Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 October 1874 — Size of the Whale. [ARTICLE]

Size of the Whale.

The sperm whale attains a very great size. The measure of a whale in whaling parlance is indicated by the number of barrels of oil it will make. Ask any old whaling captain of forty years’ experience how long is the longest sperm whale and he will strive to answer thequestion by estimating the known proportions of his ship. “Let me see. From just forrardof the main swifter, well, say forty-five feet, and you have his eye; allow one-third for the head and you have seventy-two. Well, now, seventytwo feet is a long whale; but I never measured one.” The largest whale we took made 107 barrels. Its length was seventy-nine feet; from the nose to, the bunch of the neck, twenty-six feet; thence to the. hump, twenty-nine feet; from hump to tail, seventeen feet; length of tail, seven feet; breadth of tail, sixteen feet six inches; height at forehead, eleven feet-; width, nine feet six inches; girt at fin, forty-one feet six inches; at junction of tail, seven feet nine inches; lower jaw, sixteen feet long and forty-one inches in circumference at thick part. It had fifty-one teeth, the heaviest weighing twenty-five ounces. Blubber on back, eighteen incites; on side, twelve to fifteen inches, and belly, nine to ten inches. The hump was two feet above the level. The case made barrels; body, seven-ty-three and a halfbarrels; junk, fourteen and a half barrels. Capt, Sullivan, of the James Arnold, of New Bedford, off New Zealand took in one voyage eight whales that made over 100 barrels each, the largest yielding 137 barrels. The head of this made fifty-three barrels, and the case baled twenty-seven barrels. It was ninety feet long; the flukes eighteen feet, jaw eighteen feet, case twentydwo feet, and forehead thirteen and a half feet high. During the same season and on the same ground, Capt. Vincent, ship Oneida, of New Bedford, took ten sperm whales, which stowed 1,140 barrels. Capt. Norton, ship Monka, of New Bedford, took on the off-shore ground a sperm whale that stowed 145 barrels; the dimensions of this monster were not taken. The proportions of whales vary much with the sex and age. The young bulls and the cows are slender; the cows are about one-third the size of the bull, when measured by the oil the}* yield. — Cor. N. V. Observer. . :