and a half and four years, and sometimes longer. Indeed, the success or ill success of whalemen in obtaining oil determines essentially the length of voyages.