"Sleighriding' in the Ocean LIFE as
Sometimes a harpooned whale would rise up under a boat, throwing the sailors into the
This old-print shows a big whale fighting for his life.
sea.
8
took a whale of whale until the harpoon drove while the crew got no sleep and deep behind a fin. Then the little food. When enough kills sailor to be a whaler! battle began.
were made to fill all the casks,
As far back as the 13th cen- In a smother of spray from the ship turned homeward. Each
was entitled man
to a 1/100
a penny to show for their hard work.
tury the Dutch and Norwegians his crashing tail the wounded sent out fleets of whaling ships whale "sounded." During this share of the profits.
The great days of whaling long dive the men kept the line
Often, though, the captain came more than 100 years ago. attached to the harpoon playing cheated the sailors by charging Then whalers, crusty with the out smoothly. When the whale them for their food. Sometimes, salt of the seven seas, shipped "broached" again, it tried to get
the men would end up without out on three-year voyages to the away on the surface. Often boats Pacific and the Antarctic. Living were towed for miles
on these and working miserably and dan- "sleighrides." gerously, the whalers brought
In 1856 when Sven Foyn, a of oil and back sea treasures
When the whale tired, the bone and ambergris.
boat crept up close again. The Norwegian, invented a harpoon an explosive head that Whale oil was highly valued mate lanced the great mammal with
for in vital spots. A badly wounded killed quickly, the era of mod- clean-burning cil lamps. A sweet smelling wax whale could not stand the pres- ern whaling began. Today Nor- separated from the oil made sure of the depths so it did not way and Great Britain send out All the best candles. Light flexible sound. But it often attacked the efficient factory ships that "mo-
ther" fleets of "chasers." whale bone, used in clothing, boat, throwing the crew
parts of the whales are used, and a conservation programme sold for many dollars a pound. icy, shark-ridden waters. Ambergris, a waxy substance
At last the whale rolled over restricts size and number of the whale's stomach in found in the
water catch. the blood-reddened was worth its weight in gold -and died. The crew hoisted the
But the dangers and hazards as a perfume base.
kill flag and waited to be picked of whaling remain. It still takes up with their prize. Then the
a whale of a sailor to be a whale was turned into sea trea- whaler.
29
than
а
sure.
into
But these sea treasures were not easy to get. Hardships and dangers were great. Early whal- ing ships were scarcely larger
All hands worked hard as the they chased. the whales
WAS stripped from Cramped crew quarters were "blubber"
with commonly infested
rats. the "fensors." Handling razor Even worse than the awful food sharp cutting "spades" these was the water that turned green men kept great strips of blub- and smelled horrible.
ber moving aboard and man- But when the lookout at the aged not to slip into the water masthead yelled, "Blow - ow! below that boiled with Blow-ow!" the excitement made tearing at the whale's body.
Ship and
The thick layers of blubber up for the misery.
Boats were cut into "leaves" and crew worked feverishly.
works." were lowered carrying a crew boiled out in the "try
that included
harpooner. They
sharks
a mate and a If each boat made a catch, the stalked the fires burned around the clock
By LEE PRIESTLEY
"There she blows" sounding from the crow's nest meant the long hours of waiting
were over.
While the water comes alive with sharks, there men cut the blubber from the dead whale with long, sharp knives.
AS
THE
TEACHER
L
IFE is a series of ups
and downs: you may be a happy man today, but a broken one to- morrow. Today you may be rich, tomorrow you may be penniless. One can never foretell the happenings of to- morrow; we learn what happens as we grow old- er day by day.
a
Learning is like rowing boat across the stream. If you do not advance, you go back- wards. To everybody the most common way of learning is to attend - school. But we **ust bear in mind that what wa school learn from teachers at
is not quite enough. What wa need to know apart frora school work is what we can a
or aim to get out of life. We learn by experience. As the sun rises each morning, we get one day older and we leam a little bit more through people and the things around us.
Never enough
One can never say that one has learned enough. There is no limit in learning and one is Dever too old to learn. One can search the ends of the world yet can never quench the desire for knowledge.
we
When we attend school learn about different parts of the world through books. When i we join the working society, wa experience the hardships of
life. We meet no more school teachers and school friends but lots of dinerent
practically people from
all walks of life. There will be no teachers to tell us what to do and what not to do. Our parents and friends will not be able to tell us enough to satisfy us. Wo will have to find out for our- selves, perhaps the hard way.
One of the best ways to learn is to ask questions. Anything that we would like to know, however small it may be, we should raise a question and try to get answers, What we do not know, we should strive to find out.
Our teachers at school may. have taught us everything they know; our parents have dona everything to please us, yet there is still the desire and need to find out through the different stages of life what there is to learn about society and the people who make it up. So the best teacher, after all, is perience Itselt.
Credit card to Hanifa Din