Buifcprin Formerly\]Ffi News
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Chicago Natural History Museum BuifcpriN Formerly\]ffi News Published Monthly for the Museums Membership Vol. 18 JANUARY, 1947 No. 1 PAINTINGS CONTRAST MODERN WHALING METHODS WITH DAYS OF 'MOBY DICK 1 WHALING SCENE IN THE ANTARCTIC THE FACTORY SHIP The Antarctic is the center of modern whaling activities. A "factory ship" is in the dis< The "factory ship" is most remarkable development in modern whaling. A ship of this tance, at the right. Killer boats have surrounded a herd of humpback whales, and one is type can handle at least ten whales a day. A killer boat is shown that has just towed in cautiously swinging around while the man operating a harpoon cannon is attempting to get four whales. A whale is being drawn up to the "flensing deck" where it will be cut up. the surfacing whale in his sights. The whale is soon dispatched and "flagged" like the The blubber is boiled with steam, and the whale oil drawn off to storage tanks. Some of dead humpback floating in the foreground. the meat may be used for human food. SHORE STATION WHALING -HAULING OUT SHORE STATION WHALING -FLENSING Typical of Alaskan whaling stations, the scene is in a quiet, practically landlocked harbor. A sperm whale drawn up on the slip with a donkey engine, has had the flipper removed. A lighthouse guides the "killer boats" home. The great sloping slip and the pier are Long incisions have been made lengthwise and crosswise, and a chain, fastened to the block is it built on piles. The men at work on a skinned whale have drawn it out of the way to cut it "blanket piece" of blubber by and tackle, peeling from the carcass. The blanket up and make room for a huge blue whale, which is being drawn up in its turn to be skinned. pieces are then cut up and dragged to the mincers and "tried out" for the oil, which ts in is Three more dead whales are tied to the slip. stored tanks. The head removed and the spermaceti salvaged. Paintings by Start Artist Arthur G. Rueckert (See story on page 2) Page 2 CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN January, 19U7 WHALES AND MAN blubber that protects the animal from cold Alaska; and (4) operations in the pro- and streamlines its The use of whale of whales at a shore station. (See pictures on page 1) body. cessing oil has varied with in our industrial Even before the of the By KARL P. SCHMIDT changes development CHIEF CURATOR, DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY culture. One of the factors that put an end modern killing devices, certain species of to the New England whaling industry was whales had reached the verge of extinction, The natural history of whales is so much the substitution of kerosene for whale oil and others had been eliminated from seas known to us through the operations of in lighting. where they were formerly abundant. Now, whaling that it is difficult to think of these of Whale oil from blubber is a fat, and goes with the pre-war destruction more than largest of all living creatures without refer- into many industrial uses, especially soap. 12,000 whales per annum, and with the ence to the important economic aspects of The fine waxy oil from the head of the threat that radio and radar will still further their use by man. sperm whale, spermaceti, is especially valued as increase the destructiveness of whaling The romance associated with the sailing a non-gumming lubricant. operations, it is evident to all far-sighted ship era of the New England whale fishery Whale as a food for members of the whaling industry that of the of the nineteenth flesh, long neglected early part century further decline in the numbers of whales man, is now coming into use in Europe and makes us conscious, as peculiarly Americans, will soon increase costs and Japan at about half the price of beef. In operational of whaling. It is thus fitting that one of modern the otherwise un- reduce income to a point at which whaling the and most American whaling, blood, greatest essentially will used parts of the flesh and viscera, and bones disappear. literary works—Moby Dick, by Herman are dried for use as fertilizer. It is not unlikely, therefore, that the Melville—should have its scene in the South to extinction The curious approach may actually operate Pacific and its theme the contest with the product ambergris, which as the best conservation measure. The has had a use in since "monsters of the in a vast alle- perfumery ancient deep" and, chemical be to is a in industry may expected the defiance of God man. times, biliary deposit the intestines gory, by substitutes for whale of diseased whales. It develop synthetic oil, It was therefore as apparently sperm regarded appropriate especially as its costs and price increase. has a high, though presumably diminishing, to place a mural painting representing the International efforts for the control of value in the modern trade. climax of a whale hunt of perfume sailing ship days whaling and the protection of the scarcer at the end of the Museum's Hall of Whales The influence of human fashions in the species (such as the all but extinct Green- era of women's in This is now stayed garments the (Hall N-l). supplemented by land whale) have resulted in agreements a installed series of four eighteenth century led almost to the ex- recently paintings and limitations looking in the direction of tinction of Mr. Arthur G. Staff the great Greenland whale when by Rueckert, Artist, complete regulation and stabilization of the the price of whalebone rose to more than representing extraordinary develop- the industry. The United States, with ments of modern In these he $1,400 per ton. Steel and plastic stays now whaling. Antarctic possessions of its own, has now for illustrates the two methods now replace whalebone stays in corsets, and principal followed the lead of Great Britain in pro- — with a fine whalebone, used for other purposes, employed whaling large "factory moting scientific studies on whales on which now brings the much higher price of some ship" and whaling from a shore station can be based. a because long-term policies served by small "killer boats." $5 poundl of the scarcity of the species of whales that produce it. HISTORY OF WHALING The rise of modern whaling dates essen- Photo Entries Close Jan. 18; Man's first contact with whales must have tially from the use of steamships and per- Exhibit Opens Feb. 1 most from been through the not infrequent occurrence haps particularly the invention The deadline for entries in the Second of the cannon known as the of stranded individuals even on thickly harpoon Sven Chicago International Exhibition of Nature This inhabited coasts. Primitive man must have Foyn gun. deadly weapon shoots a Photography to be held by the Nature of 100 an made use of such stranded carcasses for harpoon pounds weight carrying Camera Club of Chicago at the Museum in its and this instru- food. Actual capture of whales by the explosive charge shaft; is January 18. ment more than has Eskimos, by harpooning them in narrow any other, increased The exhibition will be held in Stanley the and channels between ice floes, must go back efficiency reduced the hazards of the Field Hall Feb. 1 to 28 inclusive. In addi- old "hand lance" With "killer to prehistoric times, and must long ante- whaling. tion to the 'photograph display, projections boats" with the date the first records of European whaling equipped harpoon gun, of color slides will be presented on the screen by the Norsemen, as early as the ninth whaling is being carried on in both Arctic in the Museum lecture hall on three Sun- and the in the and Antarctic waters means of shore century, by Basques, Bay by day afternoons, February 2, 9 and 16 at of Biscay, in the thirteenth century. stations, to which the whales are towed for 3 o'clock. The leadership in the whaling industry processing. Entry forms and rules may be obtained passed from one seafaring people to an- from the Museum or from Miss Louise K. — 'floating factories' other to the Dutch in the early seven- Broman, 6058 South Troy St., Chicago 29. teenth century, then to the English, then, The most spectacular of the develop- by the early 1800s, to the New Englanders. ments of the commercial pursuit of whales Expedition to Cuba In the redevelopment of whaling in is the development of "floating factories." Dr. B. E. Curator Emeritus of modern times, the Norwegians have taken Such a vessel is large enough to draw a Dahlgren, is 4 for an the lead, and have been most actively whale carcass to its deck by means of a Botany, leaving January expedi- tion in Cuba and Haiti. He will remain emulated by the Japanese. In modern ramp through the bow or stern; and cutting several material needed times, Great Britain has taken the lead in up, trying out of the blubber, and pro- months collecting for addition to the Museum's extensive the scientific study of whales. Special cessing of the meat and bones is carried on collection of and other items needed vessels, the Discovery and the William efficiently and mechanically. palms, the of Botany. Scoresby, and a shore station on far-off Staff Artist Rueckert's four new paintings by Department South Georgia, in the Atlantic east of the depict: (1) Killer boats from a "factory southern tip of South America, have been ship" using the explosive harpoon bomb; Specimens of the gold, silver, lead, and devoted to this purpose.