Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to Keep On Trekkin! You are currently viewing our forum as a guest. In order to join in on community discussion and enjoy other member-only features, you must first register an account. Once your registration is complete, you will be able to continue your Trek here at KOT.


Click Here To Register and Join Our Community!

Please contact us HERE if you have any questions or you need assistance with your registration. Posted Image


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Mult-Quote Post Mult-Quote Post
Add Reply
19th-Century Weapon Found in Whale
Topic Started: Jun 12 2007, 10:30 PM (144 Views)
TribbleMom
Member Avatar
Rear Admiral
http://www.comcast.net/news/science/index..../12/687940.html

BOSTON - A 50-ton bowhead whale caught off the Alaskan coast last month had a weapon fragment embedded in its neck that showed it survived a similar hunt _ more than a century ago. Embedded deep under its blubber was a 3 1/2-inch arrow-shaped projectile that has given researchers insight into the whale's age, estimated between 115 and 130 years old.

"No other finding has been this precise," said John Bockstoce, an adjunct curator of the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

Calculating a whale's age can be difficult, and is usually gauged by amino acids in the eye lenses. It's rare to find one that has lived more than a century, but experts say the oldest were close to 200 years old.

The bomb lance fragment, lodged in a bone between the whale's neck and shoulder blade, was likely manufactured in New Bedford, on the southeast coast of Massachusetts, a major whaling center at that time, Bockstoce said.

It was probably shot at the whale from a heavy shoulder gun around 1890. The small metal cylinder was filled with explosives fitted with a time-delay fuse so it would explode seconds after it was shot into the whale. The bomb lance was meant to kill the whale immediately and prevent it from escaping.

The device exploded and probably injured the whale, Bockstoce said.

"It probably hurt the whale, or annoyed him, but it hit him in a non-lethal place," he said. "He couldn't have been that bothered if he lived for another 100 years."

The whale harkens back to far different era. If 130 years old, it would have been born in 1877, the year Rutherford B. Hayes was sworn in as president, when federal Reconstruction troops withdrew from the South and when Thomas Edison unveiled his newest invention, the phonograph.

The 49-foot male whale died when it was shot with a similar projectile last month, and the older device was found buried beneath its blubber as hunters carved it with a chain saw for harvesting.

"It's unusual to find old things like that in whales, and I knew immediately that it was quite old by its shape," said Craig George, a wildlife biologist for the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management, who was called down to the site soon after it was found.

The revelation led George to return to a similar piece found in a whale hunted near St. Lawrence Island in 1980, which he sent to Bockstoce to compare.

"We didn't make anything of it at the time, and no one had any idea about their lifespan, or speculated that a bowhead could be that old," George said.

Bockstoce said he was impressed by notches carved into the head of the arrow used in the 19th century hunt, a traditional way for the Alaskan hunters to indicate ownership of the whale.

Whaling has always been a prominent source of food for Alaskans, and is monitored by the International Whaling Commission. A hunting quota for the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission was recently renewed, allowing 255 whales to be harvested by 10 Alaskan villages over five years.

After it is analyzed, the fragment will be displayed at the Inupiat Heritage Center in Barrow, Alaska.
------------------------------
I didn't know whales lived that long. Wow.
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
24thcenstfan
Member Avatar


Too bad the whale was ultimately killed (instead of dying a natural death). Being that old, the whale was like a historical treasure himself.

However, it looks as though he faught the good fight in his day. :box:
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · Extra! Extra! Read All About It! · Next Topic »
Add Reply


DISCLAIMER (Click and Scroll to read): Keep On Trekkin’ is a Science Fiction discussion community. We are not officially associated with, or endorsed by, Paramount Pictures Corporation, CBS Studios Inc. or Viacom Inc. Star Trek®, in all its various forms, is a registered trademark of Paramount Pictures Corporation (CBS/Paramount Television and CBS Studios Inc.). Any Star Trek® image used at this website will be for decorative or informational purposes only. Star Trek artwork 2008 PARAMOUNT PICTURES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective holders. All themes used here at Keep On Trekkin' (unless otherwise notated on the theme) were created by 24thcenstfan. Special thanks to everyone who has provided emoticons, graphics and other services used for the creation of this website. Opinions expressed by the membership here at Keep On Trekkin’ do not reflect those of the Administrator of this Board or ZetaBoards.