Thrilling Stories of the Ocean | Page 3

scene is this! see how the brave fellows are pulling
with their oars, and endeavoring with all their might to reach the ship in
distress before it is too late! Well, I suppose you are curious to know
how an open boat like this can float in such an angry, boiling sea. I will
tell you how it is accomplished; the sides of the boat are lined with
hollow boxes of copper, which being perfectly air-tight, render her
buoyant, even when full of water, or loaded to the very water's edge.
The originator of this simple and beautiful contrivance was a London
coach maker, named Lionel Lukin, a man whose benevolent feelings

flowed towards all his fellow men, but more especially towards that
portion of them who brave the dangers of the sea. After devoting sixty
years of his life to the pursuits of his business, he retired to Hythe in
Kent, where he finished a well-spent life in peace and tranquility, dying
in February, 1834. His body was interred in the churchyard of Hythe,
which is situated on rising ground, commanding a fine view of the
ocean; a fit resting place for the remains of one whose talents had been
successfully directed to the means of rescuing from shipwreck and a
watery grave many hundreds, or perhaps we may say many thousands,
of poor seamen. He obtained a patent for his first boat in 1785.
The two sailors in the picture below are Greenwich pensioners,
supported, you know, at Greenwich Hospital, which was founded by
Charles II. for superannuated or wounded sailors. They are smoking
their pipes, and discussing the merits of the Life Boat.
[Illustration: THE WHALE.]

WHALE FISHING.
The whale is the largest of all known animals. There are three kinds of
whale; the Greenland, called by the sailors the right whale, as being
most highly prized by them; the great northern rorqual, called by
fishers the razor-back or finner, and the cachalot or spermaciti whale.
The common whale measures from sixty to seventy feet in length: the
mouth, when open, is large enough to admit a ship's jolly boat, with all
her men in it. It contains no teeth; and enormous as the creature is, the
opening to the throat is very narrow, not more than an inch and a half
across in the largest whale.
[Illustration: WHALE FISHING]
Instead of teeth the mouth of the whale is furnished with a curious
framework of a substance called _baleen_; you will know it by the
name of whalebone; it is arranged in rows, and projects beyond the lips
in a hanging fringe; the food of the whale consists of shrimps, small
fishes, sea-snails, and innumerable minute creatures, called medusae,
which are found in those seas where the whales feed in such vast
quantities that they make the water of a deep green or olive color.
When feeding the whale swims with open mouth under the water, and
all the objects which lie in the way of that great moving cavern are
caught by the baleen, and never seen again. Along with their food they

swallow a vast quantity of water, which passes back again through the
nostrils, and is collected into a bag placed at the external orifice of the
cavity of the nose, whence it is expelled by the pressure of powerful
muscles through a very narrow opening pierced in the top of the head.
[Illustration: THE CACHALOT]
In this way it spouts the water in beautiful jets from twenty to thirty
feet in height. The voice of the whale is like a low murmuring: it has a
smooth skin all over its body, under which lies that thick lard which
yields the oil for which they are so much sought. The Greenland whale
has but two side-fins; its tail is in the shape of a crescent; it is an
instrument of immense power; it has been sometimes known with one
stroke to hurl large boats high into the air, breaking them into a
thousand fragments. The whale shows great affection for her young,
which is called the calf; the fishermen well know this, and turn it to
their own account; they try to strike the young with the harpoon, which
is a strong, barbed instrument, and if they do this they are almost sure
of securing the mother also, as nothing will induce her to leave it.
Mr. Scorseby, who was for a long time engaged in the whale fishery,
has written a book containing a very interesting account of them. He
mentions a case in which a young whale was struck beside its dam. She
instantly seized and darted off with it, but not until the line had been
fixed to its body. In spite of all that could be done to her, she remained