XXXIII.—The Right Whale of the North Atlantic, Balæna biscayensis : its Skeleton described and compared with that of the Greenland Right Whale, Balæna mysticetus .
From the thirteenth to the seventeenth century a successful whale fishery was prosecuted in the Bay of Biscay and in the North Atlantic by seamen from the Basque ports of France and the north of Spain. So daring was their enterprise that they pursued their avocation northward to Iceland and even wes...
| Published in: | Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
1913
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0080456800013041 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0080456800013041 |
| Summary: | From the thirteenth to the seventeenth century a successful whale fishery was prosecuted in the Bay of Biscay and in the North Atlantic by seamen from the Basque ports of France and the north of Spain. So daring was their enterprise that they pursued their avocation northward to Iceland and even westward to Newfoundland and the adjoining shores of the American continent. The reputation of the Basque sailors as skilful whaling fishermen was so widely recognised that, when the whaling companies in England and Holland were started in the early years of the seventeenth century, Biscayan seamen were employed as the harpooners to strike the whales, and as coopers to construct the casks to contain the blubber. Up to that time the knowledge of the specific differences amongst the large whalebone whales was most imperfect, and it is not unlikely that both Right Whales and Fin Whales were captured as opportunity offered, though the former, from the greater length of whalebone and the thickness of blubber, were more prized. In 1611 an English whaling company sent for the first time an expedition to Spitzbergen, and from the instructions given to its commander, Thomas Edge, it would seem that two kinds of Right Whales had even then been noticed, the one larger and more valuable from the oil which it yielded and the length of the baleen, now known as the Greenland Right Whale, Balæna mysticetus , and the other a smaller whale, called the “Sarda.” A whale captured off the coast of Iceland by the French and Spanish seamen, locally named “Sletbag,” was probably the same as the Right Whale the “Sarda.” With the development of the whale fishery in the Arctic Ocean, it became more evident that the Greenland Right Whale was distinct from the smaller animal which had previously been the object of pursuit. In 1671 F. Martens gave the name “Nordcaper” to Baleen Whales captured near the North Cape they differed from those which frequented the Spitzbergen seas in being smaller, with less blubber, shorter whalebone, more active and ... |
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