File:The marine mammals of the north-western coast of North America, described and illustrated; together with an account of the American whale-fishery (1874) (14782506474).jpg

Identifier: marinemammalsofn00scam (find matches)
Title: The marine mammals of the north-western coast of North America, described and illustrated; together with an account of the American whale-fishery
Year: 1874 (1870s)
Authors: Scammon, Charles Melville, 1825-1911
Subjects: Marine mammals Cetacea Sealing Whaling Whales Dolphins
Publisher: San Francisco, J.H. Carmany New York, Putnam
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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flag-staff. The cetaceous animals frequenting the coast, having been so long and con-stantly pursued, are exceedingly wild and difficult to approach; and were it notfor the utility of Greeners gun, the coast fishery would be abandoned, it beingnow next to impossible to strike with the hand-harpoon. At the present time,if the whale can be approached within thirty yards, it is considered to be in reachof the gun-harpoon. When the gunner fires, if he hits his game, the next effortmade is to haul up near enough to shoot a bomb-lance into a vital part, which,if it explodes, completes the capture; but, if the first bomb fails, the second orthird one does the fatal work. The prize is then towed to the station ; and if itbe night, it is secured to one of the buoys placed for the purpose, a little wayfrom the surf, where it remains until daylight, or until such time as it is wanted, tobe stripped of its blubber. The whales generally taken by the shore parties are THE AMERICAN WHALE-FISHERY 249
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Maeine Mammals.—32. 250 MARINE MAMMALS OF THE NORTH-WESTERN COAST. Humpbacks, and California Grays; but occasionally a Right Whale, a Finback, or aSulphurbottom is captured. The localities of several of the stations are quite picturesque. Some of themare nearly concealed from seaward view, being inside some rocky reef, or behind ajagged point, with its outlying rocks, upon which each successive wave dashes itsfoam, as if forbidding the approach of ship or boat. The one which most inter-ested us is half-hidden in a little nook, on the southern border of the Bay ofCarmel, just south of Point Pinos. Scattered around the foot-hills, which come tothe waters edge, are the neatly whitewashed cabins of the whalers, nearly all ofwhom are Portuguese, from the Azores or Western Islands of the Atlantic. Theyhave their families with them, and keep a pig, sheep, goat, or cow, prowlingaround the premises; these, with a small garden-patch, yielding principally cornand pumpkins, make up the general

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