The ocean as a health-resort : a handbook of practical information as to sea-voyages for the use of tourists and invalids / by William S. Wilson ; with a chart showing the ocean-routes and illustrating the physical geography of the sea.

Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The ocean as a health-resort : a handbook of practical information as to sea-voyages for the use of tourists and invalids / by William S. Wilson ; with a chart showing the ocean-routes and illustrating the physical geography of the sea. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    ■about, and sometimes a large number of whales constituting what is called a school may be seen spouting in all directions. Although, as a rule, these monsters make haste to get oulj of the way of an approaching vessel, yet cases have been known in which a ship has been violently struck by the tail of an irate whale,—an event by no means to be desired. A year or two ago a steamer was struck in this way, and the blow broke one of the blades of the screw- propeller and disabled the ship. Soon afterwards a dead whale was seen floating in the same locality with a large gash in its side, the inference being that in striking the ship it had itself received a mortal wound from the propeller. The whale, big and powerful as he is, has enemies, the principal ones being the thresher-fish, the sword-fish, the saw-fish, and the Grreenland shark ; all of which, though greatly inferior in size to their gigantic adversary, frequently overcome him in combat. The thresher-fish or sea-fox attacks the whale by threshing him with his tail, and, his superior activity enabling him to avoid being struck in return, he often succeeds in killing the Avhiile by his persistent castigation. The whale endeavours to escape from his enemy by diving to the depths of the sea, whither it is supposed that the thresher cannot follow him. I was once fortunate enough to witness a contest of this kind. The thresher constantly leaped out of the sea and descended - with tremendous violence iipon the whale, which struggled and lashed the waves with impotent fury until the sea was covered with foam. For some reason (which the captain suggested might be the presence of a sword-fish) the whale did not sound, and the combat continued at the surface until the combatants passed out of sight beyond the horizon. The threshers and the swoi'd-fish are said systematically to hunt the whale in company—the former attacking him