How are dead whales disposed of? What is whale oil used for? Properties and applications Obtaining a fishing artifact

The whale provides fat, meat and many other useful products, and in huge quantities, so already in the Paleolithic era, the tribes living on the coasts of the seas undoubtedly had to look at the whale washed ashore as a gift from the gods. The fishing gear in those distant times was so primitive that there was no point in even thinking about attacking a living whale with them, but the greater explosion of jubilation should have been caused in coastal settlements by those rare cases when the tide washed up the carcass of a dead whale on the shore.

Before a person could begin to hunt a whale, both navigation and fishing gear had to reach a certain degree of development, so that people probably acquired some skills in such hunting no earlier than the Neolithic era. Most likely, the hunt boiled down only to the fact that whalers drove herds of small animals to the shore. And in our time, whales are still hunted in a similar way on the Faroe Islands and in some other areas of the globe. The Eskimos, for example, when Europeans first came into contact with them, and much later, lived in approximately the same conditions as the people of the Neolithic era, and, in all likelihood, the Eskimo methods of hunting whales are similar to the methods of primitive hunters. It may very well be that the products of the whale industry were used by the Eskimos for the same needs as primitive people in the distant past.

Hunting large whales required much more complex equipment, more varied knowledge and high skill. Its development in different parts of the world followed different paths. In Europe, large whales were first hunted in the Bay of Biscay, which at that time was the favorite habitat of large southern right whales.

The Basques who lived along the coasts of France and Spain went hunting in small boats and killed whales in coastal waters, without going far out to sea. The carcass of the killed animal was pulled ashore and immediately skinned and butchered.

The English geographer C.R. Markham, who was involved in the history of Arctic exploration and whaling, visited the Basque coast in 1881 and collected some information there about the early period of whaling. Already in the 12th century, this hunting was one of the traditional activities of the Basques, but it began at least two centuries earlier. The King of Navarre, Sancho the Wise, in 1150 granted the city of San Sebastian the right to levy a fee for storing a number of goods in warehouses. In the list of these goods, whalebone occupies a prominent place: “Tax on whalebone... 2 dinero.” The same privilege was given by King Alonso VIII of Castile to the city of Fuenterrabia in 1203, and the following year to the cities of Motrico and Getaria. In 1237, Ferdinand III, by royal decree, granted the same privilege to the city of Zaragoza. By the way, the decree of Ferdinand III is another proof that whale hunting has been known since ancient times: Ferdinand demands, “according to custom,” to give the king from each killed whale a piece of meat cut from the back of the animal in its entire length - from head to tail. In Getaria there was a custom of giving every first whale killed at the beginning of the hunting season to the king, who, according to custom, returned half of it back.

Another proof of how long whaling has been carried out and how important it was in the life of the coastal Basques can be the coats of arms of many cities. At the beginning of this chapter, the city seal of Biarritz, dating from 1351, is reproduced, depicting a boat with whalers and a whale. But besides Biarritz, at least six other Basque cities have images of a whale on their emblems. The coats of arms of the cities of Fuenterrabia, Bermeo and Castro-Urdiales depict whales; the coat of arms of the city of Motrico shows a whole composition: the sea, a whale with a harpoon stuck into it, and a boat with people holding a harpoon line. Markham, in his words, saw in Getaria “on the portal of the first house of one ancient street an armorial shield on which was depicted a whale among the waves of the sea.” The cities on the French coast of the Bay of Biscay - Bayonne and Saint-Jean-de-Luce - were also major whaling centers.

On the hills and mountains near the cities where whalers lived, observation posts were built from which they monitored the appearance of whales. Having spotted a whale, observers immediately signaled to the whalers, who immediately set off in their boats in pursuit of the prey. The same observation towers were also built by whalers in other countries; some of them are still in effect today. Markham himself saw the ruins of such a tower.

In the archives of one small town there is a decree dated 1381, signed by the cabildo *. The decree stated that all whalebone harvested should be divided into three parts; two are intended for the repair of the harbor, and the third for the construction of a church. From the chronicles of the same city for the years 1517 - 1661 it is clear that every year its sailors killed at least two, and sometimes all six whales. Judging by these records, there were a lot of whales in the 16th century, for if this was the annual catch of one settlement, then the total catch of all coastal settlements - and there were at least twenty of them - was at least ten times more.

* (Cabildo (old Spanish) - city mayor - Note. translation)

Although from time to time the Basques managed to slaughter whales in their coastal waters until the 19th century, it is nevertheless clear that since the middle of the 17th century whales have been found here less and less often. Long before this, Basque sailors began to undertake long voyages for whales. For example, the first Spaniard to visit the shores of Newfoundland in 1545 was a sailor from Zaragoza, Matias de Equeste. Until 1599 - the year of his death - he repeated this journey twenty-eight more times. In 1578, a certain Anthony Parkhorst from Bristol said that he was in Newfoundland four times and saw there one hundred and fifty French and Breton sailing ships, fifty English, the same number of Portuguese and one hundred Spanish ships fishing for cod, and another thirty to forty ships from Spain, hunting whales.

Fishermen who came from England and other countries to the shores of Newfoundland to catch cod learned a lot about whaling from the Basques, constantly observing how the Basques hunted whales, which were found in abundance in these waters.

The campaigns of the Basques, brave and energetic sailors, to the shores of Newfoundland, apparently, were the first in history long voyages undertaken for the sake of hunting whales.

In 1585, the English captain John Davis, who set sail on two small ships - the barque "Sunshine" (displacement of 50 tons, crew of twenty-three people) and the sloop "Moonshine" (displacement of 30 tons, crew of nineteen people) - discovered the strait , which still bears his name. In 1596, the Dutch navigator Barents discovered Bear Island and, going further north, reached Spitsbergen, the honor of discovery of which was later erroneously attributed to the English navigator Willoughby, who allegedly saw the shores of Spitsbergen forty-three years before Barents *. It was originally called Greenland**. All these discoveries were made while trying to find the North-East or North-West route to India. In the waters that washed the open, barren and inhospitable lands, the first explorers of the polar seas encountered many whales. Returning to their homeland, they talked about the fabulous riches that the hunt for these giants promises. The Basques, who quickly equipped ships for Spitsbergen, were convinced that this information was correct. And soon whale hunting turned into a profitable, thriving trade.

* (Russian Pomors visited Spitsbergen already in the 15th century, and perhaps even earlier. The ancient Russian name of the island is Grumant. - Approx. ed.)

** (For the reason that at first it was mistaken for Greenland. - Approx. ed.)

In the middle of the 16th century, thanks to the patronage of Queen Elizabeth, the Moscow Trading Company was created in England, which established trade relations between England and Russia. Having learned that there were many whales near Spitsbergen, in 1610 the merchants of this company sent the first English whaling expedition there. The expedition turned out to be extremely profitable. The next year, two ships of larger displacement were equipped and sent to the same places. The company specifically hired six experienced Basque harpooners, who were supposed to teach whaling to English sailors who already had experience in hunting seals and fur seals - walruses, as they were then called.

Since that time, the Moscow Company annually sent whaling expeditions to the Arctic, and the Queen of England granted them the privilege of owning a monopoly on this fishery. But this right turned out to be a pure fiction, since already a year or two after whales were discovered in these places, ships from other countries began to come here for whaling, and the Moscow Company had to spend a lot of time and money, and sometimes even and use force to defend their imagined rights. But the company achieved nothing with this.

Attracted by the rich booty, unlicensed English whalers, as well as Basque, Dutch, Spanish and German ships, began to come to these waters. There were more and more of them, and by the middle of the 17th century, an entire whaling fleet was already cruising in the area of ​​Spitsbergen, the Bear Islands and Jan Mayen.

But before telling the further history of European whaling off Spitsbergen, or Greenland, as it was then called, let’s see how this fishery developed among other peoples.

We have already mentioned the Eskimos above. Before the arrival of Europeans in the places where the Eskimos lived, due to objective circumstances, this people remained at a rather low level of development. The only materials from which the Eskimos could make household items and fishing tools were products of animal hunting (skins and bones), stones, driftwood, and the occasional ingot of native copper, which limited their familiarity with metal. The Eskimos valued copper extremely highly, and when Europeans began to appear on their shores, the Eskimos tried to get this particular metal from them. But, having such limited materials at their disposal, the Eskimos achieved great skill in making the items they needed.

This is how Schemmon (1874), talking about his travels in the Arctic, writes off the devices used by the Eskimos living on the coast of the Bering Strait when catching a gray whale. “At first glance, a whaling boat - a canoe - is very simple in its design, but upon closer examination it turns out that it is perfectly adapted not only for hunting whales. From the same boats, Eskimos hunt walruses, shoot game, make long voyages along the coast, they enter deep bays and rivers, along which they reach camps located far from the sea. When the canoes are equipped for hunting whales, they are stripped of everything that is not related to whaling, and a crew of only eight is left on each of them. The canoes are 8 - 10 meters long, their bottom is flat, the sides have a large camber, the bow and stern are sharp. The body of the canoe is made of wood and covered with walrus skin, the boards are fastened with whalebone fibers and straps made of walrus skin. When fishing, a canoe has one or more harpoons, the shafts of which are made of bone, and the sharp jagged tips are made of flint or copper, a large knife and eight oars. Sometimes a harpoon is attached to the mast on which the sail is usually raised, and sometimes a knife is tied to it. - and then it serves as a spear shaft.

When a whale appears in the field of view of the catchers, the team rows up to it at a distance from which it is possible to throw a harpoon, to which a line and floats made of skins inflated with air are attached. At the same time, the hunters scream with all their might. According to the Eskimos, this cry helps to stop the animal, and then it is easier to aim and hit it with a harpoon. The chase continues until all the harpoons are pierced deep into the whale's body, and it becomes more and more difficult for the animal to dive into the water and stay at depth. When the whale rises to the surface, the attack resumes with renewed vigor.

The Eskimos have a custom according to which the first person to successfully throw a harpoon takes charge of the slaughter of the whale. When the animal is already exhausted, the canoe swims up very close to it, and the harpooneer, with amazing agility, plunges a spear or knife attached to the mast into it, and plunges it so deeply that almost the entire shaft of the spear is immersed in the wound. However, the spear cannot immediately penetrate the entire layer of whale blubber, and the harpooner continues to thrust it deeper and deeper until the animal gives up the ghost. Then the whale is dragged ashore directly to the yarangas, where it is butchered. Each participant in the hunt receives two baleen plates and his share of the spoils, while the remainder of the catch becomes the property of the owner of the canoe.

The best parts of a whale carcass, from which various delicacies are prepared, are the tail blades, lips and fins. Blubber, an important item of trade with the reindeer herding tribes living inland, is sold in wineskins of 60 liters each. For one such wineskin they give one deer. A kind of sauce is prepared from the entrails of the whale: they are marinated in the spicy juice of some root. This dish not only tastes extremely good, but also protects against scurvy. The lean meat is thrown out to the dogs, who in a huge flock come running from all over the village to the whale’s skeleton, barking, howling, jumping and tearing the meat into pieces, as only northern dogs can do.”

The Eskimos Schemmon describes were already in contact with European whalers. But their fishing gear and hunting methods remained the same as they had been for many centuries before civilized Europeans arrived here.

Before reaching the northern seas, where the Eskimos hunted them, the whales had to safely pass Vancouver and Queen Charlotte Islands, avoiding the attacks of the Indians inhabiting these lands. Skemon says: “These Indians, as if from an ambush, slip out in a canoe from behind an island, or a cliff, or from the throat of a bay. With a howl and a cry, they quickly rush at their victims, trying to hit them in the vital organs and torture the animals until death among the Indians northwest coast Whalers are considered the most courageous people. Anyone who has reason to boast that he has killed a whale receives the highest distinction - a cut across the nose.

Indian whaling canoes are 10 meters long, each canoe has a crew of eight oarsmen sitting on one and a half meter oars. Whaling equipment consists of harpoons, lines, spears and homemade sealskin floats. Thick bases of mussel or abalone shells are used as harpoon tips. The tench is a twine twisted in three from the fibers of cedar bark. The floats are brightly and intricately colored, each canoe differently. The six-meter shaft of the spear, made, like the shaft of the harpoon, from strong and heavy yew, weighs almost 8 kilograms, so when a sharp tip is attached to such a shaft, the result is a truly terrible weapon.”

The Indians' whaling areas were limited, as they almost never ventured far from their shores. “When a whale is harpooned,” continues Schemmon, “it can still go to depth, but almost immediately the inflated float appears on the surface again. As soon as the floating float is noticed from the nearest canoe, another float is immediately raised up on this canoe. This is a signal, along which all the whalers, with noise and shouting, begin to pursue the prey. The most intense moment of the hunt begins: all the canoes are equipped equally, and the crew of each of them is in a hurry to plunge a harpoon with its float into the back of the animal, in order to then get the largest share of the prey. There is a struggle for that. Whoever throws the spear first, everyone is seized with terrible excitement, there is an unimaginable noise and scream. Finally, the victim bleeds, writhes in convulsions and dies. Then a whole flotilla of canoes pulls the animal to the shore, where the entire population of the village greedily pounces on the whales. fat and meat. After the feast, blubber is rendered and poured into sealskin furs - this is an important item of trade with neighboring tribes living far from the coast, and with white traders who visit these places from time to time.”

On the Aleutian Islands, a chain crossing northern part The Pacific Ocean from Alaska to Kamchatka, local residents use completely different methods of hunting whales. The Aleuts board a kayak - a small single or double canoe, lined with leather and steered by a two-bladed oar - and attack blue whales, sperm whales or other large whales, armed with spears tipped with crystalline slate. They do not try to hold the whale with the help of harpoons tied to lines, but, having thrust a spear into it, turn back and row to the shore as quickly as possible. After two or three days, the whale dies and is washed ashore by the waves. The whale is declared the property of the hunter who threw the spear - on the tip of this spear the distinctive sign of its owner is carved. Why does a huge whale die from a wound inflicted by a simple spear? The thing is that before hunting, the tip of the spear is smeared with poison.

Sauer (1802) writes in his report on one of the expeditions undertaken to these places at the end of the 18th century: “The natives of Kodiak, when hunting sea animals, use darts and spears, the tips of which are made of slate. They also smear the darts with poison from aconite. Prepared the poison is as follows: the roots of this wild plant are collected and dried, then they are ground or crushed, and then the powder is poured with water and the pulp is kept in a warm place until it begins to ferment. Then the tips of Rana's darts and spears are dipped into it. ", inflicted by such a weapon turns out to be fatal."

An even earlier period of whaling can be learned from the works of the German traveler Steller *. This is what he wrote about the residents Kuril Islands: “They scout out the places where whales usually sleep. Having reached such a place, they throw poisoned arrows at all the animals that come their way, causing the whales to start violently shooting fountains and beating their tails, and then go deep into the water. But after a while sometimes one or more whales find themselves washed ashore. If a whale washes up on the shore in Kamchatka, the residents tie the carcass with a thin rope to a pole stuck in the sand, believing that after this neither the spirits of the sea nor the spirit of the earth, Gamuti, as he is called, will be able to present it. own rights to it."

* (G.V. Steller (1709-1746) - traveler and naturalist, adjunct of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences; German by nationality. He took part in V. Bering’s expeditions to the shores of America and Kamchatka in the 40s of the 18th century. In 1774, one of his works, “Description of the Land of Kamchatka,” was published. - Approx. ed.)

The whalers kept it a closely guarded secret that the poison was made from the roots of aconite. And in order to hide the truth, rumors were spread that the poison was supposedly made from fat rendered from human corpses, and that the corpses of rich whalers were especially good for this purpose.

The French ethnographer Pinard (1872) wrote that he himself saw how spears with slate tips were used for whale hunting; a whale wounded at least once by such a spear usually died within a few days. “Before the hunt, spears were dipped in human fat, and this fat was prepared from the corpses of rich people, which were dug up especially for this purpose and then melted out.”

The Aleuts, emphasizes von Kittlitz (1858), do not engage in whaling for commercial purposes; for them, whale hunting is a severe necessity of life: the fat and meat of whales is the main food product of the Aleuts. "Among the sharp throwing weapons that the inhabitants Aleutian Islands They take them with them on sea hunts - especially if they go on a two-seater kayak - there is always a special whaling weapon. These projectiles, like all the others, are carved from wood; each of them is attached to a long, approximately 30-centimeter massive tip made of whalebone. The heavy tip increases the projectile's range. The tip is carefully polished, and sharp, deep serrations are made on one side, so that the projectile is firmly stuck in the wound. The very tip of the tip is made of obsidian - volcanic glass, lava or trachyte. The fragility of these materials only contributes to the fact that an inflammatory process begins in the body of a wounded animal, which leads to its death. aconite poison.)

“Usually a wounded whale dies on the third day,” Kittlitz continues, “and its carcass is washed up on the shore of one of the Aleutian islands. Then the community of this island examines the spear with which the whale was wounded: on the spear there is usually a distinctive sign of the community to which it belongs.” a hunter who wounds a whale; a messenger is immediately sent there - and both communities take part in the division of the spoils."

Wrangel, after whom the island in the Chukchi Sea is named, described (1839) approximately the same method of hunting: “A native of these islands, sitting alone in a kayak with a single two-bladed oar and armed only with a short harpoon with a slate tip, rushes to attack the sea giant, piercing its weapon into the whale's body under the front fin and then swims back as quickly as possible. If the harpoon penetrates the layer of fat and enters the meat, the wound is fatal. Then after two or three days the whale certainly dies and the current washes its body to the nearest shore. Every hunter is very careful that his weapon has a clearly visible mark on it, by which - if the weapon remains in the body of the whale found - it will be possible to establish the name of the one who killed it."

Whale hunting with poisoned weapons was carried out off the coast of the Aleutian Islands, Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands and near Hokkaido - north island Japan. To the south, this method was no longer used - a completely different whaling technique was in use there. The slaughter of whales in coastal Japanese waters, except for the island of Hokkaido, already in the 16th century was carried out in the same way as in Europe - with the help of small boats, harpoons and spears. However, around 1600, a new method appeared here - catching animals using heavy nets. This method required more numerous and larger equipment than what a lone hunter could use, and therefore whale fishing passed into the hands of wealthy entrepreneurs who could invest significant funds in its organization. Now, in order to equip ships for whaling, money was required - and not only for complex devices, but also for high pay for the hard and dangerous work of the whalers. The Japanese whaling base of that time was a whole factory: here whale carcasses were pulled onto land, cut up and processed, that is, blubber was rendered and meat, sinews and baleen were prepared for consumption and for other needs. At special observation posts located on elevated places from which the sea could be seen far around, guard duty was constantly carried out. As soon as the whales appeared in the field of view of the observers, the posts gave a signal and reported their location. A whole flotilla of ships was immediately launched, pulling a huge net. The whale was first entangled in this net, and then killed with harpoons and spears.

In 1820, the Japanese writer Yosei Oyamada published a book “Isanatoru-Ekotoba” (“Image of a Whale Hunt”), in which he describes, accompanying his stories with illustrations, whale fishing.

One rich man named Matazemo Matsutomi, says Oyamada, lived in the city of Ishibu-ura on the small island of Ikitsuki. He was engaged in whaling, and the whole region where the whalers lived was under his control. "The people said that he was a kind and sincere man. Running a whale fishery is a difficult task, requiring a lot of money. First of all, you need to build a whaling base. Then the base is fenced with a stone wall, in which gates are made on each side. Guards stand guard there all night , and the watchmen, to show that they are not sleeping, beat the drums from time to time. When a whale carcass lies on the shore, the guard is especially vigilant, and the watchmen continuously walk around the area, either inside or outside the fence.

On the territory of the base there are many buildings: a shed for nets, a room in which blacksmiths and coopers work, warehouses for storing whale meat and tail fins, rooms for drying veins, a warehouse for ropes, a warehouse for salt and a warehouse for containers for blubber, warehouses for whalebone, office, rooms for carpenters and workers, warehouses for rice, for fresh veins and baskets, a small barn for a tank with fat, another larger barn, about 10 meters long, for another tank, a fat pan 15 meters long, a house for harpooners, thirty houses for hunters and eight gates.

During construction, it is very important to choose the right place for the platform along which whale carcasses will be dragged ashore - the platform is located on the shore, directly in front of the base itself, correctly draw up a plan for the location of all buildings, berths, patrol observation posts and patrol vessels, rationally arrange stacks of firewood , areas for drying nets, etc."

“The owner, Matsutomi, even kept his own wine cellar on the island. He hired many workers, carpenters, coopers, blacksmiths, plasterers and other artisans.

Its doors were wide open to talented and educated people who came to visit him - doctors, surgeons, and various influential and high-born gentlemen came to watch the whale hunt. Among his servants were about ten overseers. Two overseers were in charge of all the whaling crews and supervised the entire fishery. The overseers and office workers were noticeably different from ordinary whalers. They went outside the base only accompanied by servants, and spent time at home free time in refined pursuits.

The whalers' equipment consisted of three sets of nets, each containing thirty-eight nets. The length of each net is 28 fathoms*, and its total area is about 18 square fathoms.

* (A fathom is 1.83 meters. - Approx. ed.)

Since the net cannot be lowered to very great depths, the whales have to be driven into shallower waters, where they are caught in nets.

A flotilla of hunting boats, surrounding the whale, drives it to the shore no further than a quarter of a mile. Six boats with nets, which are already waiting at the ready, divided into three pairs, at the signal from the main one, disperse in different directions, all at once cast the nets and immediately move away, clearing the way for the whale. The hunters hit the sides of their boats, shout loudly, urging the whale on three sides, so that it has no choice but to swim straight into the net, in which it eventually gets entangled. The whale becomes enraged and begins to thrash about, the thin rope connecting the nets to each other breaks, and the nets, no longer connected to one another, entangle the animal on all sides, clinging to its head, tail and fins. And as soon as the whale swims to the surface to take in air and rest, the harpooner plunges a harpoon into it. Only bowhead, humpback and fin whales are killed in this way, because if a gray whale is caught, it becomes so furious that it tears the nets to shreds, so gray whales are hunted without nets, with only harpoons.

If a whale, entangled in a net, manages to swim to the surface outside the circle of hunting boats, then, seeing the fountain, the whalers race towards it in their boats, where the harpooners are already standing at the bow with harpoons at the ready. As soon as the first two harpoons are pierced into the body of the whale, flags flutter from the sterns of these boats. The remaining harpooners also throw their harpoons at the animal one after another. Large harpoons are made of soft copper, their tips are jagged, and even when bent, the harpoons do not break or be pulled out of the whale's body when the animal pulls on the line attached to the harpoon - the whale cannot free itself from them in any way. Wounded by many harpoons, the animal weakens and groans in agony as loudly as if it were thunder. The water all around is stained with blood, whole columns of bloody water rise into the air. Finally, the final moment comes, which all hunters are waiting for: the weakened whale is finished off with blows from spears. The sight is so terrible that it breaks out in a cold sweat."

It is not easy to kill a well-fed whale: sometimes you have to stick at least a hundred spears into it, but a skinny whale can die from two or three wounds. Often, when a whale dies, it sinks into the depths, and people have to make enormous efforts to lift the carcass to the surface. To avoid this, one of the whalers, without waiting for the animal to die, jumps on its head with a huge knife in his hand and makes a through cut on its muzzle, which either rises above the surface of the water, then goes back into the depths. Having completed this work, the whaler gives a signal to the others, waving a bloody knife above his head. Then another whaler, with a rope in his hands, jumps into the water and, having threaded it through the wound, returns back to his boat, on which the ends of the rope are secured. When the main one comes to the conclusion that the whale is already in agony, he gives a signal to the lead boats to begin tying the carcass. Whalers - all of them excellent swimmers - jump into the water with ropes, quickly dive under the whale, and then emerge, encircling the chest and belly of the animal with ropes so that the tied whale ends up between the two leading boats. The boats are pulled towards each other, pinching the whale from the sides and forming something like a raft.

Now all the whalers are vying with each other to try to finish off the whale with spears and huge knives. Sometimes whales, before dying, first stretch out and, taking in air, let out a scream, then they roll from side to side two or three times and finally a loud death rattle escapes from their throat. Then the whalers sing in chorus three times, “Rest his soul,” and in a hymn they praise God for such a valuable catch. When the whale is completely dead, the lead boats feed the rope to the remaining boats (there are ten or more), which are lined up in two columns. And with combined efforts, the prey is dragged ashore.

The whale, sandwiched between the head boats, is pulled to the shore, tied with ropes laid on the gate, and pulled onto land using the same gate. After this, the nets with which it was entangled are removed from the dead animal, and the ropes supplied from the boats are untied - now it is convenient to pull the whale carcass ashore, turning it this way and that as necessary with the help of a gate. When the whale carcass finally lands on land in front of the base, the workers and overseers - each according to his duties - set to work with extreme zeal. The craftsmen in charge of day laborers, depending on the size of the whale and the volume of work to be done, hire the required number of day laborers from nearby villages.

While work on the carcass is underway, various people from neighboring villages gather on the shore in the hope of stealing a piece of whale meat. Although the guards are vigilant to ensure that the meat does not go to waste, some still manage to steal a piece by tucking it into their bosom, or placing it under their dress around their waist, or even holding it between their legs. The workers carrying fat and meat gather in a crowd around the carcass, as huge as a mountain, and deal with it in the blink of an eye - they all have extensive experience and know well all the techniques of this difficult, but familiar to them, business.

The fins and meat are salted, loaded onto ships and sold to different countries where they are eaten. The blubber is rendered from the blubber of the whale. The remaining parts of the carcass are also rendered, from which blubber can be obtained. There is a special place in front of one of the base houses for cutting fat into pieces. Seventy to eighty people are seated there in a row, with huge layers of whale oil hanging on a rope in front of them. Each person cuts pieces from the layer and places them in a nearby wooden bucket. There are seventeen fat-dairies nearby, and behind them there is a gallery built at such a height that if you climb the stone steps to it, you will see the boilers built into each oven. The fat, cut into pieces, is placed in cauldrons, from which the melted blubber is then poured out. An earthen bank is built in front of the boilers, high enough to prevent the boiling blubber from igniting. At the back of the shaft there is a pipe into which boiling blubber flows. Then the blubber is cooled, poured into fifteen to sixteen large vats and stored in a special warehouse.

Any part of a whale carcass is used for food - everything in it is edible: bones, fat, meat, entrails. Only whale liver is never eaten. It is said that the liver is left for some special use by those who skin the whale, but what they make of it is unknown.

An employee sits at the entrance to the warehouse, and in front of the warehouse there is a platform on which about twenty workers, sitting in a row, are cutting individual parts of a whale carcass into pieces. A special person is stationed at the door: he carefully examines everyone who leaves the warehouse, and if anyone is caught stealing meat, he severely beats them.

A special room is allocated for the processing of whale veins. Here, under the supervision of a manager, twelve workers process the veins, assisted by seven apprentices.

In the bone processing workshop, the manager sits to the left of the entrance, and next to him stands a pile of bones. The whale's skull and lower jaw, thick as logs, are very different from other bones. They have to be cut with a special saw. The remaining bones are cut with an axe. Tail vertebrae, ribs, etc. are also chopped with an ax or cutter. About thirty workers are engaged in this; they cut the bones into pieces that resemble logs of firewood, then put them in wooden boxes. Bone fragments are boiled in salted water, boiling the fat out of them; for this purpose, six special boilers are set aside, under which fireboxes are built.

The hairstyle of those involved in the whale fishery is completely different from that of ordinary people. Whalers have very long hair, parted in the middle; when they jump into the water to tie ropes around a caught whale, they are so exhausted from this work that they can no longer climb back into the boat on their own, and their comrades drag them on board by their hair. Returning to land after killing a whale, the harpooners perform a special ritual dance. Thirty harpooners, led by the main one, line up and sing their song in chorus to the beat of a drum, and then begin to spin in the “gate” dance. Each one - and they are all powerful, like fighters - holding a baton over his head, takes huge steps, shakes his weapon, and jumps high. And everyone sings a song consisting of mutual congratulations and thanks, and dances to depict a whale hunt. A lot of people gather around: residents of the surrounding villages, children, women. It's funny to watch the audience discuss the skill and dexterity of the dancers, pointing at them, looking at each other and whispering to each other. All this together is an amazing sight!

The last time whales were caught using nets was in 1909 in Yamaguchi Prefecture, in the far southwest of Honshu.

At the very beginning of the 18th century, whale hunting began off Spitsbergen. There were so many of them in the bays and fjords of the archipelago that the following custom was soon established: each whaling ship anchored in some sheltered bay or bay for the entire whaling season. The crew of the ship pulled all the caught whales immediately ashore, where they were skinned, butchered, and the blubber was melted out.

The expeditions of the Moscow Trading Company, usually consisting of at least a dozen ships, some of which were heavily armed to keep the "smugglers" or what they perceived as such at a distance, also adhered to this custom.

Almost from the very beginning, the Dutch became serious rivals of the Moscow Company whalers, who by the end of the first quarter of the 17th century had built an entire whaling city near Schmeerenburg, which became the center of their fishing. In 1622, ships with building materials were sent there. The amazing “city of blubber” was built and populated with extraordinary speed and continued to develop rapidly. The cities of Amsterdam, Middelburg, Flushing and others participated in this enterprise. Each city kept its ships there, its warehouses and its fat factories, from where the blubber was sold. Lubbock says (1937): “In the 17th century, at the height of fishing and whale hunting, at least three hundred whaling ships were anchored against their gates, fattenings and warehouses, while fifteen to eighteen thousand people worked on the shore, some of them were occupied melting the blubber, and others - shopkeepers, wine merchants, tobacconists, bakers and all sorts of other artisans - served them."

Quite a lot of ships were sent to the north, and individual cities - Hamburg and Bremen, and entire countries - Sweden, Denmark and France also sent their flotillas there. But the most powerful was the Dutch whaling fleet.

While the Dutch whalers prospered, the British from the ports of Hull and Yarmouth, who also entered into competition with the Moscow Company, suffered a complete fiasco. In the second quarter of the 17th century, only a few English ships ventured north.

In 1630, a certain Edward Pelham, a gunner's mate on the English ship Salutation, chartered by the Moscow Company, and seven other sailors accidentally fell behind their ship. They were considered dead, and the ship returned to London without them in August of the same year. Having finally returned to their homeland, the sailors had every reason to say that they were the first people to winter on Spitsbergen. They somehow managed to hold out the whole winter - until the next year, when they were rescued by ships that arrived there. They lived in a “hut” near the village of Bell Sound.

This is what Pelham says about this hut: “What we called a “hut” was essentially a house, built of logs and planks and roofed with Flemish tiles, built by the people who once traded in these places. It was about eighty feet * in length and about fifty in width. During the fishery, coopers lived in it, and here they worked, making barrels into which melted whale oil is poured.”

* (foot is an English unit of length equal to approximately 30 centimeters. - Approx. ed.)

This document shows how thoroughly the Dutch whaling bases were built. To obtain building material, the winterers destroyed another “hut” built for workers involved in melting the blubber. “This hut,” continues Pelham, “gave us one hundred and fifty pine boards, and also a lot of logs, posts and beams. From the three fireboxes in which the blubber was melted, we received a thousand bricks. Here we found three huge barrels with very good lime. We got another barrel of lime at Bottle Cove, on the other side of the strait." From these building materials inside what they found big house They built another, smaller one, and until they were rescued, they led a miserable existence there, feeding on the waste of whale meat left over from the past whaling season.

In 1619, King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway sent Captain John Monck to search for the Northwest Passage to India through the Hudson Strait. In his report on this voyage, Mopk also describes the whaling industry of those times:

“As soon as they manage to spot a whale - and it doesn’t matter where they saw it from: from the shore or from a ship - in any case, three boats are launched into the water, each with six crew members. The sailors row as hard as they can, catching up whale, but at the same time they take all precautions so as not to be too close to its tail. When they get very close to the whale, everyone becomes silent and tries to row silently. When they finally manage to swim close to the whale, the harpooner throws one of the boats at it with all his might. The harpoon is three feet long, its tip is serrated in such a way that it cannot be pulled back in any way. The harpoon's shaft is wooden; this increases the range of its flight. A line 200 fathoms long is attached to the end of the shaft, which lies rolled into a coil. at the bottom of the boat, the wounded whale dives into the depths of the sea with almost incredible speed; then the line begins to quickly unwind, and rubs against the side of the boat with such force that if water had not been poured on board, it would have caught fire. If one line is missing, another one is attached to it, from the next boat. As soon as the "fish" * appears again on the surface, the harpooner, who is the first to be near it, thrusts another harpoon into the "fish", a smaller one - something like a small pike or spear. Such spears, just like ordinary harpoons, are thrown at a whale from a certain distance. But the spear tips are not serrated and, unlike harpoons, they can be pulled back. When the hunters see that the whale is tired and its strength is running out, they swim closer and use spears of a different kind, with which they stab the whale until they pierce its lungs or liver - this can be seen immediately: then from the blowhole, which the whale tries to hold as high above the water as possible, begins to gush out like a fountain, no longer water, but streams of blood. The animal beats so violently that the whole sea boils with foam, the terrible blows of its tail can be heard for half a mile around. Having become completely exhausted, the whale falls on its side and, having given up its breath, turns over onto its back. Then he is pulled with ropes either to the shore, if it is very close to Spitsbergen, or to the deck of the ship."

* (Whalers traditionally called whales fish. - Approx. translation)

After this, the whale carcass is cut into pieces. Those whalers who have bases on Spitsbergen “cut these individual parts into small pieces, melt blubber out of them, immediately pour it into barrels, and then take them home. The same whalers who do not have their own base and sail here only to catch whales in the open sea, they are forced to put pieces of meat directly with fat in barrels, take them home in this form and render the blubber there, on the spot. The blubber is rendered in the same way as in Spitsbergen, but it is sold cheaper, since it is sold cheaper. gives off a very unpleasant odor."

Whalers had the opportunity to render blubber immediately at the site of whale slaughter only as long as this fishing off Spitsbergen and the Jan Mayen Islands was still profitable. When the whales in these places were practically exterminated and the fishery moved to the edge of the polar ice and into the Davis Strait, whalers began to carry whale oil home unmelted.

Monk's report indicates that some ships were whaling in Greenland waters as early as 1620. The first Dutch ship went there only in 1719, and its crew no longer melted blubber at the site of whale slaughter. Later, whalers managed to ensure that the blubber, rendered after delivering whale oil to its destination, ceased to “emit a very unpleasant odor,” as Monk once wrote.

John Harris, in his collection Voyages and Voyages, published in 1748, reviews voyages and discoveries in the northern seas. The review also includes a description of whaling, and details about the melting of blubber on the shore are also provided here.

“The carcass of a dead whale is pulled to the side of the ship and layers of meat and fat are cut off from its sides with huge knives. These pieces are immediately hooked with hooks and lifted onto the deck using blocks. Some of these layers are tied with a rope, pulled ashore using a winch and then divided into smaller pieces. The fat is then cut into even smaller pieces and placed in copper cauldrons. When the meat in the cauldrons becomes brown, or, as they say, “roasted,” it is taken out and the liquid remaining in the cauldrons is poured into vats half filled with water. In the vats, this melted fat is cooled and cleaned. Then the blubber through long gutters - it must cool gradually - falls into large barrels standing near the shore. Meanwhile, the whale’s head is cut off and, dragged as close to the shore as possible, is lifted with a collar to cut it out. the entire whalebone is taken from the jaws, then the baleen plates are tied into bundles of fifty pieces; after this, blubber is also melted from the remains of the head. The vessels on which this work is carried out have: thirty - forty crew members, five - six boats on board, four hundred - eight hundred barrels for blubber in the hold, sixty spears, six walrus spears, forty harpoons, ten long harpoons for throwing at a whale that has gone under water, six small walrus harpoons and thirty lines, each 90 - 100 fathoms long... Tench, or the rope tied to the harpoon is 6 - 7 fathoms long. It is made from the thinnest and softest hemp and therefore glides easily. Several more lines are tied to such a line one after another. If these lines are not enough, they are taken from a neighboring longboat."

The Dutch maintained their dominance in whaling until the mid-18th century. Although the English government paid large bonuses to the owners of whaling ships for increasing the displacement of ships in order to revive the domestic whaling industry, this did not initially give tangible results. During the Seven Years' War, English whalers, like other merchant ships, suffered heavy damage from attacks by privateers - not only French, but also English. Attacks by French privateers, which caused particularly severe damage, continued even after the English fishery began to revive, when in 1750 the government doubled incentive bonuses. During the second half of the 18th century, English whaling reached its peak: the whaling fleet grew to one hundred and fifty ships. But during the war waged between America and England for independence, he was again badly battered by pirates. True, Dutch whaling at this time also began to decline, since Dutch whalers often had to fight both English warships and privateers. The fact is that in connection with the revolutionary events in France in 1793, the Anglo-French war broke out. In 1798, the English government allocated warships to protect English whaling ships, and at the same time to capture Dutch whaling ships. During these years, the Dutch whaling fleet was practically destroyed and was never able to regain its primacy.

* (The war of 1756 - 1763, in which England, Austria, Russia, France, Prussia, Sweden and other countries took part. - Approx. ed.)

When whaling moved west from Spitsbergen - to the very edge of the polar ice, whalers came across large herds of harp seals in these waters, which lived and bred right on the ice. And many whaling ships began to combine whaling with sealing. At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, German and Scandinavian sailors began to engage mainly in seal hunting. In 1820, when Scoresby Jr., one of the most famous English whaler captains, who made a significant contribution to science, wrote his book about whaling in the Arctic, the whalers had already practically left Spitsbergen and relocated to the polar ice regions off the coast of Greenland - to Davis Baffin Strait and Sea.

Hunting in the ice, the whalers no longer had the opportunity to melt the blubber on the shore, and they did not dare to do this directly on their ships: there were cases when ships on which they tried to install fatties died from fires. Therefore, involuntarily, a custom arose, which persisted until our century, of putting fat in barrels and melting the blubber, having already returned back to their port. The carcass of the killed whale was moored along the side and attached to the ship by the head and tail with a rope or chain that was tied around the fins. One or two boats were attached to the whale, and the harpooners, engaged in cutting off the blubber, climbed directly onto the whale's carcass, holding on to it thanks to "spurs", or spikes embedded in the heels of sailor boots. The whale's skin and blubber were cut off in long spiral strips called "blankets" using flesher shovels, or cutters, with very sharp blades on long handles. A hole was made at one edge of each strip of fat, a rope was threaded through it, which was tied in a loop and secured with a large wooden check. The rope was attached to cutting hoists and blocks located on the masts of the ship. When all the gear was secured as expected, the ship moved to the side - and a strip of fat, cut off along the edges by the harpooners, began to tear away from the carcass, as if unwinding from it, and the carcass slowly rotated around its axis. While the harpooners were handling the carcass, others at that time separated the whale's head from the body and cut out the whalebone, but not one plate at a time, but a whole block at a time on each side of the jaw. These blocks were then lifted aboard the ship. When all the fat was stripped off and the baleen was cut out, the whale carcass itself—“waste,” as whalers say—was thrown to be devoured by seabirds, sharks and polar bears.

On the deck, layers of fat - "blankets" - were cut into large pieces, which were piled up in one pile using the so-called "royal forks". “They are probably called “royal” for this reason, in order to somehow reward the hard work of those who operate them,” said Scoresby. Large pieces of fat were immediately cut into small ones - every pair of working hands was valuable here. The “kings” used their pitchforks to pile chunks of fat onto the cutting boards, and the workers began to process the fat on both sides: peel the skin from the outside, and cut off the fibrous, dense meat from the inside. This was an extremely painstaking and important task, since if you did not cut off all the excess from the layer of fat, the fat began to quickly decompose and spoil, and the gases formed during rotting of the meat could even rupture the barrels in which the fat was stored. The purified fat was again cut, and into pieces so small that they could fit into the hole to plug the barrel, and dumped down a canvas chute onto the middle deck. Here, under the supervision of a special master, it was placed in barrels and compacted tightly with the help of special pushers - prickers. Then the barrels were tightly sealed. Some of this hard and dirty work had to be done in the hold where the barrels were stored. While the ships were heading to the fishing grounds, the lower rows of barrels were filled with sea water to give the ship greater stability. But the first barrels filled with fat also had to be installed at the bottom of the hold. Therefore, during the voyage, it was necessary to constantly rearrange the barrels from place to place: pull out and empty some and install others in their place. Needless to say, during all this work both the deck and the clothes of the entire crew were thoroughly soaked with grease and dirt.

Whalers who went to the Arctic were usually equipped with a full sail rig. They were built very thoroughly, and, moreover, from wood - even when steel ships had already begun to be built everywhere: only a wooden ship could withstand the pressure that arose when the ice compressed.

Almost every whaling season, several ships were lost in the ice. But some years, when the losses of the whaling fleet in ships and people were especially great, remained memorable for a long time. Whalers were amazingly inventive and resourceful under the most difficult circumstances. And often, even in those cases when ships received such serious damage that they seemed doomed to certain death, the sailors showed almost supernatural skill, dexterity and courage, repairing their ships on the fly. Once, for example, the ice split the keel of the ship "Esk", captained by Scoresby. Having transferred all the cargo and all the supplies on the ship onto the ice, the team together pulled the ship onto the ice floe. The keel was repaired. The entire crew returned home safe and sound.

As whales became increasingly hunted to extinction, whalers were forced to sail further and further north and west. Sailboats had to make their way for a long time through floating ice to open water. And in the end, in order to save time and facilitate maneuvering, in 1859, auxiliary steam engines began to be installed on fishing vessels for the first time. According to current ideas, they were very weak: their power was only 50 - 150 horsepower - not much more than the power of a modern car. Nevertheless, the use of steam engines on sailing ships was a great success. A wooden ship with a reinforced stem and a particularly strong bow, on board of which an auxiliary steam engine was installed, was rightfully considered the most suitable for Arctic navigation until the advent of modern powerful icebreakers, which today pave the way in the ice for ships with a metal hull that are not adapted for ice conditions. Such whalers had relatively low masts. On some of them, the boom topsails * were raised, even if the masts already had one top topsail ** above the double topsails ***. And every whaler had to be equipped with a slanting foresail **** - it allowed the ship to maneuver perfectly among a herd of whales, when most of the crew hunted animals from whaleboats.

* (Upper straight sails.- Approx. ed.)

** (Straight sails located under the booms. - Approx. ed.)

*** (The second sail from the bottom on the mast. If there are two such sails, then they say: upper and lower topsail. - Approx. ed.)

**** (Forward lower sail on the foremast.- Approx. ed.)

Harpoon cannons were invented and used in Scoresby's time. In the middle of the 19th century, they were improved and became no less widespread than hand harpoons. Recently, when hunting whales, only these guns have been used almost everywhere. They were attached to the bow of the whaleboat on swivels: the recoil when fired with a heavy harpoon is very strong. Somewhat later, a new weapon appeared - a lance-grenade - a steel tube filled with gunpowder and equipped with a fuse, which goes off after a grenade fired from a heavy gun hits the whale's body. Unlike a harpoon, a grenade is not attached to a line. Having approached the animal in whaleboats for a very short distance, the whalers, with the help of such a grenade, finish off the already harpooned whale, without exposing themselves to any danger.

In the second half of the 19th century, when large bowhead whales became fewer and fewer, whalers began to hunt all sea animals that could bring at least some benefit. Going to the far north to hunt large whales, the whalers along the way, wasting no time, intensively slaughtered the seals that made rookeries on the ice. Small whales were also beaten - everywhere they were found. One of the main types of such “second-class” whales that whalers hunted for was the beaked whale, an animal not exceeding 10 meters in length. The beaked whale produces a valuable oil known in the trade as “Arctic spermaceti oil.” On occasion, the pilot whale also became clogged. But nevertheless, as valuable breeds of whales disappeared and the prices for whale hunting products simultaneously fell, the northern whaling industry on sailing ships gradually fell into decline, and by the beginning of the First World War it had virtually ceased to exist.

As mentioned above, the Basques hunted bowhead whales near Newfoundland already in the third quarter of the 16th century. American colonists began whaling seriously no earlier than the middle of the 17th century. However, even before this, the carcasses of dead whales washed ashore were extremely highly prized on the shores of Long Island and New England. Thus, Starbuck (1878) says: “Whales thrown onto land were greatly valued both in Plymouth and in the Massachusetts Bay Colonies. The government of the colonies claimed one third of the whale found for itself, a third went to the city, and the one who found the whale - unless no one did not challenge his priority - he could lay claim to the remaining third." Apparently, with good reason, we can assume that American whaling practically began off the coast of Long Island. In March 1644, the city government of Southampton ordered “four teams of eleven people each from among the townspeople to perform constant guard duty on the shore in case a whale washed up on land. Two - by lot from each of the four teams - were to be on duty every day and, upon seeing a beached whale, immediately begin to cut the carcass into pieces.”

Soon it became a custom to equip entire expeditions of several ships to hunt whales in coastal waters: some of the people remained on the shore to perform guard duty. Such expeditions usually went to sea for one or two weeks. This was, in fact, the beginning of the fishery, the origin of which should be dated back to approximately 1650 or even slightly earlier. In less than twenty years, the methods of whale hunting common in Europe were mastered - hunting from whaleboats equipped with harpoons, spears and line wound around a stick.

Soon the blubber trade moved from Long Island to Boston and Connecticut, and between these three competitors there were always fierce disputes and litigation, on which a lot of effort and money was spent. To resolve conflicts, it was necessary to turn to the authorities of New York. Later, when the blubber trade had already become an entire industry, the American colonists suffered a lot of inconvenience and suffered significant material damage from the tariffs and severe restrictions imposed by the authorities of the metropolis, which was England, in the trade of whaling products.

“In 1690,” continues Starbuck, “the inhabitants of the island of Nantucket, believing that the inhabitants of the Cape Cod Peninsula were more successful in the art of whale hunting than themselves, sent Ichabod Paddock there. Paddock was instructed to learn himself, and then teach his fellow countrymen the most effective methods of slaughtering whales and melting the blubber. Judging by subsequent events, he visited the peninsula, returned and showed himself to be a good teacher, and his fellow countrymen - even better students. Apparently, whaling was already known in those days to their Canadian neighbors. A certain Mr. Denonville writes to Mr. Seignelet in 1690 that the Canadians are very skillful in hunting whales and that “recently the last ships brought several harpooners for the Riverin to Quebec from Bayonne..”

In 1700, whales were found in such abundance in these coastal waters within sight of land that several ship-like watchtowers had to be built and kept on watch. If they managed to catch a whale, they immediately dragged it onto land, cut off the fat and melted it in cauldrons placed right on the shore - much the same way as the Dutch did on Spitsbergen a century earlier.

At first, coastal hunting was carried out only for bowhead whales. But in 1712, residents of Nantucket accidentally killed a sperm whale for the first time. Christopher Hassey went out to sea in search of bowhead whales. Strong North wind took him far from the earth, much further than had happened to anyone before. There, Khassey came across a herd of sperm whales, killed one of them and brought him home. “This event,” writes Starbuck, “breathed new life into the fishery: ships with a displacement of about 30 tons immediately began to be sent to whale hunts. They went “deep” into the sea - as they said then, to distinguish such expeditions from coastal ones - for weeks at a time. six. Each ship had on board several large barrels, the capacity of which should have been enough for the fat of one whale - in case it was possible to kill it... In 1715, Nantucket had six sloops for whale hunting, which delivered so much fat per year. , that it yielded 1,100 pounds worth of blubber, but coastal whale hunting continued for many years.”

As the fishery developed, so did the tonnage of vessels. The sloops and schooners already had a displacement of 60 - 70 tons, part of the crew was recruited from the Indians. “Whales began to be seen near the coast less and less often, and the whalers, who went, as they said, “to the south,” plowed the coastal waters until the beginning of July. Upon returning, the ships immediately equipped themselves again and set sail again - this time to the east of Large jars and already for the entire whaling season."

The English government paid incentive bonuses for whaling not only to the sailors of the metropolis, but also of the colony, and, as mentioned above, this greatly contributed to the growth and development of American whaling. And although whalers of all countries - American in the western waters of the Atlantic, English and other whalers in its eastern waters - were attacked by French and Spanish privateers, American whaling still flourished. Not to mention the famous Nantucket, many ports from Long Island to Boston, as well as the island of Martha's Vineyard, the Cape Cod Peninsula, the port cities of Salem, New Bedford, Providence, New Haven and others were engaged in this fishery. And by 1770, American sperm whale hunters had crossed the entire Atlantic - from Africa to South America. In search of bowhead whales, they swam north - to the island of St. Lawrence and even further. According to Starbuck's calculations, at that time no less than 360 different ships with a total tonnage of about 33 thousand tons were equipped annually. The number of crews serving these ships was approximately 4,700 people, and if we count those who also indirectly served the whalers, then this number will increase a lot."

Despite the damage inflicted on whalers by French and Spanish pirates, the annual production from whaling between 1771 and 1775 appears to have been "no less than 45,000 barrels* of spermaceti oil, 8,500 barrels of bowhead whale blubber, and about 75,000 pounds of whalebone." ".

* (Barrel is a measure of volume and capacity; in the USA it is 119.24 liters. - Approx. ed.)

Ships sailing in temperate and tropical latitudes were deprived of the natural refrigerators that the Arctic provided to whalers. From their very first voyages “to the south”, whalers realized that rendered blubber was better preserved during the journey than raw whale oil. Then they mastered the most obviously profitable method for them - rendering blubber directly on board the ship from the fat of each newly killed whale, in other words, they moved the blubber from the shore to the deck of the ship. It would seem that this method is extremely dangerous on wooden ships, but nevertheless, already in 1762, whalers began to resort to it, and soon it became widespread everywhere. Surprisingly, the number of ships lost in the fire was very small.

In 1787, four English whaling ships rounded Cape Horn and began hunting whales off the west coast of South America for the first time. In 1791, six whaling ships from Nantucket and New Bedford took part in fishing off the coast of Chile. Whale production increased to unprecedented levels when fishing began in 1838 off the northwest coast of America, with the city of San Francisco becoming the center of this fishing area. By the last quarter of the 19th century, the sperm whale fishery in America had reached its peak: in 1876, 735 vessels with a total displacement of 233,000 tons were engaged in this fishery. In 1851, 51 million liters of blubber were sunk, while in 1909-10, only 41 million liters were obtained using modern whale fishing methods.

Despite the wars and the damage caused by privateers, whaling continued to develop: after the War of 1812, more and more new fishing areas began to be opened. In the 20s of the 19th century, American whalers scoured the most remote corners of the World Ocean in search of prey. “Enterprise pushed them,” says Starbuck, “in all directions: from home to the West Indies and the Cape Verde Islands, from Cape Dever to the shores of Africa and Brazil, to the Falkland Islands and the shores of Patagonia, from Patagonia to the Pacific coast of South America. ". In 1818, the so-called coastal areas between 5 and 10° south latitude and 105 - 125° west longitude were discovered - and soon more than fifty ships plied the waters there. Then came the coastal waters of Japan, and in 1828 four whaling ships from Nantucket were hunting whales near Zanzibar, the Seychelles and the Red Sea. In 1819, American whalers passed the Bering Strait for the first time. True, until a whaler from Sag Harbor passed through this strait again in 1848 and brought back rich catch, almost nothing was known about whale fishing in these places. In 1843, whalers from New Bedford first killed baleen whales in the North Pacific Ocean, near Kamchatka.

This is what whale hunting looked like in the 18th century. This engraving is taken from Hans Egedi's History of Greenland (1750)

Japanese whaling harpoon from 1829. On the left is the attachment of the metal tip to the wooden shaft and the ring to which the harpoon line is attached; on the right is the harpoon tip of an American whaleboat from the 70s of the 19th century. The harpooner prepared to fire. Just before the shot, the sail was lowered and the mast collapsed so that the boat would not capsize when the whale dragged it along with it. The whaler "Charles W. Morgan". Setting out on his first expedition in 1841, he returned to New Bedford in January 1845 with 1,600 barrels of sperm whale blubber, 800 barrels of blubber, and 4 tons of whalebone. Now laid up in Mystic (Connecticut) as one of the exhibits of the Whaling Museum

The Wanderer, a whaler from New Bedford, is the last American square-rigged sailing vessel. Last time he went to sea was in 1924

Now whaling ships set sail for four or even five years. All these years they caught whales and melted the blubber, sending it piece by piece to their homeland with cargo ships from various ports that lay on their route. And finally, having filled their own holds to capacity with blubber, they returned home themselves.

Around 1850, America's Pacific whaling fleet alone consisted of approximately 700 ships. But since 1849, a significant part of the ships was laid up, finding themselves idle: seized by a general gold rush, sailors abandoned their ships.

But the greatest damage to American whaling came from Civil War. Many whalers, most of them from northern ports, were captured or simply killed by southern warships and privateers. The ships "Shenandoah" and "Alabama" were especially rampant. Therefore, the owners of whaling ships preferred to keep their ships laid up rather than send them to sea. And in 1861 there was famous story with the “stone fleet”: the government bought forty whaling ships from the owners. After filling the holds of the ships with stones, they were scuttled at the entrances to the harbors of Charleston and Savannah, firstly to block these ports, and secondly to prevent the whalers from falling into the hands of either smugglers or privateers.

After the war, whaling began to revive, but then a new obstacle arose: by this time, petroleum products had been discovered and began to be increasingly used as fuel and lubricating oils. At first, this new competitor was relatively easy to fight. But the further, the more the demand for blubber fell, and with the fall in demand, the price also fell.

Nevertheless, American whalers continued to hunt sperm whales scattered throughout the World Ocean. In addition, the large North Pacific whaling fleet also hunted bowhead and gray whales in and north of the Bering Strait, cruising along the coasts of Asia as far as Japan and America as far as Southern California.

But in 1871, the northern fleet suffered a disaster: out of forty-one whalers, thirty-four ships were crushed and crushed in the ice. Having experienced severe hardships and difficulties along the way, the sailors dragged the whaleboats across the ice to open water, where they were picked up by the surviving ships. However, not a single person was killed, and all one thousand two hundred sailors went ashore safely in Honolulu. The North Pacific whaling industry could not recover from this blow. Although a few whaling ships still sailed into the Arctic - through the Bering Strait and through Davis Strait into the Baffin Sea and into Melville Bay - by 1914 there was practically no whaling in the Arctic seas.

Around the same time, the Americans stopped hunting sperm whales. By the first decade of the 20th century, very few old-fashioned sailing ships remained, which, while hunting for whales, simultaneously made raids to the impoverished rookeries of fur seals. Some of them also hunted elephant seals, which stayed near secluded subantarctic islands. After the First World War, another attempt was made to send several sailing ships to sea. But when, in August 1924, the well-equipped, fully rigged whaling ship Wanderer, heading out to sea, crashed almost within sight of its home port of New Bedford, whaling on sailing ships came to an end. Apart from a few schooners going out to fish for whales for another two or three years, this was the last attempt. The American whaling sailing fleet no longer existed.

Whale fishing techniques were significantly improved by American sperm whale hunters, for whom this hunt turned into an almost ritual event with a certain mystical connotation. Ships leaving New England ports usually made their first call at the Azores or Cape Verde Islands, where, due local residents- skilled sailors and harpooners - the crews were replenished. (In our time, only the Azores Islands still preserve the ancient methods of hunting sperm whales.)

Previously, on American whaling ships, whales were looked out for by special lookouts who stood on the mast, wearing a copper hoop around their waists, securely attached to the boom topmast *. "Crow's nests", that is, wooden barrels attached to the top of the mast, which were so well known in the European whaling fleet, were not found on American ships.

* (Mast equipment of a sailing ship. - Approx. ed.)

When the whales appeared on the surface of the water, whaleboats with most of the crew descended from the ship, but only a few sailors remained on the ship. One of them climbed to the top of the mast to show the boats where to sail with signals. The signal system used in these cases was extremely complex: the sails were either raised or lowered, the lookout raised flags, holding them in different positions, or waved a special signal pole, to the end of which a loop of canvas was attached - thus the right direction was indicated and information about everything that was happening was transmitted. The whaleboats were about 10 meters long and 2 meters wide. They had pointed bows and sterns, wide cambered sides, and bale strips were installed along the bow with grooves for releasing the line, which begins to unwind when the whale is harpooned. The line was placed in a bucket in the stern between two cans and wound onto the pole with several turns for braking, and then passed under the oars to the grooves of the bale strips. To catch the whale faster, the whaleboats first sailed, but then the sails and mast were removed, and the rest of the journey was rowed.

* (Rigging gear for cleaning sails. - Approx. ed.)

The whaleboat's crew consisted of six people. The eldest sat at the stern, at the 7-meter steering oar, and the helmsman, who was also a harpooner, rowed with the front oar. When throwing a harpoon, he rested his knee against a “throwing bar” specially adapted for this purpose, fixed in the bow of the whaleboat.

As soon as the whale was harpooned, the head and harpooner changed places. The whale, trying to free himself from the harpoon, pulled the whaleboat on the line behind him. In the end, he got tired, the whaleboat came almost close to him, and the eldest finished off the whale with a simple spear or a spear-grenade. A grenade fired from a heavy gun exploded in the animal's body. Mortally wounded by a grenade, a whale usually died faster than when it was finished off with a simple spear, even if the spear hit the animal directly in the lungs or heart.

The dead whale was pulled up and moored to the side of the ship with thick cables attached to strong hoists. The cutting area - a flooring of planks surrounded by railings - was built right on the carcass itself, so that the workers worked on the whale carcass with their flesher shovels in complete safety. The cutting hoists consisted of two powerful blocks and were attached to the mainmast with chains or thick pendants.

The first thing to do was cut off the head and process it. If it was a baleen whale, the head, along with the whalebone, rose to the deck. They cut off the fat from the head, cut out the mustache, separated the plates from one another, and scraped the meat from the gums to the base. After this, the baleen plates were washed, dried and folded into bundles. If they cut up a sperm whale, then first the lower jaw was separated and raised onto the deck, and then a huge fat pad - a spermaceti sac, protruding far beyond the front edge of the upper jaw and filled with fat of a liquid consistency - spermaceti. This bag was carried to the stern, and it immediately went to cutting. If a very large sperm whale was caught, then first the spermaceti tissue was cut from its head right in the water and immediately lifted onto the deck, and then a hole was made in the bag and the spermaceti was scooped out through it with a bucket.

Having finished cutting the head, they accepted - be it bowhead whale or a sperm whale - for a whale carcass, removing a layer of fat from it. Having cut off all the fat, the rest, that is, the skeleton and the meat adjacent to it, was thrown away as something unnecessary.

After all this, the fat was prepared for rendering in the usual way, which was already mentioned above. Greasehouses - brick ovens with boilers built into them were built right in the middle of the deck. A fire was lit under the boilers, and the smoke came out through a pipe made of sheet iron.

Usually, a double metal flooring was installed under the fat pans, into which water was poured so that the wooden deck would not catch fire from the heat. The fat in the vats was continuously stirred during the melting process so that it did not burn, and the shriveled, yellowed “cracklings”, from which the oil had already been drained, were then used as fuel for the stoves. From the boilers, the melted blubber was poured into a large copper vat for cooling. The almost completely cooled blubber was poured into barrels. After all the work was completed, the deck was thoroughly scrubbed, the workers' clothes were washed no less thoroughly - and everything started all over again.

During hunting in the Arctic, it often happened that a harpooned whale dived under the ice. And sometimes, instead of cutting the harpoon line, as is usually done in such cases, the whalers jumped out of the boat onto the ice and “gave” it, and when the whale appeared on the surface again, they caught the floating boat, boarded it again - and the hunt continued .

At the beginning of this century, the inhabitants of the island of Solor (Indonesia) still hunted whales with hand harpoons. As soon as the whale was harpooned, the entire crew of the boat jumped into the water, allowing the wounded animal to pull the boat behind them. Swimming and diving with the boat, which he could not get rid of, the whale gradually became exhausted and weak. Then the hunters climbed into the boat again, finished off the whale and dragged the carcass ashore.

All whalers, no matter where they live and no matter what society - primitive or civilized - they belong to, are strong, stern and hardy people. Being a whaler is not just a craft, but a calling that requires skill, endurance and resourcefulness.

Whales became victims of hunting in the waters of the North American coast in the seventeenth century. Even then, these mammals began to interest people. The goal was to extract whale oil. A variety of types of these creatures were suitable for this.

Methods of application

Until the second half of the nineteenth century, whale oil played the role of the only product that was able to satisfy any need for fatty fiber. It has been used for many processes. Whale oil was used in abundance to make soap and to produce manganese. Certain rocks could be suppliers of raw materials for the chemical industry.

In general, at that time there was a fairly wide range of what whale oil was used for. It was extracted from animals that were caught in the vastness of the Arctic and Antarctic. Spring and summer were considered the most favorable times for this.

At this time, whale oil is especially concentrated in the well-fed bodies of animals. If we consider the blue representative of the species, it can supply hunters with 19 thousand liters of fatty fiber. If you manage to catch a sperm whale, you will become the proud owner of 7.9 thousand liters.

The need to preserve the view

Whale oil was extracted with great intensity, the use of which was constantly finding new and interesting options. However, this did not have a positive effect on the population, because the number of blue, white and gray representatives of this species has dropped critically. They have almost completely disappeared. In view of the excitement that whale oil generated, a special international commission was created to protect these animals.

Thus, it was possible to establish population control. Of course, there are many things that whale oil is needed for, but if you do not catch it in moderation, then soon there will be no one to use it.

The International Whaling Commission came into being on December 2, 1946. At first there was no effect, and the pace of hunting for mammals was just as deadly. The population of the blue, humpbacked species became increasingly small. The fin whale has almost completely ceased to exist.

Still relevant today

Nowadays, the question “why does modern man need whale oil?” There are also plenty of answers. It is still used in many industries. The issue of limiting hunting is also acute. After all, over the centuries, animals became fewer and fewer. To prevent them from becoming extinct, this issue needs to be regulated.

The importance is truly difficult to overestimate. Many useful things can be obtained from its products. If we take a closer look, we will see that many of the valuable substances that are obtained as a result of whale catches are really of great importance. For example, blubber (the so-called fat-containing subcutaneous tissue) is suitable for extracting excellent fat. It is used to run a lamp or when making soap.

Other useful substances

In addition to valuable fat, whale families are suppliers of tasty meat products. The bone of this animal is suitable for making soil-fertilizing substances. Sperm whales benefit from spermaceti, a fat located in the head. This substance is good for making ointments, cosmetics and candle products.

The sperm whale is an excellent supplier of such useful material as ambergris, which is produced in these animals inside the intestines. It is used to make perfume products. The tusks and teeth that the narwhal possesses are very valuable bones, which are not inferior to those of elephants. The skin worn by the white whale is suitable for making leather goods.

An interesting fact is that any cetacean creature is a mammal. The predecessors of these animals were land animals. Even with fins, their appearance is similar to hands with five fingers. Over the course of numerous centuries of underwater life, the environment contributed to adaptation to such a way of existence.

Fight against poaching

As part of the fight against the excessive destruction of whales, it was prohibited to use their fat for cosmetic purposes.

The shopping malls that fill the world market must somewhat cleanse themselves of cosmetics containing an effective and rare component called “spermaceti”. It is very similar to the human sebaceous layer under the skin. Its action is simply amazing. Wounds heal instantly along with any skin. The skin is rejuvenated and fundamentally moisturized. Back in the eighteenth century, it was mined to make cosmetics.

Nowadays, a large number of animals are killed for spermaceti. cool and filter, placing on a press. 1986 brought the adoption of a ban prohibiting the extraction of this substance. However, this did not stop the poachers, and they continued hunting and illegally selling fat. Now there are organizations that are engaged in the fight against the criminal activities of hunters for valuable substances.

Criminal hunt

Russia can confidently be called the main exporter of illegally obtained fat. Most of the prohibited products come from the Primorsky region. Aroma Jazz is a domestic brand that produces cosmetics that contain spermaceti.

Cream manufacturers do not want to give up this substance, because synthetic analogues cannot provide such an amazing effect. This is what cosmetologists and dermatologists say. The composition is so complex that scientists have not yet found a way to fully recreate it in the laboratory. Because of this, no one is in a hurry to exclude spermaceti from the composition of their cosmetic products. Of course, such an effective product is popular with consumers.

Youth elixir

If you want to study spermaceti in its pure form, you will see frozen bars of fat. No matter how regrettable it may be, poachers do not seek to hide their intentions and actively post advertisements for sale on the websites of the cities of Vladivostok and Khabarovsk.

This business is profitable and not cheap. For 1 kilogram you need to pay at least one hundred dollars. More than one merchant may try to assure you that his actions are legal and legal, but in the vast majority of cases this is just a banal lie for the sake of profit. They may also claim that these products are from old batches. There is a very small percentage of probability that this is not a lie, because spermaceti makes it possible to store it for many years.

In this case, no damage occurs. However, think about it, with such abundant demand and good prices, old stocks would have long been sold out and smeared on the faces of consumers who want to preserve their own youth.

Such products are purchased both by companies that do not want to be held responsible for their actions, and by cosmetologists who make creams at home for their own use or personal small business. Some may simply smear their skin with spermaceti without any treatment, believing that this is more effective and they will certainly be forever young.

In any case, when purchasing this product, study everything carefully.

Man has been hunting whales for centuries. One reason is their fat. It finds application in various fields of human activity, and most importantly, it contains vitamins and important microelements. What is whale oil used for? How is it mined?

Whaling

Whales are mammals that live in water. Their sizes are enormous. The average body length is 25 meters, and animals can weigh up to 150 tons. For example, extinct mammoths weighed only 15 tons.

Such large animals could not help but attract people. According to historians, whale hunting existed already four thousand years ago. There were quite a lot of them then, much fewer than hunters. Over the millennia, the situation has changed a lot, and now many countries are introducing strict bans on the extermination of now endangered whale species.

The harvest of animals has been regulated since 1931. However, whaling is still popular, especially in countries such as Japan, Norway, Iceland, the USA, Greenland, Canada and Russia.

At first, whale meat was highly valued, but then man learned to use all parts of the animals. Their liver is rich in vitamin A, their brains and glands are a source of hormones such as insulin and adrenocorticotropic hormone. They also use blood, whale oil, leather, whalebone, and amber is sometimes used in perfumery. And the bones of these mammals were used to make rafters for homes, and they were ground into flour to fertilize the soil.

Whale oil

Among all the products obtained from whales, fat is the most widely used. It is found under a layer of animal skin in quite large quantities. Whales live in extremely cold waters, so they need fat to stay warm. It also provides them with buoyancy and saves them during long migrations - in the absence of food, animals live off subcutaneous reserves.

In the Middle Ages, liquid whale oil, like the fat of other sea animals, was called blubber. It was made from mammalian fat using smelting. The resulting substance had an unpleasant odor and a yellowish tint.

In representatives of the largest species, the blue whale, the fat layer can reach 30 centimeters in thickness. Their subcutaneous fat usually makes up 25-30% of their body weight (about 30 tons), in some individuals it reaches up to 50%. In addition to the subcutaneous layer, it is found in meat and other tissues and even in bones. To obtain blubber, all these parts were boiled.

Extraction and use of whale oil

There are not many ways to process fat. The most ancient of them is digestion. Pieces of meat and whale oil were thrown into ovens right on the ship, and the resulting liquid was poured into barrels. In the Middle Ages, blubber was also obtained by rendering it in the sun and was called “damp”.

What was whale oil used for? It was used to make soap, used as lubricants and for the production of jute. Over time, they began to fill lamps and lanterns with fat, and used it as fuel for equipment. In Japan, blubber served as a good insecticide to repel locusts.

How is whale oil extracted now? Since the 20th century, hydrogenation has been used to extract fat. With this processing method it becomes hard and completely odorless. This made it possible to use it to make oils and margarines. Nowadays, whale oil is used mainly in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. And residents of the northern regions eat it.

Compound

Whale oil is a source of valuable substances necessary for human well-being. It contains vitamin A, which stimulates the immune system and has antioxidant properties. Whale liver oil is rich in vitamin D. It is involved in the body's metabolic processes and is responsible for the production of certain hormones and cell growth.

However, there are substances that, unlike vitamins A and D, cannot be obtained from other foods. The main value is fatty acids. Thus, the subcutaneous layer of the whale contains laric, olinic, palmitic, arachidic and other acids.

The most important substances are polyunsaturated acids. Whale fat contains from 30 to 40% of them. The human body does not produce them itself, so we are forced to replenish their supply from the outside. They regulate a number of body functions, such as the functioning of the cardiovascular system, cholesterol accumulation, etc.

Beneficial features

So, a lot has been said about the composition of the product. But why is whale oil still needed? The polyunsaturated acids found in it are nothing more than Omega-3. They promote good memory and vision, are responsible for lowering blood pressure and prevent the formation of blood clots in blood vessels.

Whale oil helps prevent sciatica, osteochondrosis, asthma, diabetes and arthritis. It has a positive effect on body tissues, strengthening them. Whale oil speeds up metabolism, prevents cancer and improves immunity.

The product affects the body holistically, rejuvenating it and giving the person more strength and energy. It helps to get out of depression. In cosmetology, fat is used to moisturize the skin to give it firmness and elasticity. It has a positive effect on nails and hair, making them strong. In pharmaceuticals, this component is used as a remedy for burns, softening tissues and promoting their healing.

Whale fat for weight loss

Oddly enough, you can lose weight with fat. This does not mean that you should take it in batches while continuing your previous lifestyle. By itself, it is quite high in calories, and taking it in packs can only make things worse.

The secret is rather that whale oil is necessary when a person is actively losing weight. It supplies the body with all the necessary substances and, with a reasonable diet and exercise, helps to gain muscle mass.

During weight loss, the body adapts to a new regime, which means it experiences stress. Whale oil minimizes stress, promoting a smooth transition. The product normalizes all important processes in the body. It helps to properly absorb the beneficial substances that we get from food, and, on the contrary, removes toxins.

Extermination of whales

Despite the enormous benefits that people receive even from one whale, the animals themselves have a hard time. Thousands of years ago, people used only mammals that washed ashore. Over time, whale fishing has become so widespread that some species are at risk of extinction forever.

Endangered species include the fin whale, blue whale, bowhead whale, and northern right whale. To prevent a sad outcome, hunting bans are regularly introduced. This has not reduced the value of animals; countries such as Norway, Iceland and Japan regularly violate moratoriums.

Many pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies support the bans and produce synthetic acids that are no different from those found in whale oil. Their effect is the same, but the animals do not suffer.

Incredible facts

When the current washed up on the Scottish coast dead body a very large sperm whale, the first thing beachgoers thought of was regret about the death of this amazing creature.

However, immediately after the thought arose that what to do now with this mountain of rotting flesh?

The giant body of a sperm whale, whose length was almost 14 meters, was discovered early on Sunday morning off the coast of one of the most famous beaches Scotland - Portobello.

Due to its enormous size, the deceased animal could not simply be cut into pieces and taken out separately, so sperm whale and hung out in shallow water for several days.

Photos of the sperm whale were taken four days after the body was discovered.

First, several teams dragged the dead animal to the nearest port, and then a crane took it out of the water and loaded it into a truck at 18 wheels. Only after all this was done, the unfortunate animal was taken to the burial place and interred.

Of course, this is not the first problem of its kind. How were issues related to the burial of large marine animals previously resolved?

Whale explosion

The most tragically famous solution idea This problem was proposed in 1970 by an "expert" from Oregon.

Then the carcass of a whale washed ashore was filled with explosives, hoping that after the explosion only small pieces would remain of the poor animal, which would be removed very quickly.

For safety reasons, there was no one within a 2-kilometer radius of the action taking place. However, when the explosion happened, bones and pieces of flesh whales not only rained down on the heads of those passing at a very decent distance from the place, but they also damaged cars standing far away. Thus, through experience, it became clear that this method of solving the problem is no good.

The proposal to burn the bodies of dead whales turned out to be equally ineffective. Firstly, because of their size, and secondly, because of the large fat layer in their bodies.

Natural decomposition

Allowing nature to deal with dead creatures itself is also not an option, because this will take too much time, during which the body will emit extremely unpleasant odors.

Dead whales

When a dead body of this size falls to the bottom of the sea or ocean, it can feed an entire ecosystem for 50-100 years.

Carcasses that wash ashore and lie in shallow waters begin to decompose much faster, but, nevertheless, the option of natural decomposition may be acceptable only for those regions that are located at a decent distance from populated areas.

Towing the body far out to sea is also not an option, since it could again be washed up on some other beach. Moreover, it may be dangerous for small ships.

Burial

In 2012, the body of a whale washed up on the shore of one of the American cities in the state of New York, which had to be buried there, because somehow move the carcass It didn't seem possible.

But this option also comes with many problems, because it was necessary to dig a huge hole, immerse the unfortunate animal in it and bury it, adjusting to the ebb and flow of the tides.

This situation also happened in Uruguay. Officials resolved the issue by transporting the animal's body to one of the city landfills. For this purpose, a special machine was used flatbed platform.

However, the process of transporting a whale can be no less dangerous. For example, in 2004 in Taiwan, while transporting the body of an animal around the city, it suddenly exploded, leaving it on all buildings, cars and all passers-by. stinking liquid.

In Uruguay, they also transported the body through the city, but there were no troubles. At the landfill, with the help of a tractor, they dug a huge hole, which also consisted of garbage, and lowered the whale into it. and immediately buried.

Apparently, today this solution is the most optimal. Moreover, the decomposing body fills the soil with nutrients and elements because it is a natural part of the cycle of life.

Whales are mammals that are entirely adapted to living in water. Scientists believe that the ancestors of whales, along with dolphins and porpoises, were land animals, who returned about 50 million years ago to the water element, having lived before that for many millions of years on earth.

There are two known suborders of these animals: toothy who love to eat big fish, And mustachioed, which are living filters due to their comb-shaped mouth through which great amount water. Whiskered whales feed on plankton and krill.

Whales, like dolphins, should occasionally appear on the surface due to the characteristics of the respiratory system. Therefore, at any given time, only half of their brain system can sleep.

Most etymologists believe that the word whale in English ("whale") comes from the German "hwal". But there is another version according to which the English whale may come from the word " wheel", because the back of a whale, especially when seen from the surface of the water, is very similar to a wheel submerged in the sea.

Being mammals, whales are also warm-blooded, so maintain body temperature similar to human body temperature. Being in cold water, whales maintain their temperature using a thick layer of fat located just under the skin. It protects internal organs from hypothermia.

Whale life

Whales and cetaceans move through water using their tail, moving it vertically up and down. In this they differ from fish, which move their fins in different directions while swimming.

The blue whale is the largest of all whales. He is considered the largest of all animals that ever existed on earth. An adult blue whale can reach a length of up to 33 meters, and weigh more than 200 tons.

Sperm whales can dive 3.5 kilometers under water because their bodies are endowed with unique physiological characteristics for adaptations that allow them to survive in the cold and withstand extreme water pressure.

Being at such a depth, sperm whales limit the functioning of all vital organs, including the brain.

For example, their heart beats at maximum speed in such conditions 10 beats per minute in order to conserve oxygen, they also compress their lungs so as not to feel the pressure of the water.

Before deep-sea exploration vessels were developed, the main source of information about the deep ocean was sperm whale stomach content analysis.

Whales in general don't drink sea water, they obtain fluid from food through fat metabolism.

Experts still don’t know why whales love to jump out of the water so much. Biologists have suggested that perhaps they demonstrate their power in front of their relatives, while the whalers of antiquity believed that the whales were teasing them in this way.

Baleen whales use to communicate with their own kind. sonar, producing very low frequency sounds that travel very long underwater distances. These sounds are considered the loudest natural noises in the animal kingdom.

Among animals, whales have no enemies due to their incredible size. Their only enemy is People, who hunted them for meat and other raw materials for thousands of years.

- Hearing is the main way of orientation whales are underwater, so their eyes are extremely small in relation to the overall proportions of the body.

Many world cultures have legends that tell how whales and sperm whales saved the lives of sailors. According to one such legend, whaler James Bartley accidentally fell overboard his ship in 1891 and was swallowed by a sperm whale.

However, the man survived, despite spending an hour in the stomach of this amazing creature, until his comrades helped him.

Experts say that this story is fiction, because, in their opinion, a person is not able to stay in the stomach of a whale for more than a few minutes.

Sperm whales were very valuable during the whaling era. And all because they have a unique organ - spermaceti, located under the forehead of a huge animal. This bag contains about 2,000 liters of waxy spermaceti oil, which is actively used to this day in medicine and cosmetology.

The height of whaling dates back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During this period, a huge number of whales were destroyed; baleen whales were in particular demand.

This made itself felt, so today the population of these animals is extremely small. Of the 11 known species of baleen whales, at least 9 are endangered.

1986 is the year of announcement moratorium on whaling. Today it is practiced by only a few countries.

Beluga whales are the only cetaceans that express emotions with the help of facial expressions. They can “smile” and “frown” thanks to the structure of their lips and the fat on their forehead.

- The fastest among cetaceans are killer whales. They can swim at speeds of up to 60 km/h. The only fish faster than them are swordfish, marlin, tuna and sailfish.

All killer whales have white spots on their black skin. Almost every individual has them unique, so they can tell each other apart even when swimming in muddy water.

Gray whales used to be called “sea devils” during whaling times because of the cruelty with which the female, who had recently become a mother, protected her babies. Whalers often managed to kill small calves, mother took revenge and overturned the boats.

The blue whale, despite weighing more than 200 tons, consumes exclusively small crustaceans. Most of the weight is gained during feeding. Typically every day for first three Weeks of life, the baby whale gains more than one hundred kilograms.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, toothed whale tusks were passed off as unicorn horns, and they cost 4 times more expensive than gold.

Biologists say that The lifespan of blue whales is equal to that of humans. Still, some individuals are so elusive that it is sometimes difficult to track them. The oldest whale known to science was caught on camera in 1970, and again in 2008.

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With the release of Legion, players gained access to new artifact weapons. The developers also took care of the fishermen, giving them a special artifact - Darklight Fishing Rod. This fishing rod has special bonuses - for example, it increases the number of fish caught, teleports its owner to the nearest hole and gives him the ability to quickly move underwater. In this guide we will tell you in detail how to get and upgrade the Darklight Fishing Rod.

1. Requirements for obtaining an artifact fishing rod

To receive an artifact, a character must meet the following requirements:

• Level 110.
• Skill 800: By this time you will probably have completed the achievement below.
• Achievement Fish of my dreams.
• To complete the achievement, you must catch 18 rare fish in different locations of the Broken Isles. To do this you will need to catch a rare bait. The chance of catching the bait is quite low, but with it you can catch rare fish on almost every cast. To make your life easier, you can visit him and buy bait from him for a rare bait.

2. The fish of my dreams

Let's start the discussion with this achievement, because... it requires maximum time investment. Exact time execution depends on luck. As stated above, execution occurs according to the following scheme:

1. You fish in any body of water and get a rare bait.
2. You use bait and gain an effect that increases your chance of catching rare fish for 2 minutes.
3. You are trying to catch a rare fish within 2 minutes.

Before listing all the types of fish and their associated baits, it is necessary to mention a way to increase the chance of getting a rare bait.

2.1. Magician Margoss (optional)

From this merchant you can purchase Arcane Lure, which doubles the chance of obtaining a rare bait for 10 minutes. You can fish without Arcane Bait, but it will save you a lot of time.

The wizard Margoss lives on an island northwest of Dalaran. To get to the island, go to the Black Market in Dalaran Sewers.

Fish there until you catch the Margoss Emblem. This item allows you to teleport to Margoss. Remember that the emblem disappears when used, and you will need to catch a new one each time. In addition, you can get to the island using a glider or slow-motion fall. Travel to the northwest of Dalaran and find a hole in the wall:

Fly through it to an island with a pond.

For these purposes, you can use the Goblin Glider Assembly Kit, the class ability of demon hunters, etc.

Once on the island, talk to Margoss and take the task from him. Fish in the pond until you catch Drowned Mana. This currency is used to purchase Arcane Lure. Depending on your luck, you will need 20-40 units. Drowned Mana. You may have to spend a little time, but it will pay off in the long run.

Let's move on to the description of the achievement. As mentioned above, you need to catch 18 rare fish in 6 zones of the Broken Isles - Azsuna, Val'shar, Stormheim, Highmountain, Suramar and in the ocean (it is in any location).

Note #1. Many players note that the likelihood of catching rare bait and rare fish in holes is higher than in open waters. This fact has not been fully confirmed. It is also assumed that the chance of catching increases in proportion to the skill level, so you can use ordinary bait - for example, King Worm. If you have data to support or refute these hypotheses, please share them in the comments! Once you have your bait, don't use it until you find a hole to catch as many rare fish as possible.

Note #2. Although the bait and fish types are numbered on the list, you can catch them in any order.

Note #3. In patch 7.0.3, the bait is not tied to a character or account, and can be purchased at the auction, saving a lot of time.

Note #4. If you prefer video format, you can watch the video below:

2.1. Azsuna

Scrog foot claw. After using the bait, you attract murlocs for 2 minutes. When the effect wears off, you will be attacked by a murloc. Kill him and take the Smelly Murloc Slime. After doing this, you will have a chance to catch the Energy-Shining Blenny. If this does not happen within 2 minutes, repeat everything again.

Nar "Talas hermit crab

In the case of crab, the situation is much simpler. Fish until you catch the Mother of Pearl Clam Nar "Talas Hermit Crab.

Phantom horse mackerel

Fish until you catch a Rusty Mackerel Shaped Brooch. You will then be able to see schools of Ghost Mackerel in Azsuna for 5 minutes. One of the schools is located in the lake near the academy, according to the coordinates (see map). Unlike the previous two rare fish, the chance of catching a Phantom Horse mackerel in a hole is 100%.

2.2. Val" ball

Old Mossgill Perch

Fish until you catch Rotten Fish Bones. After using the bait, a druid will appear and give you a two-minute buff, giving you a chance to catch an Old Mossgill Perch.

Spiny flounder

Fish until you catch a Drowned Thistle Leaf Spiny Flounder.

Spitemelt

Fish until you catch a Nightmare Nightcrawler. Using the bait, you will get a two-minute effect. allowing you to catch Spitemelt

2.3. Highlands

Mountain Pufferfish

As bait you need to catch a Bloated Murloc Egg. When using bait, a small murloc appears and gives a two-minute effect, allowing you to catch Mountain Pufferfish.

Ancient Highmountain Salmon

2.4. Stormheim

Udelfisk

Once again, the process is similar to capturing the Ghost Horse mackerel in Azsuna. Fish until you catch an Ancient Vrykul Ring. Apply bait to be able to see schools of dolphins within 5 minutes. One of the schools is located at the coordinates (see map), but there are others in Stormheim. As with the Ghost Horse mackerel, the chance of catching Udelfisk in a hole is 100%.

Thunderstorm Ray

The method of catching this fish is slightly different from those described above. First of all, you need to catch a rare bait - Moose Antler Hook. Another bait that can be caught with this bait is the Silver Minnow. Apply a second bait and try to catch the Thunderstorm Ray within two minutes.

Grey-bellied lobster

Fish until you catch a Soaked Dragon Scale. Apply bait and try to catch a Greybellied Lobster within two minutes.

2.5. Ocean

Let's move on to ocean fish. There is access to the ocean in any location of the Broken Isles. To make sure you are in the right place, look around. There should be holes with Black Barracuda nearby.

Bottom sea squid

Fish until you catch a Stunned Angry Shark. Use it, kill the shark and take the Bottom Sea Squid. Remember that the shark does quite a lot of damage.

Toporka

Fish until you catch The Message in an Empty Bottle. Open the bottle and take the Bait from the hatchet. Apply bait and try to catch Topork within two minutes.

Old black barracuda

Fish until you catch Decayed Whale Oil. Throw it on the ground to attract a predatory fly. Click on it to get the Predatory Fly. Apply bait and try to catch an Old Black Barracuda.

2.6. Suramar

This location is inhabited by level 110 monsters.

Maneater frog

Fish until you catch the Magic Lure Maneater Frog within two minutes.

Corrupted Runescale Koi

Fish until you catch Demonic Detritus. Use it and try to catch the Corrupted Runescale Koi within two minutes.

Fish until you catch a Sleeping Murloc. When you use this item, a frightened murloc appears and runs away from you, scattering fish. Run over the fish to collect them and receive the Prophet's Ridge Pufferfish.

3. Maximum level of Fishing skill (800)

After leveling up your character and fishing skill and completing the achievement, you can go get the artifact. Once all the requirements are met, you will be able to fish. The pearl can be caught in any location.

The pearl makes it possible to complete the task of the same name (). Follow the instructions and travel to Dalaran to visit your old friend Khadgar. He will give you a task

To upgrade the artifact, you need to return to the Dalaran fountain with the pearl. The power of the artifact is gained by catching fish using the Darklight Fishing Rod. For rare fish you can get 50 units. artifact power (instead of the previous bonus to skill level). This way, you can make good use of all the rare fish left after completing the Fish of My Dreams achievement.

The most convenient way to pump up an artifact is on schools of cursed horse mackerel and udelfisk. In patch 7.0.3, these jambs constantly remain in one place and do not disappear. If you find the hole immediately after using Rusty Horsemackerel Brooch or Ancient Vrykul Ring, you can catch 20-30 rare fish!

6. Significant talents

The Darklight Fishing Rod is a full-fledged artifact, similar to a class artifact weapon. It passively increases your fishing skill by 60 points. In addition, it makes it possible to teleport to the nearest hole within a 300m radius using the Darklight ability. The artifact has several useful talents:

• Surface tension. Allows you to walk on water, does not work in battle, and is removed when receiving damage. The talent is useful to everyone except shamans and death knights, because... Many holes in Legion are inaccessible to those who cannot walk on water. Cannot be used while riding.
• Bloody fishing. Allows you to catch Blood of Sargeras. Blood is used to craft high-level items.
• Help from fish. Transforms into a fish, allows you to breathe and move quickly underwater. Similar to the Druid's aquatic form, but with a greater movement speed bonus. The appearance is preserved in battle and when receiving damage.
• Better luck next time! Allows you to catch boots when fishing in the Broken Isles.
• The path of the flounder. When you cast a fishing rod, you gain the Stealth effect, and your visibility radius for monsters is reduced to 5m.

7. Hidden talents of the artifact fishing rod

The fishing artifact has hidden talents. At the moment, only a few of them are reliably known.

• Increasing the duration of the bait. As the artifact is upgraded, the duration of action of baits on it increases proportionally. Once you invest 10 points in the talent tree, standard (2-minute) lures will last 5 minutes, and Rusty Horsemackerel Brooch and Ancient Vrykul Ring will last 10 minutes.
• Barrels of fish. When fishing from a school, barrels of different types of fish may appear (requires checking).

8. Other talents

The artifact tree contains talents that increase the chances of catching fish in open water and are effective in a specific location:

• Catching Mossgill Perch. Increases the chance of being caught

 

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