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VEHICULAR AD HOC
NETWORK SECURITY
AND PRIVACY
 IEEE Press
445 Hoes Lane
Piscataway, NJ 08854

IEEE Press Editorial Board

Tariq Samad, Editor in Chief

George W. Arnold Vladimir Lumelsky Linda Shafer

Dmitry Goldgof Pui-In Mak Zidong Wang
Ekram Hossain Jeffrey Nanzer MengChu Zhou
Mary Lanzerotti Ray Perez George Zobrist

Kenneth Moore, Director of IEEE Book and Information Services (BIS)

Technical Reviewer

Jelena Misic, Ryerson University, Canada

VEHICULAR AD HOC
NETWORK SECURITY
AND PRIVACY

Xiaodong Lin
Rongxing Lu
Copyright © 2015 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. All rights reserved.
Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted
under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written
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Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 646-8400, fax (978)
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Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN: 978-1-118-91390-1

Printed in the United States of America.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
 CONTENTS

List of Figures xi
List of Tables xv
Acronyms xvii
Preface xix

1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background 1
1.2 DSRC AND VANET 2
1.2.1 DSRC 2
1.2.2 VANET 3
1.2.3 Characteristics of VANET 6
1.3 Security and Privacy Threats 7
1.4 Security and Privacy Requirements 8
1.5 Challenges and Prospects 9
1.5.1 Conditional Privacy Preservation in VANETs 9
1.5.2 Authentication with Efficient Revocation in VANETs 10
1.6 Standardization and Related Activities 11
1.7 Security Primitives 13
1.8 Outline of the Book 17
References 17

2 GSIS: GROUP SIGNATURE AND ID-BASED SIGNATURE-BASED

SECURE AND PRIVACY-PRESERVING PROTOCOL 21
2.1 Introduction 21
2.2 Preliminaries and Background 23
2.2.1 Group Signature 23
2.2.2 Bilinear Pairing and ID-Based Cryptography 23
2.2.3 Threat Model 23
2.2.4 Desired Requirements 24
2.3 Proposed Secure and Privacy-Preserving Protocol 25
2.3.1 Problem Formulation 25
2.3.2 System Setup 27

v
vi CONTENTS

2.3.3 Security Protocol between OBUs 29

2.3.4 Security Protocol between RSUs and OBUs 38
2.4 Performance Evaluation 41
2.4.1 Impact of Traffic Load 43
2.4.2 Impact of Cryptographic Signature Verification Delay 43
2.4.3 Membership Revocation and Tracing Efficiency 45
2.5 Concluding Remarks 47
References 47

3 ECPP: EFFICIENT CONDITIONAL PRIVACY PRESERVATION

PROTOCOL 51
3.1 Introduction 51
3.2 System Model and Problem Formulation 52
3.2.1 System Model 52
3.2.2 Design Objectives 54
3.3 Proposed ECPP Protocol 55
3.3.1 System Initialization 55
3.3.2 OBU Short-Time Anonymous Key Generation 56
3.3.3 OBU Safety Message Sending 62
3.3.4 OBU Fast Tracking Algorithm 63
3.4 Analysis on Conditional Privacy Preservation 64
3.5 Performance Analysis 66
3.5.1 OBU Storage Overhead 66
3.5.2 OBU Computation Overhead on Verification 66
3.5.3 TA Computation Complexity on OBU Tracking 68
3.6 Concluding Remarks 69
References 69

4 PSEUDONYM-CHANGING STRATEGY FOR

LOCATION PRIVACY 71
4.1 Introduction 71
4.2 Problem Definition 73
4.2.1 Network Model 73
4.2.2 Threat Model 74
4.2.3 Location Privacy Requirements 75
4.3 Proposed PCS Strategy for Location Privacy 75
4.3.1 KPSD Model for PCS Strategy 75
CONTENTS vii

4.3.2 Anonymity Set Analysis for Achieved Location Privacy 79

4.3.3 Feasibility Analysis of PCS Strategy 85
4.4 Performance Evaluation 86
4.5 Concluding Remarks 89
References 89

5 RSU-AIDED MESSAGE AUTHENTICATION 91

5.1 Introduction 91
5.2 System Model and Preliminaries 93
5.2.1 System Model 93
5.2.2 Assumption 93
5.2.3 Problem Statement 94
5.2.4 Security Objectives 95
5.3 Proposed RSU-Aided Message Authentication Scheme 96
5.3.1 Overview 96
5.3.2 Mutual Authentication and Key Agreement between
RSUs and Vehicles 96
5.3.3 Hash Aggregation 98
5.3.4 Verification 99
5.3.5 Privacy Enhancement 100
5.4 Performance Evaluation 101
5.4.1 Message Loss Ratio 102
5.4.2 Message Delay 102
5.4.3 Communication Overhead 104
5.5 Security Analysis 105
5.6 Concluding Remarks 106
References 107

6 TESLA-BASED BROADCAST AUTHENTICATION 109

6.1 Introduction 109
6.2 Timed Efficient and Secure Vehicular Communication Scheme 110
6.2.1 Preliminaries 110
6.2.2 System Formulation 112
6.2.3 Proposed TSVC Scheme 113
6.2.4 Enhanced TSVC with Nonrepudiation 118
6.2.5 Discussion 123
6.3 Security Analysis 129
viii CONTENTS

6.4 Performance Evaluation 129

6.4.1 Impact of Vehicle Moving Speed 131
6.4.2 Impact of Vehicle Density 132
6.5 Concluding Remarks 134
References 134

7 DISTRIBUTED COOPERATIVE MESSAGE AUTHENTICATION 137

7.1 Introduction 137
7.2 Problem Formulation 138
7.2.1 Network Model 138
7.2.2 Security Model 139
7.3 Basic Cooperative Authentication Scheme 140
7.4 Secure Cooperative Authentication Scheme 141
7.4.1 Evidence and Token for Fairness 142
7.4.2 Authentication Proof 145
7.4.3 Flows of Proposed Scheme 146
7.5 Security Analysis 147
7.5.1 Linkability Attack 147
7.5.2 Free-Riding Attack without Authentication Efforts 147
7.5.3 Free-Riding Attack with Fake Authentication Efforts 148
7.6 Performance Evaluation 148
7.6.1 Simulation Settings 148
7.6.2 Simulation Results 149
7.7 Concluding Remarks 150
References 151

8 CONTEXT-AWARE COOPERATIVE AUTHENTICATION 153

8.1 Introduction 153
8.2 Message Trustworthiness in VANETs 156
8.3 System Model and Design Goal 159
8.3.1 Network Model 159
8.3.2 Attack Model 159
8.3.3 Design Goals 160
8.4 Preliminaries 160
8.4.1 Pairing Technique 160
8.4.2 Aggregate Signature and Batch Verification 160
8.5 Proposed AEMAT Scheme 161
8.5.1 System Setup 161
CONTENTS ix

8.5.2 Registration 162

8.5.3 SER Generation and Broadcasting 162
8.5.4 SER Opportunistic Forwarding 162
8.5.5 SER Aggregated Authentication 163
8.5.6 SER Aggregated Trustworthiness 165
8.6 Security Discussion 168
8.6.1 Collusion Attacks 168
8.6.2 Privacy Protection of Witnesses 168
8.7 Performance Evaluation 169
8.7.1 Transmission Cost 169
8.7.2 Computational Cost 169
8.8 Concluding Remarks 170
References 170

9 FAST HANDOVER AUTHENTICATION BASED ON

MOBILITY PREDICTION 173
9.1 Introduction 173
9.2 Vehicular Network Architecture 175
9.3 Proposed Fast Handover Authentication Scheme Based on
Mobility Prediction 176
9.3.1 Multilayer Perceptron Classifier 176
9.3.2 Proposed Authentication Scheme 178
9.4 Security Analysis 183
9.4.1 Replay Attack 183
9.4.2 Forward Secrecy 183
9.5 Performance Evaluation 184
9.6 Concluding Remarks 185
References 186

Index 187
 LIST OF FIGURES

1.1 Vehicular ad hoc network. 4

1.2 Example of a road emergency response operation under VANET. 5
1.3 School bus tracking under VANET. 6
1.4 The relation between VANET and MANET. 6
1.5 IEEE Std. 1609.2 security services framework for creating and
exchanging WAVE messages between WAVE devices. 13
1.6 Symmetric key encryption and asymmetric key encryption. 14
1.7 Hybrid encryption. 14
1.8 Message authentication code and digital signature. 15
2.1 Secure communication system between OBUs. 28
2.2 A city street scenario corresponding to a square area of size
1000 m × 1000 m. 41
2.3 Impact of traffic load on the message end-to-end delay. 44
2.4 Impact of traffic load on the message loss ratio. 44
2.5 Impact of signature verification latency on the message end-to-end delay. 45
2.6 Impact of signature verification delay on the average message loss ratio. 46
3.1 System model. 53
3.2 OBU short-time anonymous key generation. 57
3.3 RSU valid serving ratio with different vehicle density d and different
average vehicle speed v, when R𝗋𝖺𝗇𝗀𝖾 = 300 m, T𝗄 = 34.8 ms, 𝜌 = 0.8. 62
3.4 Tracking probability in ECPP under different N𝗄 and different N𝖼 , where
1 ≤ N𝗄 ≤ 100, 1 ≤ N𝖼 ≤ 20. 65
3.5 Each OBU storage overhead of ECPP, GSB, and HAB in different n
revoked OBUs, with n varying from 1 to 50. 67
3.6 Time efficiency ratio 𝖳𝖤𝖦 = 𝖳𝖤𝖢𝖯𝖯 ∕𝖳𝖦𝖡𝖲 with a number of n revoked
OBUs, where n ranges from 1 to 50. 68
4.1 Pseudonyms link when they are changed at an inappropriate occasion. 72
4.2 Social spots including the road intersection and free parking lots. 74
4.3 Practical KPSD model for location privacy in VANETs. 76
4.4 Time cost comparison. 80
4.5 Pseudonym changing at an intersection. 81
4.6 Pseudonym changing at a free parking lot. 82
4.7 Timing diagram (there is no vehicle stopping in the parking lot initially). 82
4.8 ASS and LPG versus 1∕𝜆 with different TS at small social spot. 87
4.9 ASS and LPG versus 1∕𝜔 with 1∕𝜇 = 4 hours at large social spot. 88
4.10 ASS and LPG versus 1∕𝜇 with 1∕𝜔 = 40 minutes at large social spot. 88
5.1 VANET infrastructure. 92
5.2 The network model. 94

xi
xii LIST OF FIGURES

5.3 The format of the signed message. 94

5.4 (a) The ID-key table; (b) the trace evidence table. 98
5.5 The radio range of the RSU. 100
5.6 The ID-key table in the k-anonymity RAISE. 101
5.7 Average loss ratio vs. traffic load. 103
5.8 Average message delay vs. traffic load. 103
5.9 Communication overhead vs. traffic load. 104
5.10 Communication overhead vs. time interval. 105
6.1 Example of an m-bit standard Bloom filter. The filter begins as a bit
string of all zeros. Each item in the set is hashed k times, with each hash
yielding an index value of the bit string; these corresponding bits are set
to 1. 112
6.2 Dynamic virtual vehicle group formation. 112
6.3 Relationship between a hash chain and the corresponding packets. 114
6.4 The proposed security scheme. 115
6.5 An EMSS protocol case where each augmented packet contains the
digests of its three predecessors. 120
6.6 A proposed protocol case where the signature packet is sent every three
packets (assume that the size of the Bloom filter is m bits). 121
6.7 Comparison of communication overhead between the proposed scheme
and EMSS. 121
6.8 Architecture of an OBU system using a TPD. 122
6.9 Single-lane highway scenario. 126
6.10 Average bandwidth usage with different broadcast intervals. 127
6.11 Affected vehicles due to vehicle velocity standard deviation. 128
6.12 A city map Saha and Johnson [34] with span of 500 m. 130
6.13 Impact of vehicles’ moving speed. 132
6.14 Relationship between PD and vehicle density. 133
6.15 Relationship between PLR and vehicle density. 133
7.1 Cooperative gain. 141
7.2 Optimal number of original signatures. 142
7.3 Evidence–token mechanism. 143
7.4 Polar coordinates of vehicles. 143
7.5 Flowchart of the secure cooperative authentication scheme. 147
7.6 Simulation results. 149
8.1 Example of a road emergency response operation using a VANET. 154
8.2 Bogus traffic information. 155
8.3 Emergency event sensing in VANETs. 157
8.4 SER aggregation: syntactic aggregation and cryptographic aggregation. 164
8.5 Aggregated trustworthiness of emergency messages in VANETs. 166
8.6 Scenario of route path. 167
8.7 Comparing AEMAT with ECDSA-based authentication scheme with
different number of SERs. 170
9.1 Vehicular network architecture. 175
9.2 A three-layer perceptron network. 177
LIST OF FIGURES xiii

9.3 Initial vehicle authentication. 178

9.4 Movement direction prediction along a road. 180
9.5 Movement direction prediction at an intersection. 181
9.6 Vehicle preauthentication. 182
9.7 Intersection of the data collection. 184
Other documents randomly have
different content
which, besides the re-erection of the barrack on an improved plan,
chiefly consisted in the levelling or blasting of a flat surface of forty-
two feet diameter on the top of the rock from which the lighthouse
was to arise. This foundation pit was in itself a work of no small
magnitude, as it required for its excavation the labours of 20 men for
217 days, the firing of 296 shots, and the removal into deep water of
2,000 tons of material. The blasting, from the absence of all cover
and the impossibility of retiring to a distance farther in any case than
thirty feet, and often reduced to twelve, demanded all possible
carefulness.
The only precautions available were a skilful appointment of the
charge and the covering the mines with mats and coarse netting
made of old rope. Every charge was fired by or with the assistance
of the architect in person, and no mischief occurred.
The year 1840 had now arrived, and the construction of the
lighthouse was about to begin. Quarriers and labourers had been
busily employed in cutting blocks of stone in the quarries.
Carpenters were diligently engaged in making wooden moulds for
each lighthouse block wherewith to gauge its exact mathematical
figure. In April, a reinforcement of thirty-seven masons from
Aberdeen arrived at Tyree—men expert in the difficult work of
dressing granite—and, on April 30, the first visit was made to the
rock. To the great joy of all, the barrack constructed in the previous
season was found uninjured, though a mass of rock weighing about
five tons had been detached from its bed and carried right across
the foundation pit by the violence of the waves. In this barrack the
architect and his party now took up their quarters, which from the
frequent flooding of the apartments with water and from the heavy
spray that washed the walls were anything but agreeable. "Once,"
says the gallant engineer,[J] "we were fourteen days without
communication with the shore or the steamer, and during the
greater part of that time we saw nothing but white fields of foam as
far as the eye could reach; and heard nothing but the whistling of
the wind and the thunder of the waves, which was at times so loud
as to make it almost impossible to hear anyone speak. Such a scene,
with the ruins of the former barrack not twenty yards from us, was
calculated to inspire the most desponding anticipations; and I well
remember the undefined sense of dread that flashed on my mind,
on being awakened one night by a heavy sea which struck the
barrack and made my cot swing inwards from the wall, and was
immediately followed by a cry of terror from the men in the
apartment above me, most of whom, startled by the sound and the
tremor, sprang from their berths to the floor, impressed with the
idea that the whole fabric had been washed into the sea."
[J] Account of Skerryvore Lighthouse, by Alan Stevenson,
Engineer to the Northern Lighthouse Board. Edinburgh, 1848.

This spell of bad weather, though in summer, well-nigh outlasted

their provisions; and when at length they were able to make the
signal that a landing would be practicable, scarcely twenty-four
hours' stock remained on the rock. The landing of the heavy stones
from the lighters was a work of no small difficulty, considering the
slippery nature of the rock, and as the loss of one dressed stone
would frequently have delayed the whole progress of the building,
the anxiety was incessant. On July 4, the building of the tower really
commenced. Six courses of masonry carried the building to the
height of 8 feet 2 inches before the autumnal gales terminated the
work of 1840, and an excellent year's work it was. The saying that
"what is well begun is half done" was illustrated here. Next year's
work was comparatively easy—so that in 1842 the tower rose to its
full height of 138 feet; and the year after the light was shedding its
beneficent rays over the thirty miles of watery waste that surround
the hidden rocks of Skerryvore.
 The Skerryvore Lighthouse.

Well may we be proud of men like Smeaton and the Stevensons;

but, while justly admiring their architectural skill, their perseverance,
and their courage, we must not forget to offer the just tribute of our
gratitude to the eminent natural philosophers without whose
ingenious optical inventions the most splendid sea-towers would be
comparatively useless. The Pharus or lighthouse of Alexandria was,
probably with justice, reckoned among the seven wonders of the
world, and its several stories, rising on marble columns to the height
of 400 feet, must have presented an imposing spectacle, but I
strongly suspect that the rude brazier on the summit of the majestic
pile bore the same proportion to the lighthouse lanterns of our time
as the wretched coasting-craft of the ancient Greeks to the ocean
steamers of the present day. Among the names of those who have
contributed most effectually to the progress of marine illumination
Argand, Borda, and Fresnel are conspicuous. The hollow cylindrical
wick of the first was a sudden and immense advance in the art of
economical and effective illumination. The second, by his invention
of the parabolic mirror, multiplied the effect of the unassisted flame
by 450, and the refracting lens of Fresnel so admirably concentrates
the light as to project its warning beams to the wonderful distance
of thirty or thirty-five miles.
In former ages the efforts of man to provide a refuge to the
mariner from the fury of the raging gale were feeble and
insignificant. Content with the harbours that nature had provided, it
was then thought quite sufficient to line a river-bank with quays or
to enclose a natural pond by walls. The idea of raising colossal
breakwaters by casting whole quarries into the deep, or of extending
artificial promontories far into the bosom of the ocean, is of modern
date, and would have appeared chimerical not only to the ancients
but to our fathers not a century ago. The first great work of this
description is the famous breakwater planned by De Cessart in 1783,
and terminated in 1853, which has converted the open roadstead of
Cherbourg into a land-locked harbour. Rising from a depth of 40 feet
at low spring tides, on a coast where the floods attain a height of 19
feet, it opposes a front of 12,700 feet to the fury of the storm, and
carries 250 pieces of the heaviest cannon on its formidable brow.
It far surpasses in extent and boldness of construction the
breakwater at Plymouth, nor will it be eclipsed by the moles now
forming at Portland, Holyhead, and Alderney; but although it is a
more impressive spectacle to see man struggling with the ocean and
producing calmness and shelter in the midst of the raging storm,
than to contemplate his operations where he has no such
adversaries to subdue, still such buildings as those just described are
neither the largest nor the most expensive works required for the
accommodation of shipping. Witness the Cyclopean grandeur of the
Liverpool docks or of the Great Float at Birkenhead, which alone
covers an area of water of 121 acres, and whose portals, with a
clear opening of 100 feet, will admit the largest screw-steamer or
sailing ship the wildest imagination has yet conceived. Six millions of
money is the cost of this one work alone—more than would be
required to raise a pyramid like that of Cheops—and even this sum is
a trifle when compared with what has been spent on the harbours of
Liverpool, London, and other great commercial cities.
Not satisfied with erecting his lighthouses on wave-worn rocks or
defying the waves with his colossal breakwaters, man spans bridges
over arms of the sea and excavates mines under the abysses of the
deep. The locomotive now rolls full speed 100 feet above high water
over the strait which separates Anglesea from the mainland; and in
Botallack and several other Cornish mines the workman, while
resting from his subterranean labours, hears the awful voice of the
ocean rolling over his head.
"In all these submarine mines," says Mr. Henwood, "I have heard
the dashing of the billows and the grating of the shingle when in
calm weather. I was once, however, underground in Wheal Cock
during a storm. At the extremity of the level seaward some eighty or
one hundred fathoms from the shore, little could be heard of its
effects, except at intervals, when the reflux of some unusually large
wave projected a pebble outward, bounding and rolling over the
rocky bottom. But when standing beneath the base of the cliff, and
in that part of the mine where but nine feet of rock stood between
us and the ocean, the heavy roll of the large boulders, the ceaseless
grinding of the pebbles, the fierce thundering of the billows, with the
crackling and boiling as they rebounded, placed a tempest in its
most appalling form too vividly before me ever to be forgotten. More
than once doubting the protection of our rocky shield, we retreated
in affright, and it was only after repeated trials that we had
confidence to pursue our investigations." Yet the miners,
accustomed from their early youth to the fierce and threatening
roaring of the stormy sea, pursue their work from year to year, never
doubting that the thin roof which separates them from a watery
grave will continue to protect them, as it has shielded their fathers
before them.
 PART II.

THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA.

 CHAP. VIII.

THE CETACEANS.
 General Remarks on the Organisation of the Cetaceans.
—The Large Greenland Whale.—His Food and
Enemies.—The Fin-Back or Rorqual.—The Antarctic
Whale.—The Sperm-Whale.—The Unicorn Fish.—
The Dolphin.—Truth and Fable.—The Porpoise.—
The Grampus.—History of the Whale Fishery.
Of all the living creatures that people the immensity of ocean,
the cetaceans, or the whale family, are the most perfect. Their
anatomical construction renders them in many respects similar to
man, and their heart is susceptible of a warmth of feeling unknown
to the cold-blooded fishes; for the mother shows signs of
attachment to her young, and forgets her own safety when some
danger menaces her offspring. Like man, the cetaceans breathe
through lungs, and possess a double heart, receiving and propelling
streams of warm red blood. The anatomical structure of their
pectoral fins bears great resemblance to that of the human arm, as
the bony structure of those organs equally consists of a shoulder-
blade, an upper arm, a radius and ulna, and five fingers.
But the arm, which in man moves freely, is here chained to the
body as far as the hand, and the latter, which, in obedience to
human volition and intellect, executes such miracles of industry and
art, is here covered with a thick skin, and appears as a broad
undivided fin or flapper. Yet still it is destined for higher service than
that of a mere propelling oar, as it serves the mother to guide and
shield her young. The lower extremities are of course wanting, but
their functions are performed by the mighty horizontal tail, by whose
powerful strokes the unwieldy animal glides rapidly through the
waters.
The cetaceans distinguish themselves, moreover, from the fishes
by the bringing forth of living young, by a greater quantity of blood,
by the smoothness of their skin, under which is found a thick layer
of fat, and by their simple or double blow-hole, which is situated at
the top of the head, and corresponds to the nostrils of the
quadrupeds, though not for the purpose of smelling, but merely as
an organ of respiration.
Our knowledge of the cetaceans
is still very incomplete; and this is
not to be wondered at, when we
consider that they chiefly dwell in the
most inaccessible parts of the ocean,
and that when met with, the
swiftness of their movements rarely
allows more than a flighty view of
their external form. Thus their habits
and mode of living are mostly
enveloped in obscurity; and while
doubtless many cetaceans are to the
present day unknown, one and the
same species has not seldom been
described under different names, to
the no small confusion of the
naturalist.
The cetaceans are either without
a dental apparatus, or provided with
teeth. The former, or the whalebone
whales, have two blow-holes on the
top of the head, in the form of two
longitudinal fissures; while in the
latter, (sperm-whales, unicorn-fish,
dolphins,) which comprise by far the
greater number of species, there is
but one transversal spout-hole. In all
whales the larynx is continued to the
spouting canal, and deeply inserted
Bones of the Anterior Fin of a
Whale. or closely imbricated within its tube.
Thus no tones approaching to a
voice can be emitted except through
the spiracles, which are encumbered with valves, and evidently badly
adapted for the transmission of sound. Scoresby assures us that the
Greenland whale has no voice, and Bennett frequently noticed
sperm-whales suffering from extreme alarm and injury, but never
heard any sound from them beyond that attending an ordinary
respiration.
The whalebone whales are either smooth-backs (Balænæ), or
fin-backs (Balænopteræ), having a vertical fin rising from the lower
part of the back. To the former belongs the mighty Greenland Whale
(Balæna mysticetus), the most bulky of living animals, and of all
cetaceans the most useful and important to man. Its greatest length,
according to Scoresby, is from sixty to seventy feet, and round the
thickest part of its body it measures from thirty to forty feet, but the
incessant persecutions to which it is subjected scarcely ever allow it
to attain its full growth.
The whale being somewhat lighter than the medium in which it
swims, its weight may be ascertained with tolerable accuracy; and
Scoresby tells us that a stout animal of sixty feet weighs about
seventy tons, allowing thirty to the blubber, eight or ten to the
bones, and thirty or thirty-two to the carcase. The lightness of the
whale, which enables it to keep its crown, in which the blow-hole is
situated, and a considerable extent of back above the water, without
any effort or motion, is not only owing to its prodigious case of fat,
but also to the lightness of its bones, most of which are very porous
and contain large quantities of fine oil; an admirable provision of
nature for the wants of a creature destined to breathe the
atmospheric air, and to skim its food from the surface of the waters.
The unsightly animal shows disproportion in all its organs. While
the tail fin measures twenty-four feet across, the pectoral fins or
paddles are no more than six feet long. The monstrous head forms
about the third of the whole body, and is furnished with an equally
monstrous mouth, which on opening exhibits a cavity about the size
of an ordinary ship's cabin. The leviathans of the dry land, the
elephant, the rhinoceros, and the hippopotamus, are provided with
tusks and teeth corresponding to their size—huge weapons fit for
eradicating trees or crushing the bone-harnessed crocodile; but the
masticatory implements of the giant of the seas are scarcely capable
of dividing the smallest food. Instead of teeth, its enormous upper
jaw is beset with about 500 laminæ of whalebone, ranged side by
side, two-thirds of an inch apart, the thickness of blade included,
and resembling a frame of saws in a saw-mill. Their interior edges
are covered with fringes of hair; externally they are curved and
flattened down, so as to present a smooth surface to the lips. The
largest laminæ, situated on both sides of the jaw, attain a length of
fifteen feet, and measure from twelve to fifteen inches at their base;
in front and towards the back of the mouth they are much shorter.
Besides these, there are suspended
from the palate many other small laminæ
of the thickness of a quill, a few inches
long, and likewise terminating in a fringe.
Thus the whole roof of the mouth
resembles a shaggy fur, under which lies
Skull of Whale, with the
Baleen.
the soft and spongy tongue, a monstrous
mass often ten feet broad and eighteen
feet long.
This whole formation is beautifully adapted to
the peculiar nourishment of the whale, which does
not consist, as one might suppose, of the larger
fishes, but of the minute animals, (Medusæ,
Entomostraca, Clio borealis, and other pteropod
molluscs,) with which its pasture-grounds in the
northern seas abound. To gather food, it swims
Clio borealis.
rapidly with open mouth over the surface; and on
closing the wide gates, and expelling the foaming
streams, the little creatures remain entangled by
thousands in the fringy thicket as in a net; there to be crushed and
bruised by the tongue into a savoury pulp. Fancy the vast numbers
requisite to keep a monster of seventy tons in good condition.
 The back of the whale is usually of a fine glossy black, marked
with whitish rays, which have some resemblance to the veins of
wood. This mixture of colours presents an agreeable appearance,
especially when the back of the fish is illuminated with the rays of
the sun. The under part of the trunk and of the lower jaw is of a
dead white. The skin is about an inch thick, and covers a layer of fat
of fifteen inches; a most excellent coat for keeping the whale warm
and increasing its buoyancy, but at the same time the chief cause
which induces man to pursue it with the deadly harpoon.
The usual march of the whale over the waters is rarely more than
four miles an hour, but its speed increases to an astonishing rapidity
when terror or the agonies of pain drive it madly through the sea.
In its sportive humours it is sometimes seen to spring out of the
water, and to remain suspended for a moment in the air. On falling
back again into the sea, high foam-crested fountains spout forth on
all sides, and mighty waves propagate the tumult in widening circles
over the troubled ocean. Or else it raises its bulky head vertically on
high, so that the deceived mariner fancies he sees some black rock
looming out of the distant waters. But suddenly the fancied cliff
turns round and brandishes playfully its enormous flukes in the air,
or lashes the waters with such prodigious power, that the sound rolls
far away like thunder over the deserts of the ocean.
Strange to say, the giant is of so cowardly a nature, that the sight
of a sea-bird often fills him with the greatest terror, and causes him
to avoid the imaginary danger by a sudden plunge into the deep.
Besides man, a vast number of enemies, great and small,
persecute the whale and embitter his life.
The Sword-fish (Xiphias Gladius) and the Thresher or Sea-fox, a
species of shark (Carcharias Vulpes), often attack him conjointly and
in packs. As soon as his back appears above the water, the
threshers, springing several yards into the air, descend with great
violence upon the object of their rancour, and inflict upon him the
most severe slaps with their long tails, the sound of which resembles
the report of distant musketry. The sword-fish, in their turn, attack
the distressed whale, stabbing from below; and thus beset on all
sides, and bleeding from countless wounds, the huge animal, though
dealing the most dreadful blows with its enormous tail, and lashing
the crimsoned waters into foam, is obliged to succumb at last.
The Greenland Shark (Squalus borealis) is also one of the
bitterest enemies of the whale, biting and annoying it while living,
and feeding on it when dead. It scoops hemispherical pieces out of
its body nearly as big as a man's head, and continues scooping and
gorging lump after lump, until the whole cavity of its belly is filled. It
is so insensible of pain, that, though it has been run through the
body, and escaped, yet after a while Scoresby has seen it return to
banquet again on the whale at the very spot where it received its
wounds. The heart, as is frequently the case with gluttons, bears no
proportion to its vast capacity of stomach; for it is very small, and
performs only six or eight pulsations in a minute, continuing its
beating for some hours after having been taken out of the body. The
body also, though separated into any number of parts, gives
evidence of life for a similar length of time. It is therefore so difficult
to kill, that it is actually unsafe to trust the hand in its mouth though
the head be separated from the body.
Strange to say, though the whale-fishers frequently slip into the
water where sharks abound, Scoresby never heard an instance of
their having been attacked by one of these voracious monsters.
Perhaps they are loth to attack man, looking upon him as their best
purveyor.

Saw of the Saw-fish.

 Fishermen relate that the whale and saw-fish, whenever they
come together, engage in deadly combat; the latter invariably
making the attack with inconceivable fury.
"The meeting of these champions proud
Seems like the bursting thunder cloud."
The whale, whose only defence is his tail, endeavours to strike
his enemy with it; and a single blow would prove mortal. But the
saw-fish, with astonishing agility, shuns the tremendous stroke,
bounds into the air, and returns upon his huge adversary, plunging
the rugged weapon with which he is furnished into his back. The
whale is still more irritated by this wound, which only becomes fatal
when it penetrates the fat; and thus pursuing and pursued, striking
and stabbing, the engagement only ends with the death of one of
the unwieldy combatants.
Even the white-bear is said to attack the whale, watching his
approach to the sea-shore; but the enmity of the narwhal is
evidently fabulous, as both cetaceans may frequently be seen
together in perfect harmony.
Besides these formidable attacks of what may be considered as
more or less noble foes, the whale is constantly harassed by the
bites of the vilest insects. A large species of louse adheres by
thousands to its back, and gnaws this animated pasture-ground, so
as to cover it frequently with one vast sore. In the summer, when
this plague is greatest, numbers of aquatic birds accompany the
whale, and settle on his back, as soon as it appears above the water,
in order to feed upon these disgusting parasites.
Barnacles often cover the whale in such masses, that
his black skin disappears under a whitish mantle, and
even sea-weeds attach themselves to his vast jaws,
floating like a beard, and reminding one of Birnam's
wandering forest.
 As its name testifies, the home of the Greenland Whale
whale is confined to the high northern seas, where it Louse.
has been met with in the open waters or along every
ice-bound shore as far as man has penetrated towards
the Pole. The southern limit of its excursions seems to be about 60°
N. lat. It never visits the North Sea, and is seldom found within 200
miles of the British coasts. Its favourite resorts are the so-called
whale-grounds,[K] between 74° and 80° N. lat., where the warmth,
imparted to the water by the Gulf-stream, favours the multiplication
of the small marine animals which form the nourishment of the
Leviathan of the seas.
[K] See page 20.

Sometimes open spaces in the ice, abounding in minute

crustaceans and medusæ, attract a larger number of whales, but the
huge creature cannot be said to live in larger herds or associations.
The Fin-fish or northern Rorqual (Balænoptera boops, musculus)
attains a greater length than the sleek-backed Greenland whale, but
does not equal it in bulk, having a more elongated form and a more
tapering head. Its whalebone is much shorter and coarser, being
adapted to a different kind of food, for, despising the minute
medusæ and crustaceans which form the food of its huge relation,
the more nimble rorqual pursues the herring and the mackerel on
their wandering path. Like the blubber-whale, the fin-back is black
above, white below, but distinguishes itself by long and numerous
blood-red streaks or furrows, running under the lower jaw and
breast as far as the middle of the belly. This is the species of whale
which not unfrequently strands on our shores, for though an
inhabitant of the Arctic seas, it wanders farther to the south than the
Greenland whale. It is seldom harpooned, for the produce of oil is
not equivalent to the expense, the risk, and the danger attending its
capture.
In the southern hemisphere, the Antarctic Smooth-backed Whale
(B. antarctica), a species similar to the Greenland whale, though of
less bulk, is the chief object of the fisherman's pursuit. It hangs
much about the coasts in the temperate latitudes, and loves the
neighbouring seas, where the discoloured waters afford the richest
repasts, but is not known in the central parts of the Pacific. In the
spring it resorts to the bays on the coasts of Chili, South Africa, the
Brazils, Australia, New Zealand, Van Diemen's Land, &c. &c., where it
is attacked either by stationary fishermen, or by whalers, who at
that time leave the high seas.
Farther towards the pole Hump-backs and Fin-backs abound; but
these are far from equalling the former in value. When Dumont
d'Urville, returning from his expedition to the south pole, told the
whalers whom he found in the Bay of Talcahuano of the great
number of cetaceans he had seen in the higher latitudes, their eyes
glistened at the pleasing prospect; but when he added that they
were only hump-backs and fin-backs, they did not conceal their
disappointment; for the hump-back is meagre, and not worth the
boiling, and the fin-back dives with such rapidity, that he snaps the
harpoon line, or drags the boat along with him into the water.
The Sperm-Whale, or Cachalot (Physeter macrocephalus), rivals
the great smooth-backed whales both in its various utility to man
and the colossal dimensions of its unwieldy body. The largest
authentically recorded size of the uncouth animal is seventy-six feet
by thirty-eight in girth; but whalers are well contented to consider
fifty-five or sixty feet the average length of the largest examples
they commonly obtain. The male, however, alone attains these
ample proportions; the adult female does not exceed thirty or at
most thirty-five feet, so that there is a greater disproportion of size
between sexes than in any other known species of cetaceans.
The form of the beast is without symmetry, and from the general
absence of other prominent organs than the tail or pectoral fins, can
be compared to little else than a dark rock or the bole of some giant
tree. The prevailing colour is a dull black, occasionally marked with
white, especially on the abdomen and tail. The summit of the head
and trunk presents a plane surface, until about the posterior third of
the back, whence arises a hump or spurious fin of pyramidal form,
and entirely composed of fat. From this embossed appendage an
undulating series of six or eight similar, but smaller elevations,
occupies the upper margin or ridge of the tail to the commencement
of the caudal fin. The pectoral fins or paddles are placed a short
distance behind the head; they are triangular in shape, diminutive as
compared with the size of the whale, and being connected to the
trunk by a ball and socket joint, possess free movement, either
vertical or horizontal.

Cuttle-fish (Sepia).

Owing to the flexibility of the tail, the movements of the tail-fin,

or "flukes," which sometimes measures eighteen feet across, are
exceedingly extensive, whilst its power may be estimated by the
gigantic bundles of round tendons, which pass on either side the
loins, to be inserted into its base. Whether wielded in sportive mood
or in anger, its action is marked by rapidity and ease, and when
struck forcibly on the surface of the ocean, produces a report which
may be heard at a considerable distance. In progression, the action
of this organ is precisely the reverse of that of the tail of the lobster,
for whilst the latter animal swims backward by striking the water
with its tail from behind forwards, the cachalot and other cetaceans
swim forward by striking with their flukes in the contrary direction,
the fin being brought beneath the body by an oblique and
unresisting movement; while the act of springing it back and
straightening the tail propels the animal ahead with an undulating or
leaping gait. When employed offensively the tail is curved in a
direction contrary to that of the object aimed at, and the blow is
inflicted by the force of the recoil. The lower jaw appears diminutive,
slender, and not unlike the lower mandible of a bird. When the
mouth is closed it is received within the soft parts pendent from the
border of the upper jaw, and is nearly concealed by them. True and
serviceable teeth are situated only in the lower jaw, and are received
into corresponding sockets in the upper jaw. In aged males they are
of great solidity and size, attaining a weight of from two to four
pounds each; their entire structure is ivory. This powerful armament
shows us at once that the food of the cachalot must be very
different from that of the whalebone cetaceans; it generally consists
of cuttle-fish, many kinds of which are ejected from its stomach
when it is attacked by the boats, as well as after death. Owing to the
great projection of the snout beyond the lower jaw, it may be
requisite for this whale to turn on its side or back to seize its more
bulky prey; a supposition strengthened by the fact that, when the
animal attacks a boat with its mouth, it invariably assumes a
reversed posture, carrying the lower jaw above the object it is
attempting to bite. As long as it continues on the surface of the sea,
the cachalot casts from its nostril a constant succession of spouts, at
intervals of ten or fifteen seconds. As in all whales, the jets are not,
as frequently imagined, water-columns, but a thick white mist
ejected by one continual effort to the height of six or eight feet, and
rushing forth with a sound resembling a moderate surf upon a
smooth beach. The peculiar fat or sperm which renders the cachalot
so valuable, is chiefly situated in the head. Junk is the name given
by the fishermen to a solid mass of soft, yellow, and oily fat,
weighing between two and three tons, based on the upper jaw, and
forming the front and lower part of the snout; while the cavity called
case is situated beneath and to the right of the spouting canal, and
corresponds to nearly the entire length of that tube. It is filled with a
very delicate web of cellular tissue, containing in large cells a limpid
and oily fluid, which is liberated by the slightest force. The quantity,
chiefly spermaceti, contained in this singular receptacle, is often very
considerable, nearly 500 gallons having been obtained from the case
of one whale. So vast an accumulation of fat has obviously been
intended to insure a correct position in swimming, to facilitate the
elevation of the spiracle above the surface of the sea, and to
counteract the weight of the bony and other ponderous textures of
the head; objects which in the Greenland whale are sufficiently
attained by a similar accumulation of fat in the lips and tongue, and
by the more elevated situation of the spout-hole.
While the large whalebone whales generally roam about in
solitary couples, the cachalot forms large societies. Schools,
consisting of from twenty to fifty individuals, are composed of
females attended by their young, and associated with at least one
adult male of the largest size, who generally takes a defensive
position in the rear when the school is flying from danger.
Pods are smaller congregations of young or half-grown males,
which have been driven from the maternal schools. Two or more
schools occasionally coalesce to a "body of whales," so that
Bennett[L] sometimes saw the ocean for several miles around the
ship swarming with sperm leviathans, and strewn with a constant
succession of spouts. These large assemblies sometimes proceed at
a rapid pace in one determinate direction, and are then soon lost
sight of; at other times they bask and sleep upon the surface,
spouting leisurely, and exhibiting every indication of being at home,
or on their feeding ground. Like most gregarious animals, the
cachalots are naturally timid. A shoal of dolphins leaping in their
vicinity is sufficient to put a whole school to flight: yet occasionally
fighting individuals are met with; particularly among those morose
solitary animals that most likely from their intolerable character have
been turned out of the society of their kind. The central deserts of
ocean, or the neighbourhood of the steepest coasts, are the chief
resort of the cachalot; and so great is the difference of his habitat
from that of the smooth-backed whales, that during the whole time
Bennett was cruising in quest of cachalots, he in no single instance
saw an example of the true whale. The cachalot is more especially
found on the line-currents, which extend from the equator to about
the seventh degree of north and south latitudes, yet it has been
noticed in the Mediterranean, and one individual, a stray sheep
indeed, has even been captured in the Thames.
[L] Narrative of a Whaling Voyage round the Globe.

The Narwal, or Unicorn-fish, attains a length of from twenty to

twenty-five feet. He is of a grey-white colour, punctured with many
white spots, and as his head is not disproportionate to the length of
his body, may rank among the handsomest cetaceans. He
distinguishes himself, as is well known, from all other members of
the family by the long twisted tooth or horn projecting horizontally
from the upper jaw. This mighty weapon, the true use of which has
not yet been fully ascertained, was formerly sold at a very high
price, as proceeding from the fabulous unicorn; at present, it is only
paid according to the worth of its excellent ivory, which is harder,
heavier, and less liable to turn yellow than that of the elephant. The
whalers are therefore highly delighted when they can pick up a
chance narwal, but this only succeeds in narrow bays; for the
unicorn-fish is an excellent swimmer, and extremely watchful. In
spite of his menacing appearance, he is a harmless sociable
creature, fond of gambolling and crossing swords playfully with his
compeers. It is remarkable that the opening of the mouth of so huge
an animal is scarcely large enough to admit the hand of a man.
Scoresby found in the stomach of a narwal remains of cuttle fishes,
which seem to form his chief aliment, besides pieces of skates and
plaice. The narwal is frequent about Davis' Straits and Disco Bay, but
is nowhere found in the Pacific, having most likely not yet discovered
the north-western passage. He rarely wanders into the temperate
seas, yet one was caught, in 1800, near Boston in Lincolnshire, and
two others, in 1736, on the German coast of the North Sea.
The Dolphin tribe is distinguished from the cachalot by a more
proportionate head; from the narwal by the absence of the long
horn; and generally possesses sharp teeth in both jaws, all of one
form. The number of species is very great; Linnæus distinguished
four sperm-whales and three dolphins; now many naturalists
acknowledge but one species of the former, while the dolphins have
increased to more than thirty, and many are as yet unknown.
The most famous member of this
numerous family is undoubtedly the
classical Dolphin of the ancients
(Delphinus delphis) which attains a
length of from nine to ten feet, and is,
according to Pliny, the swiftest of all Delphinus Delphis.
animals, so as to merit the appellation of
the "arrow of the sea." His lively troops
often accompany for days the track of a ship, and agreeably
interrupt the monotony of a long sea-voyage. As if in mockery of the
most rapid sailer, they shoot past so as to vanish from the eye, and
then return again with the same lightning-like velocity. Their spirits
are so brisk that they frequently leap into the air, as if longing to
expatiate in a lighter fluid. Hence, dolphins are the favourites of the
mariner and the poet, who have vied in embellishing their history
with the charms of fiction.
Everybody knows the wonderful story of Arion, who having been
forced by pirates to leap into the sea, proceeded merrily to his
journey's end on the back of a dolphin:—
"Secure he sits, and with harmonious strains
Requites his bearer for his friendly pains.
The gods approve, the dolphin heaven adorns,
And with nine stars a constellation forms."
Pliny relates the no less astonishing tale of a boy at Baiæ, who
by feeding it with bread, gained the affections of a dolphin, so that
the thankful creature used to convey him every morning to school
across the sea to Puteoli, and back again. When the boy died, the
poor disconsolate dolphin returned every morning to the spot where
he had been accustomed to meet his friend, and soon fell a victim to
his grief. The same naturalist tells us also that the dolphins at
Narbonne rendered themselves very useful to the fishermen by
driving the fish into their nets, and were generously rewarded for
their assistance with "bread soaked in wine." A king of Caria having
chained a dolphin in the harbour, its afflicted associates appeared in
great numbers, testifying their anxiety for its deliverance by such
unequivocal signs of sorrow, that the king, touched with
compassion, restored the prisoner to liberty.
Such, and similar fables, which were believed by the naturalists
of antiquity, are laughed at even by the old women of our times. The
dolphin is in no respects superior to the other cetaceans; his musical
taste is as low as zero, and if, like the bonito and albacore, he
follows a ship for days together, it is most surely not out of affection
for man, but on account of the offal that is thrown overboard. But do
not many human friendships repose on similar selfish motives?

The Porpoise.

The Porpoise (Delphinus Phocœna), which only attains a length

of five or six feet, and seems to be the smallest of all cetaceans, is
frequently confounded with the dolphin. It is at home in the whole
Northern Atlantic, in the Mediterranean, and the Euxine. While the
dolphin prefers the high sea, the porpoise loves tranquil bays and
cliff-sheltered shores, and often swims up the rivers, so that
individuals have been caught in the Elbe and Seine as high up as
Dessau and Paris. The porpoise is a no less excellent swimmer than
the dolphin, making at least fifteen miles an hour. His rapidity and
sharp teeth render him a most dangerous enemy to all the lesser fry
of the ocean, whose sole refuge lies in the shallowest waters. When
he rises to the surface to draw breath, the back only appears, the
head and tail are kept under water. At the entrance of harbours,
where he is frequently seen gambolling, his undulatory or leaping
movements, now rising with a grunt, now sinking to reappear again
at some distance, afford an entertaining spectacle.
A much more formidable animal, the largest of the whole dolphin
tribe, is the ravenous Grampus, (Delphinus Orca,) which measures
no less than twenty-five feet in length, and twelve or thirteen in
girth. The upper part of the body is black, the lower white: the
dorsal fin rises in the shape of a cone, to the height of three feet or
more.
All naturalists agree in describing the grampus as the most
voracious of the dolphin family. Its ordinary food is the seal and
some species of flat-fish, but it also frequently gives chase to the
porpoise, and perhaps the whale would consider the grampus as his
most formidable enemy, were it not for the persecutions of man.
Pliny gives us a fine description of the conflicts which arise between
these monsters of the deep. At the time when the whale resorts to
the bays to cast its young, it is attacked by the grampus, who either
lacerates it with his dreadful jaws, or in rapid onset endeavours to
strike in its ribs, as with a catapult. The terrified whale knows no
other way to escape from these furious attacks, than by interposing
a whole sea between him and his enemy. But the grampus, equally
wary and active, cuts off his retreat, and drives the whale into
narrower and narrower waters, forcing him to bruise himself on the
sharp rocks, or to strand upon the shelving sands, nor ceases his
efforts until he has gained a complete victory. During this fight the
sea seems to rage against itself, for though no wind may be stirring
the surface, waves, such as no storm creates, rise under the strokes
of the infuriated combatants.
While the Emperor Claudius was visiting the harbour of Ostium, a
grampus stranded in the shallow waters. The back appeared above
the surface of the sea, and resembled a ship with its keel turned
upwards. The Emperor caused nets to be stretched across the
mouth of the harbour to prevent the animal's escape, and then
attacked it in person with his prætorian guards. The soldiers
surrounding the monster in boats, and hurling their inglorious
spears, exhibited an amusing spectacle to the populace.

That man ventures to pursue the leviathans of the deep among

the fogs and icebergs of the Arctic seas, and is generally successful
in their capture, may surely be considered as one of the proudest
triumphs of his courage and his skill.
The breast of the first navigator, says Horace, was cased with
triple steel; but of what adamantine materials must that man's heart
have been formed, whose steadfast hand hurled the first harpoon
against the colossal whale?
History has not preserved his name; like the great warriors that
lived before Agamemnon, he sank into an obscure grave for want of
a Homer to celebrate his exploits. We only know that the Biscayans
were the first civilised people that in the fourteenth and fifteenth
century fitted out ships for the whale fishery. At first the bold men of
Bayonne and Santander contented themselves with pursuing their
prey, (most likely rorquals) in the neighbouring seas, but as the
persecuted whales diminished in frequency, they followed them
farther to the north, until they came to the haunts of the real whale,
whose greater abundance of fat rewarded their intrepidity with a
richer spoil.
Their success naturally roused the emulation and avidity of other
seafaring nations, and thus, towards the end of the sixteenth
century, we see the English, and soon after the Dutch, enter the lists
as their competitors. At first our countrymen were obliged to send to
"Biskaie for men skilful in catching the whale, and ordering of the oil,
and one cooper, skilful to set up the staved casks," (Hakluyt's
Voyages, i. 414); but soon, by their skill, their industry and
perseverance, together with the aid and encouragement granted by
the legislature, they learnt to carry on the whale fishery on more
advantageous terms than the original adventurers, whose efforts
became less enterprising as their success was more precarious.
 The first attempts of the English date as far back as the year
1594, when some ships were sent out to Cape Breton for morse and
whale fishing. The fishing proved unsuccessful, but they found in an
island 800 whale fins or whalebone, part of the cargo of a Biscayan
ship wrecked there three years before, which they put on board and
brought home. This was the first time this substance was imported
into England.
Hull took the lead in the Greenland whale fishery in 1598,
thirteen years after the first company for that purpose had been
formed in Amsterdam, and as both maritime nations gave it every
encouragement, not only on account of its profits, but also from
considering it as one of the best nurseries for their seamen, it
gradually grew to a very important branch of business. Some idea
may be formed of the extent to which the Dutch engaged in the
whale fishery during the last century, by stating that for a period of
forty-six years preceding 1722, 5886 ships were employed in it, and
captured 32,907 whales.
In the year 1788, 222 English vessels were employed in the
northern fishery.
The earliest period at which we find the pursuit of the sperm-
whale conducted upon a scientific plan is about 1690, when it was
commenced by the American colonists. In 1775, ships were first sent
out from ports of Great Britain, but for some years it was necessary
to appoint an American commander and harpooner until competent
officers could be reared. At the same early date the sperm fishery
was chiefly prosecuted in the Atlantic, but Messrs. Enderby's ship
"Emilia" having rounded Cape Horn in 1788, first carried the sperm-
whale fishery into the Pacific, where its success opened a wide and
fruitful field for future exertions. As our whalers became better
acquainted with the South Sea, many valuable resorts were
discovered. In 1819 the "Syren" (British) first carried on the fishery
in the western parts of that great ocean, and in the year 1848 the
American whaler "Superior," Captain Roys, penetrated through
Behring's Straits into the Icy Sea, and opened the fishery in those
remote waters. The year after no less than 154 vessels followed
upon his track, and the number has been increasing ever since. At
present the Americans are the people which carries on the whale
fishery with the greatest energy and good fortune. While of late
years only thirty or forty British sail have been employed in the
Pacific, our cousins "across the Atlantic" numbered in the year 1841
no less than 650 whalers, manned by 13,500 seamen. One of the
causes of their success may be, that while the whale fishery in
England is carried on by men of large capital, who are the sole
proprietors of the ship, the American interest in one vessel is held by
many men of small capital, and not unfrequently by the commander
and officers. It must, however, not be forgotten that the Australian
colonies, being more conveniently situated than the mother country,
fit out many ships for the whale fishery, which is besides conducted
in several permanent stations along the coasts of New Zealand, &c.
Whale charts have of late years been drawn, on which the best
fishing grounds at different seasons are delineated. These maps are
not only useful guides for the fishermen, but promise the future
solution of the still undecided question of the migration of whales.
While some naturalists are of opinion that the cetaceans, flying from
the pursuit of man, abandon their old haunts for more sequestered
regions, others, like M. Jacquinot (Zoologie, Voyage de l'Astrolabe et
de la Zèlée) believe that if the whaler is continually obliged to look
out for more productive seas, it is not because the whale has
migrated, but because he has been nearly extirpated in one place
and left unmolested in another.
The Greenland whale fishery was for more than a hundred years
confined to the seas between Spitzbergen and Greenland; the
entrance and east shore of Davis' Straits not being frequented before
the beginning of the last century. Since then the expeditions of Ross
and Parry have made the whalers acquainted with a number of
admirable stations on the farther side of Davis' Straits and in the
higher latitudes of Baffin's Bay. The vessels destined for that quarter
sail usually in March, though some delay their departure till the
middle or even the end of April. They proceed first to the northern
parts of the coast of Labrador, or to the mouth of Cumberland Strait,
carrying on what is called the south-west fishery. After remaining
there till about the beginning of May, they cross to the eastern shore
of the strait and fish upwards along the coast, particularly in South-
east Bay, North-east Bay, Kingston Bay, or Horn Sound.
About the month of July they usually cross Baffin's Bay to
Lancaster Sound, which they sometimes enter, and occasionally even
ascend Barrow's Strait twenty or thirty miles. In returning, they fish
down the western shore, where their favourite stations are Pond's
Bay, Agnes' Monument, Home Bay, and Cape Searle, and sometimes
persevere till late in October. The casualties are generally very great,
the middle of Baffin's Bay being filled with a compact and continuous
barrier, through which, till a very advanced period of the season, it is
impossible for the navigator to penetrate. Between this central body
and that attached to the land, there intervenes a narrow and
precarious passage, where many a vessel has been crushed or
pressed out of the water and laid upon the ice. In 1819 ten ships
were lost out of sixty-three, and in 1821 eleven out of seventy-nine.
Fortunately the loss of lives is seldom to be deplored, as the weather
is generally calm and the crew has time enough to escape in another
vessel.
Whale fishing is not only a very dangerous and laborious pursuit,
it is also extremely precarious and uncertain in its results.
Sometimes a complete cargo of oil and whalebone is captured in a
short time, but it also happens that after a long cruise not a single
fish is caught—a result equally unfortunate for the ship owner and
the crew, who look to a share of the profits for their pay.
How much the whale fishery depends upon chance is shown by
the following facts. In the year 1718 the Dutch Greenland fleet,
consisting of 108 ships, captured 1291 fish, worth at least 650,000l.,
while in the year 1710, 137 ships took no more than 62. Various
meteorological circumstances—the prevalence of particular winds,
the character of the summer or preceding winter—are probably the
causes of the extraordinary failure and success of the fishery in
different years. The Pacific is as fallacious as the Arctic seas. Thus
Dumont d'Urville met in the Bay of Talcahuano with several whalers,
one of whom had rapidly filled half his ship, while the others had
cruised more than a year without having harpooned a single fish. In
such cases the captains have the greatest trouble in preventing their
men from deserting, who, being disappointed in their hopes,
naturally enough look out for a better chance elsewhere.
The method of whale catching has been so often and so minutely
described, that it is doubtless familiar to the reader. As soon as a
whale is in sight, boats are got out with all speed, and row or sail as
silently and quietly as possible towards the monster. One of the crew
—the man of unflinching eye and nervous arm—stands upright,
harpoon in hand, ready to hurl the murderous spear into the
animal's side, as soon as the proper moment shall have come. When
struck the whale dives down perpendicularly with fearful velocity, or
goes off horizontally with lightning speed, at a short distance from
the surface, dragging after him the line to which the barbed
instrument of his agony is fixed. But soon the necessity of
respiration forces him to rise again above the waters, when a second
harpoon, followed by a third or fourth at every reappearance,
plunges into his flank. Maddened with pain and terror, he lashes the
crimsoned waters into foam, but all his efforts to cast off the darts
that lacerate his flesh are vain, and his gaping wounds, though not
"as deep as wells, nor as wide as church-doors," are still large
enough to let out sufficient blood even to exhaust a whale. His
movements become more and more languid and slow, his gasping
and snorting more and more oppressed, a few convulsive heavings
agitate the mighty mass, and then it floats inert and lifeless on the
waters. As soon as death is certain—for to the last moment a
convulsive blow of the mighty tail might dash the overhasty boat to
pieces—the whale is lashed by chains to the vessel's side, stripped of
his valuable fat, and then left to float, a worthless carcase, on the
heaving ocean.
 And now, man having taken his share, there begins a magnificent
feast for birds and fishes. Crowds of fulmars, snow birds, or
kittiwakes, flock together from all sides to enjoy the delicious repast;
but their delight, so rare is perfect felicity on earth, is but too often
disturbed by their terrible rival the blue gull (Larus glaucus), which,
while it rivals them in rapacity, surpasses them all in strength, and
forces them to disgorge the daintiest morsels. Meanwhile sharks,
saw-fishes, and whatever else possesses sharp teeth and boldness
enough to mix among such formidable company, are busy biting,
hacking, scooping, and cutting below the water line, so that in a
short time, notwithstanding its vast bulk, the carrion disappears.
The catching of the whale does not always end so fortunately as
I have just described. Sometimes the line becomes entangled, and
drags the boat into the abyss; or the tail of the animal, sweeping
rapidly through the air, either descends upon the shallop, cutting it
down to the water's edge, or encounters in its course some of the
crew standing up (such as the headsman or harpooner), who are
carried away and destroyed. Thus Mr. Young, chief mate of the
"Tuscan," was seen flying through the air at a considerable height,
and to the distance of nearly forty yards from the boat, ere he fell
into the water, where he remained floating motionless on the surface
for a few moments, and then sank and was seen no more.
Sometimes, particularly among the sperm-whales, desperate
characters are found, that without waiting for the attack, rush
furiously against the boats sent out against them, and seem to love
fighting for its own sake. Bennett describes an encounter of this kind
which he witnessed in the South Sea. The first effort of the whale
was to rush against the boat with his head. Having been baffled by
the crew steering clear, he next attempted to crush it with his jaws;
failing again, through the unaccommodating position of his mouth,
he remedied this defect with much sagacity, for approaching
impetuously from a distance of forty yards, he turned upon his back,
raising his lower jaw to grasp the boat from above. A lance-wound,
however, applied in time, caused him to close his mouth; but
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