Why Right Whales Were Named "Right"

       When Columbus crossed the ocean in search of the Spice Islands, his men were continually beset by fear of sea-monsters. They had, without doubt, seen whales stranded on the sea shore. Perhaps they had even aided in the whale “fishing” which was carried on from European coasts as early as the year 1000; and they probably reasoned that since they had seen sea animals as large as whales, there must be much larger and more ferocious ones still to be discovered.

       As a matter of fact, no animals larger than whales could have been discovered if the sailors had searched every corner of the sea; for even today, certain whales remain the largest of our beasts. Not all whales are large however. They range all the way from four feet in length to eighty-five feet.

       All whales are fish-like in form—shaped to move easily and quickly through the water. Their paddles, placed on each side near the front of the body remind us a little of a fish's side fins; and some whales actually have a fish-like fin on top of their back. The whale's strong tail, also looks somewhat like that of a fish. It is little wonder that the people of Columbus's time thought whales were gigantic fish.

       We know, of course, that whales are mammals—that they are warm-blooded air-breathers who nourish their young with milk just as cows do. Inside the fin-like flippers are upper-arm, lower-arm, wrist and finger bones. The great ribs protect mighty lungs; and the blow-holes on top of the whale's head serve him as nostrils. Even the tail is the sort that an air-breathing animal should have. A fish's tail-fins are placed parallel to his flat body to help him swim forward The whale's tail flukes are at right angles to his body line. If he must rise to the surface suddenly for air, he has only to make a few strong downward strokes and he shoots immediately upward. The whale swims with his tail. He uses his paddles only as balancers.

Painting of fishermen hunting the Right Whale with harpoons and wooden boats. Unbelievable.

       The Right Whale got his name in a strange fashion. Men who went out to hunt him were interested chiefly in his whalebone and in the oil which could be extracted from the thick layer of fat or blubber which lay just beneath his skin. Sometimes, by mistake, they killed a different kind of whale. It gave little oil and often no whalebone at all; so, gradually, men who could tell the whales apart joined the hunt and pointed out the proper whales to the hunters. They would call. “There's the right whale to kill”; and gradually the big fellow became known as the Right Whale.

        An extremely large Right Whale will give as much as 250 barrels of oil. It was used, formerly. as fuel for house lamps and street lights. Many public buildings in the days of the American Revolution were lighted by a gas made from it; but after mineral oils became common, its use practically ceased. Whalebone or baleen was obtained from the whale’s mouth. When the whale picked up a mouthful of the small sea-animals on which he fed, he usually gulped in a great deal of water. The fringe of baleen acted as a strainer to keep the food in the whale's mouth when it raised its tongue and forced the water out. Men found the horny strips of whalebone useful in stiffening garments, making ribs for umbrellas and manufacturing ornaments of different kinds. 

       The first whales used by men were those stranded on the coast by storms. Later they began to hunt them from the shore. A whale was sighted by the “spout” of his steaming breath blown upwards when he came to the surface for air. Men in small boats were sent out to harpoon and bring him in; and often the boats were sunk by the lashing of the whale's tail in his efforts to free himself. Still later, when whales grew scarce along the coast, large sailing vessels were manned and sent out on hunts which often lasted several years. These ships were equipped with furnaces and boilers for trying out the whale s fat; and they did not sail home until every barrel on board was filled with oil. Cockrell.

• North Atlantic Right Whales from the FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute