THAR SHE BLOWS!
The city of Sandefjord, Norway, was once an important whaling port. For
many years, ships hunting whales sailed forth from Sandefjord to the icy
waters of the Antarctic.
High in the crow’s nest of a whaling ship, a lookout keeps watch.
Suddenly, he sees a foggy mist shooting up from the blowhole on top of a
whale’s head.
“HvaTblast!” he shouts—a Norwegian word that means the same as “Thar
she blows!”
The chase to catch the great whale begins! A whaler aims the big harpoon
gun and WHING—the harpoon whines through the air. A bomb attached to
the harpoon explodes, killing the whale. The hunt is finished.
Over the years, so many whales were killed that some kinds may disappear
forever. Today, a group called the International Whaling Commission
works to limit the number of whales that can be caught. The group also
tries to stop the killing of certain kinds of whales.
So Norwegian whalers don’t shout “Hvalblast!” as much as they used to,
and Sandefjord is no longer a whaling port. But in this city, Norway’s
great whaling history is recalled by a large stone fountain with bronze
figures. The sculpture shows a scene from long ago, when Norwegian
whalers rowed whaleboats to capture giant whales with hand harpoons. The
full story of those days of whaling glory can be seen in the Whaling
Museum at Sandefjord.
Harpoon guns, like the one in this picture, are used to kill whales.
Fountain waters splash about the Whaling Monument at Sandefjord.
