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Chapter 8 Accounting: Decision Making by the Numbers
TRUE/FALSE
3. The managers of a company are the only stakeholders of a company that have a legitimate
interest in its accounting information.
5. Mary Reardon is an employee and stockholder for the McNeely Company. Mary is
considered a primary user of her firm’s accounting information.
6. Accounting systems are utilized by companies for several reasons, but they have little value
when it comes to making economic decisions.
8. Private accountants work within a business organization, preparing reports and analyzing
financial information for the company that employs them.
9. The use of computerized accounting systems has greatly reduced the need for private
accountants in medium and large-sized firms.
10. Accountant and bookkeeper are just two terms that refer to the same profession.
12. The accounting profession is seldom concerned with the interpretation of financial
information.
13. The vast majority of firms today use computerized accounting systems and sophisticated
software to record and summarize transactions.
15. Private accountants work for private citizens who are not part of a firm, while public
accountants work internally for publicly traded companies.
16. Internal auditors are private accountants responsible for verifying their company’s internal
accounting procedures.
17. Public accountants provide a variety of accounting services for clients on a fee basis.
18. Private and public accountants do the same type of work but have different qualifications.
19. Forensic accountants combine their knowledge of accounting with investigative skills.
20. Forensic accountants provide standardized reports primarily intended for managers and other
decision-makers employed by an organization.
21. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is the private, self-regulating board
established to develop and enforce the generally accepted accounting principles that guide
the practice of financial accounting.
23. Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) are a set of accounting standards used in
the preparation of financial statements.
24. As a result of the accounting scandals of the early 21st century, many states have imposed
new ethics-related requirements on certified public accountants.
25. Financial accounting is the branch of accounting that prepares financial statements for use by
owners, creditors, suppliers, and other stakeholders.
26. The rules governing the practice of financial accounting are established and enforced by the
Federal Accounting Standards Commission (FASC).
27. One criticism of GAAP is that it is too rigid and fails to take into account the fact that one size
doesn’t fit all in accounting.
28. GAAP is the policy board that establishes the rules known as the FASB of accounting.
29. The purpose of GAAP is to specify the procedures used in managerial accounting to prepare
budgets and cost reports.
30. Two of the goals underlying GAAP are to ensure that the statements prepared in financial
accounting are relevant and consistent.
31. Since it deals strictly with numbers, the practice of accounting is free from ethical
considerations.
32. Recently, some critics of current practices have suggested that GAAP’s flexibility allows
managers to manipulate financial statements in ways that make their firms’ financial
performance appear to be better than it really was.
ANS: T DIF: LL2 REF: Page 98 OBJ: 3
35. A statement of cash flows is the financial statement identifying a firm’s sources and uses of
cash in a given accounting period.
37. The owners’ equity section of the balance sheet indicates the claims a firm’s owners have
against their company’s assets.
38. Net income is the difference between the revenue a firm earns and the expenses it incurs in
a given time period.
39. An income statement is the financial statement that reports revenues, expenses, and net
income resulting from a firm’s operations over an accounting period.
40. Revenue, expenses, and net income are the key sections found on a statement of cash
flows.
41. The statement of cash flows shows the cash flowing in and out of the firm from three types of
activities: operations, investing, and financing. It also shows the net increase or decrease in
cash from all three sources and the total amount of cash on hand at the end of the period.
42. Assets are the tangible and intangible resources of value owned by a firm.
43. The accounting equation is based on the fact that the value of a firm’s assets is, by definition,
exactly equal to the financing provided by creditors and by owners for the purchase of those
assets.
ANS: T DIF: LL2 REF: Page 99 OBJ: 4
44. Liabilities could include bank loans and current payments owed to suppliers.
46. Revenues are increases in a firm’s assets resulting from the sale of goods, the provision of
services, or other activities intended to earn income.
47. A balance sheet is a financial statement reporting the financial position of a firm at a
particular point in time by identifying and reporting the value of the firm’s assets, liabilities,
and owners’ equity.
48. The accounting entity approach is an accounting method that recognizes revenue when it is
earned and matches expenses to the revenues produced.
49. Accrual-basis accounting is the method that recognizes revenue when it is earned and
matches expenses to those revenues.
50. A company’s balance sheet will “balance” even if it is on the verge of bankruptcy.
52. The statement of retained earnings shows how retained earnings have changed from one
accounting period to the next. By subtracting dividends paid to shareholders from net income,
managers will see changes in this statement over time.
53. Balance sheets only reflect the assets and liabilities of the cost of goods sold.
55. Ralph owns some stock in the Lottadoe Corporation, and wants to know whether this
company earned a profit over the most recent year. This information would be available in the
company’s balance sheet.
56. Rosalyn owns stock in Munnymacher Inc. and just received her annual report from this
company. If she wants to see the total value of Munnymacher’s assets, she should look at
the company’s balance sheet.
57. The cash flows received from operations reported in the statement of cash flows should be
exactly equal to the revenue the firm reports on its income statement.
58. A college student registers for classes and pays the tuition with a credit card. Because it uses
accrual-basis accounting, the college will recognize the payment as revenue as soon as the
transaction turns into cash in the school’s bank account.
59. When an external audit doesn’t uncover any problems with the firm’s financial methods and
statements, the auditor will issue an unqualified opinion.
60. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 included provisions designed to improve external auditing
procedures and enhance financial reporting for publicly traded firms.
61. Ratio analysis computes rates, proportions, or percentages in order to compare selected
values contained in a firm’s financial statements.
62. Vertical analysis is an analysis of information in financial statements that involves expressing
various accounts as a percentage of some base amount.
64. Publicly traded firms with complex changes in their operations may report these changes in
the notes section of their annual report.
65. Horizontal analysis compares the balance sheet in a given year to the income statement and
statement of cash flows in that same year to ensure that these three statements contain
consistent information.
66. Geoff has been looking at some liquidity ratios for K&M Enterprises. This indicates that he
wants to know whether the firm is likely to face problems in repaying its current liabilities.
67. The main purpose of liquidity ratios is to determine whether a firm will be able to repay its
current debts as they come due.
68. Arthur Andersen’s solution to its ethical dilemma ultimately led it to become a stronger and
more competitive accounting firm.
69. Activity-based costing is a technique used by managerial accountants to assign product costs
based on links between activities that drive costs and the production of specific products.
70. Budgeting is a management tool that explicitly shows how a firm will acquire and use
resources needed to achieve its goals over a specific time period.
71. Financial budgets are the budget documents that identify cash and other financial resources
the firm will acquire and use to finance operations and make planned investments in fixed
assets.
72. Operating budget documents include the cash budget and the capital budget.
74. The master budget is a combined statement of an organization’s operational and financial
budgets that represents the firm’s overall plan of action for a specified time period.
75. Incremental analysis is the evaluation and comparison of the financial impact different
alternatives would have in a particular decision-making situation.
76. Managerial accounting is the branch of accounting that provides reports and analysis to
managers to help those managers make informed business decisions.
77. Lakitha has been asked to evaluate the desirability of outsourcing some functions her
company currently performs internally. In order to carry out her analysis, she plans to
compare the costs and revenues resulting from outsourcing to the firm’s current costs and
revenues. Lakitha’s approach is an example of incremental analysis.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
a) Accounting
b) Bookkeeping
c) Managerial finance
d) Auditing
ANS: A DIF: LL1 REF: Page 95 OBJ: 1
81. Employees would most likely use their employer’s accounting information to
82. Stockholders would most likely use accounting information provided by their firm to
83. Tiny Timber Tree Farms applied to United Bank for a business loan. Which financial
statements would the loan officer of the bank be most likely to request?
a) Accounting, bookkeeping
b) Auditing, bookkeeping
c) Costing, auditing
d) Bookkeeping, accounting
ANS: D DIF: LL1 REF: Page 96 OBJ: 2
85. _________ are responsible for verifying accuracy of their organization’s internal records and
validating the accounting procedures.
a) IRS officials
b) Public accountants
c) Internal auditors
d) Forensic bookkeepers
ANS: C DIF: LL1 REF: Page 96 OBJ: 2
86. ______________ accountants combine their knowledge of accounting with investigative
skills. These accountants can help detect and investigate tax evasion, embezzlement, money
laundering, and securities fraud.
a) Forensic
b) Auditing
c) Government
d) Private
ANS: A DIF: LL1 REF: Page 96 OBJ: 2
87. The accounting tasks once performed by bookkeepers are significantly different due to
88. ____________ perform or assist in a wide variety of tasks for the firms in which they work.
These tasks include budgeting, cost and asset management, and the preparation of reports
for the firm’s stakeholders.
a) Private accountants
b) Public accountants
c) Internal auditors
d) Government accountants
ANS: A DIF: LL2 REF: Page 96 OBJ: 2
89. _______________ accountants provide individuals and businesses a wide variety of services
on a fee basis, including income tax preparation, external auditing services, and consultation
on a variety of accounting issues and problems.
a) Private
b) Public
c) Forensic
d) Contract-basis
ANS: B DIF: LL2 REF: Page 96 OBJ: 2
90. ____________ work for local, state, and federal agencies. They prepare government
financial statements as well as perform tasks similar to those carried out by their private
sector counterparts.
a) Fiscal accountants
b) Recording accountants
c) Comptrollers
d) Government accountants
ANS: D DIF: LL2 REF: Page 96 OBJ: 2
91. Which of the following statements about private accountants is INCORRECT? Private
accountants
92. Samantha is an accounting major who has been disturbed by all of the recent accounting
scandals. She has decided to dedicate her career to catching those involved in
embezzlement, securities fraud, money laundering, and other white collar crimes. One way
Samantha could achieve this would be to seek training as a(n)
a) certified bookkeeper.
b) forensic accountant.
c) transactional accountant.
d) FASB analyst.
ANS: B DIF: LL3 REF: Page 96 OBJ: 2
93. ____________ is the private self-regulating board established to develop generally accepted
accounting principles used in the practice of financial accounting.
a) GAAP
b) FASB
c) NFASC
d) FARPA
ANS: B DIF: LL1 REF: Page 97 OBJ: 3
94. ____________ addresses the needs of the external stakeholders, including stockholders,
creditors, and government regulators.
a) Forensic accounting
b) Investigative accounting
c) Managerial accounting
d) Financial accounting
ANS: D DIF: LL1 REF: Page 97 OBJ: 3
95. Taken together, the body of principles that guides the financial accounting process used to
create financial statements is referred to as
96. Corporate scandals involving companies such as Enron, Tyco, and WorldCom resulted in a
97. ____________________ would provide stockholders or creditors with information about the
overall financial performance of a firm, while _________________ would provide information
needed by a firm’s vice president of marketing who wants to view changes in the marketing
budget for a new product.
98. The FASB has the responsibility of establishing the principles used to prepare financial
statements. A key goal of these principles is to
100. During the first few years of the 21st century, the accounting profession
101. According to Arthur Levitt, a former chair of the SEC, the degree of flexibility that currently
exists within GAAP
102. To provide external shareholders with relevant, reliable, consistent, and comparable financial
information, the accounting profession has adopted __________________ to guide the
practice of financial accounting.
103. Recent calls to reform GAAP have focused on the need for the FASB to
a) eliminate the necessity for standardization so that small businesses and big
businesses will account for earnings in significantly different ways.
b) give firms more flexibility in their accounting procedures so that they can present
their earnings in the most meaningful way.
c) allow CPA firms a greater role in advising the firms that they audit.
d) make it more difficult for firms to manipulate results, thus making it easier for
investors to compare financial results of different firms.
ANS: D DIF: LL3 REF: Page 98 OBJ: 3
104. The balance sheet is organized to reflect the accounting equation, which is
105. The major output of financial accounting is a set of statements including the
106. The __________ summarizes a firm’s financial position at a specific point in time (i.e., a
specific quarter or year).
a) Retained earnings
b) Owners’ equities
c) Liabilities
d) Assets
ANS: D DIF: LL1 REF: Page 99 OBJ: 4
a) Retained earnings
b) Owners’ equity
c) Liabilities
d) Assets
ANS: C DIF: LL1 REF: Page 99 OBJ: 4
109. __________ is/are the claims owners have against the firm’s assets.
a) Loans payable
b) Owners’ equity
c) Liabilities
d) Assets
ANS: B DIF: LL1 REF: Page 99 OBJ: 4
110. The ___________ indicates whether a firm earned a profit or suffered a loss over the past
accounting period.
a) balance sheet
b) income statement
c) statement of cash flows
d) cash budget
ANS: B DIF: LL1 REF: Page 100 OBJ: 4
112. The ___________ shows the cash flowing in and out of a firm through its operating,
investing, and financing activities.
a) retained earnings
b) statement of cash flows
c) income statement
d) operating budget
ANS: B DIF: LL1 REF: Page 101 OBJ: 4
113. According to the _____________ method of accounting, revenues are recognized when they
are earned and payment is reasonably assured.
a) accrual
b) actuarial
c) managerial
d) LIFO
ANS: A DIF: LL1 REF: Page 100 OBJ: 4
114. The amount of cash at the end of the period, as reflected on the statement of cash flows,
should match the
116. Which of the following would be listed in the owners’ equity section of a balance sheet?
a) Cash.
b) Accounts receivable.
c) Net income.
d) Retained earnings.
ANS: D DIF: LL2 REF: Page 99 OBJ: 4
a) cash.
b) inventory.
c) salaries payable.
d) buildings.
ANS: C DIF: LL2 REF: Page 99 OBJ: 4
118. As the owner of 100 shares of Megabux Corporation’s stock, Elbert Treble wants to know
whether his company earned a profit or loss during the past year. He can find the answer to
this by looking at Megabux’s
a) master budget.
b) income statement.
c) statement of cash flows.
d) revenue report.
ANS: B DIF: LL2 REF: Page 100 OBJ: 4
a) bank loans.
b) wages payable.
c) accounts payable.
d) cost of goods sold.
ANS: D DIF: LL2 REF: Page 99 OBJ: 4
a) Accounts receivable
b) Cash
c) Inventory
d) Equipment
ANS: B DIF: LL2 REF: Page 100 OBJ: 4
122. Which of the following would be listed in the liabilities section of the balance sheet?
a) Retained earnings.
b) Debits.
c) Short-term notes payable.
d) Expenses.
ANS: C DIF: LL2 REF: Page 100 OBJ: 4
a) Revenue.
b) Cost of goods sold.
c) Net operating income.
d) Retained earnings.
ANS: A DIF: LL2 REF: Page 101 OBJ: 4
125. By subtracting dividends paid to shareholders from the net income, managers are able to
calculate the
127. If a firm’s assets = $6,000 and its liabilities = $3,500, then owners’ equity =
a) $6,000.
b) $2,000.
c) $2,500.
d) $4,500.
ANS: C DIF: LL2 REF: Page 99 OBJ: 4
a) sources and uses of cash that result from its operating, investing, and financing
activities.
b) schedule of payments for the debts that come due in the next year.
c) net profit or loss.
d) current assets and current liabilities that are likely to result in cash flows over the
next accounting period.
ANS: A DIF: LL2 REF: Page 101 OBJ: 4
129. The _______________ would provide stakeholders with information about how a firm
obtained and used cash in the most recent accounting period, as well as its cash balance at
the end of the accounting period.
a) cash budget
b) income statement
c) stockholders’ equity statement
d) statement of cash flows
ANS: D DIF: LL2 REF: Page 101 OBJ: 4
130. The accounting equation shows us that the value of the firm’s assets must equal the value of
the firm’s
131. Lottadoe’s liabilities are $130,000, and its owners’ equity is $170,000. This means that
Lottadoe’s
132. Which of the following statements is the rationale for the accounting equation?
a) What the firm owns minus what it owes creditors equals what it is worth to its
owners.
b) A firm is worth its equity minus its assets.
c) The firm’s profit is equal to its revenue minus its expenses.
d) Assets must equal earnings minus expenses.
ANS: A DIF: LL3 REF: Page 99 OBJ: 4
133. As represented on the balance sheet, a firm has two sources of funds: the firm’s
134. Sabiha is the small business loan officer at Regional National Bank. It is her job to approve
loans for small businesses so that the local economy will grow. One factor she looks at
carefully when making loan decisions is the amount of debt the firm already has outstanding.
She can find this information by looking at the firm’s
a) income statement.
b) balance sheet.
c) statement of cash flows.
d) cash budget.
ANS: B DIF: LL3 REF: Pages 99-100
OBJ: 4
135. A business has two sources of funds: the owners and the non-owners. The financing
provided by owners is represented on the balance sheet as ____________, and the financing
provided by non-owners is represented on the balance sheet as ___________.
137. A firm’s cost of goods sold is subtracted from the ________________ on the
___________________ in order to compute the firm’s ____________________.
138. Publicly traded corporations in the United States must have a CPA firm
139. The auditor’s ______ indicate(s) whether the firm’s financial statements are prepared and
presented in a way that is likely to fairly represent the firm’s financial condition.
a) qualified opinion
b) unqualified opinion
c) adverse opinion
d) no opinion
ANS: B DIF: LL1 REF: Page 103 OBJ: 5
141. An auditor issuing a(n) ___________ has uncovered serious and widespread problems with
the preparation of a firm’s financial statements.
a) qualified opinion
b) unqualified opinion
c) adverse opinion
d) untenured opinion
ANS: C DIF: LL1 REF: Page 103 OBJ: 5
142. _________ expresses each balance sheet or income statement item as a percentage of key
values.
a) Profitability analysis
b) Actuarial analysis
c) Vertical analysis
d) Horizontal analysis
ANS: C DIF: LL1 REF: Page 104 OBJ: 5
143. _____ compare(s) select items in financial statements by computing percentages, rates, and
proportions.
a) Profitability quotients
b) Ratio analysis
c) Vertical analysis
d) Pro rata analysis
ANS: B DIF: LL1 REF: Page 104 OBJ: 5
144. _________ compares information contained in a firm’s financial statements over a period of
two or more years.
a) Profitability analysis
b) Ratio analysis
c) Vertical analysis
d) Horizontal analysis
ANS: D DIF: LL1 REF: Page 104 OBJ: 5
145. ___________ measure how effectively a firm manages assets to generate revenue.
a) Liquidity ratios
b) Asset management ratios
c) Leverage ratios
Another random document with
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The killer’s habit of forcing open a whale’s mouth and eating the
tongue from the living animal, is an extraordinary method of attack
which has long been recorded by the whalemen who hunted the
Arctic bowhead. I must confess, however, that I had always been
skeptical as to the accuracy of this report until my own experiences
with the gray whales in Korea, where its truth was clearly
demonstrated.
Another story which is undoubtedly purely mythical, although it
has astonishingly wide credence, is that of “the swordfish and the
thresher.” It is said that a swordfish with a killer will attack a large
whale, prodding the animal from below with its “sword” and
preventing it from diving, while the killer tears out the tongue.
An anterior view of a killer. The heavy teeth and the white spot
just behind the eye are well shown.
Of all the strange animals which live in the sea the sperm whale is
certainly one of the most extraordinary; whenever I look at one I feel
like saying with the country boy who had just seen his first camel:
“There ain’t no such thing, b’gosh.”
The sperm whale is a lover of warm currents which favor the giant
squid and cuttlefish on which it lives, and although it has been taken
as far north as the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, even there it is in the
comparatively warm waters of the Japanese stream; it has also been
captured in the sub-Antarctic near the Falkland Islands.
The squid reach a length of twenty feet or more and the whale
sometimes has terrific battles with its huge prey, the tentacles of
which, armed with deadly suckers, tear long gashes in the skin of the
head and snout, leaving white scars crisscrossed in every direction.
In Japan I took several enormous spiny lobsters from the stomach of
a sperm whale, as well as the remains of a shark and seventy or
eighty yellow parrot-like beaks of the cuttlefish.
Unlike the whalebone whales, of which the opposite is true, the
male sperm is very much larger than the female, and an old bull will
sometimes reach a length of seventy feet and weigh eighty or ninety
tons. Such an animal is a truly colossal creature. The head of a sixty-
foot sperm, which was killed by Captain Fred Olsen in Japan
especially for the American Museum, was almost twenty feet in
length, and the skull, when crated, had a space measurement of
twenty-six tons; it was so large that it would barely pass through the
main hatch of the steamship which carried it to New York.
The sperm has only a single S-shaped blowhole situated almost at
the end of the snout on the left side, and its spout, which is like that
of no other whale, may be easily recognized even at a considerable
distance; the low, bushy, vapor column is directed diagonally
forward and upward, and the animal blows much oftener and more
regularly than other large cetaceans. A sperm may spout thirty or
forty times when not disturbed, generally lying still but occasionally
swimming slowly during the entire breathing period.
Along the Japanese coast during July the sperm whales sometimes
appear in enormous herds of four hundred or more; the great
animals will lie at the surface spouting continually and the sea for
half a mile will be alive with whales.
When the steam whalers find a school of this sort, signals are set to
bring in all the ships which may be near, and there is excitement
enough for everyone. The guns bang as often as they can be loaded
and the whales made fast, and the number killed is merely a question
of how many harpoons each ship carries, or the hours of daylight left
when the herd is found.
The head of the sixty-foot sperm whale, the skeleton of which was
sent to the American Museum of Natural History, from Japan.
The “case” yielded 20 barrels of spermaceti.
The school will usually move very slowly, blowing and wallowing
along at the surface, and the animals in the center are heedless of the
slaughter on the outskirts of the herd. At times, however, the whales
will stampede at the first gun, and it then becomes a stern chase,
which is often a long one, before a ship can get fast.
At Aikawa, one day, a whale ship with a Japanese gunner raised a
herd of sperms a long way from the village. The man allowed his
greed to get the better of his judgment and killed ten whales. He
made them all fast to the ship, which could barely move her load
through the water, and it was not until three days later that she
arrived at the station. The whales had all “blasted,” or decomposed,
and were not as valuable commercially as a single fresh one would
have been.
The meat of this species is so dark and full of oil that it is of but
little use as food. Nevertheless, during the summer it is sold to the
native coal miners of Japan who live in such extreme poverty that
they are glad to get even such meat at two or three sen per pound.
I shall not attempt to chronicle here the numerous authentic
instances of ships or boats which have been destroyed and sunk by
sperm whales, for they are the common property of every book on
deep-sea whaling. They leave no doubt that these animals often turn
the tables on their hunters and attack with savage ferocity and dire
results.
Apparently the sperm is the only whale which will deliberately turn
upon its pursuers when not in its death flurry. Not only is its tail
used with terrible effectiveness in sweeping the surface of the water
and delivering smashing blows, but boats are often crushed like
kindling wood between its horrible jaws.
It would be interesting to know how long sperm whales live. The
bull which was killed in Japan for the American Museum showed
unmistakable evidences of great age. Its head was covered with white
crisscrossed scars, bearing testimony of terrific battles with giant
squids in the ocean depths, and the teeth of its lower jaw were worn
almost flat, projecting only an inch or two above the gum. The bones
of its skeleton were hard and rough, being covered with tubercles
and bony growths.
A posterior view of the head of the Museum’s sperm whale. The
thick covering of blubber which encircles the head is well shown.
All this indicated that the animal had lived for many years, but
how many it is impossible to tell. The condition of the skeleton shows
whether a whale is old or young, for in immature animals the bones
of the skull are separated (i. e., the sutures are open), the plates on
the end of the vertebræ (epiphyses) are free, and all the bones are
soft and spongy. Even though the whale may have reached adult size,
which it usually does in three or four years, the evidences of youth
are still present in the skeleton.
Reasoning by analogy (which is always unsafe), I have come to the
conclusion that a whale’s life is well within one hundred years, but I
must admit that my argument is mainly theory and that there are but
few facts with which it may be supported. Until recently, many
naturalists held the view that whales lived for hundreds of years and
that they did not reach adult size until long after birth. The latter
contention has been proved utterly wrong, but of the former we have
little new knowledge; neither do I see how we can ever estimate a
whale’s age with any degree of accuracy.
CHAPTER XX
A DEEP-SEA SPERM WHALE HUNT
Every time I see a sperm whale shot with a bomb harpoon from the
bows of a steamship, I have more respect for the old-time hunters
who kill the huge brutes with a hand harpoon and lance. The vitality
of a sperm is enormous, and even when several bombs have exploded
in its body the animal will often fight for hours before it spouts blood
and dies.
When Captain Olsen secured the sixty-foot sperm, the skeleton of
which was sent to the Museum, he got fast with one iron but did not
kill the whale. After some time the vessel was near enough for a
second shot, and Olsen fired a harpoon which was bent slightly
upward at the point. The heavy iron, instead of penetrating the
blubber, rebounded, and when it was drawn back by the winch was
found to be actually bent double, the point of the bomb being within
a few inches of the opposite end. It required three harpoons, each
weighing one hundred and ten pounds, to finish the whale.
Yet with a magnificent courage which is only half appreciated by a
landsman, the fearless New Bedford whalers attack these colossal
animals with merely a slender hand lance. Is it to be wondered at
that our New England ancestors in such a training school made a
history of which every American may well be proud?
A female sperm whale at Aikawa, Japan. The head of the female is
much more pointed than that of the male.
The harpooner stood up with his darting gun and iron, and just as the great
snout passed under our boat, he plunged it vertically right into the middle of the
back. There was the report of the gun, a heaving of the boat clear of the water, a
sensation like that of passing through a waterspout, and the dull explosion of the
shell all in the space of the next second—then the leviathan stretched out dead. The
bomb had killed him instantly, and it was well for us that it did, for in the case of
an ordinary iron being used, we would have been stove to pieces.
As we backed away, up came the black snout of another whale, and then two or
three more. They did not seem to know that there was any mischief, and they
rolled on top of the dead one as though nothing had happened. What an
opportunity to get another one! If there had been a chance to mark our “fish”
without getting stove by the others, and cutting loose as we did in a former case, we
could have killed another and another; but that was impossible, so a “waif” was set
for the second boat, and on they came under oars. And how the bully boys rowed,
for the cry had gone up that we were stove, and they pulled to save our lives.
Cutting in a sperm whale at sea by the old-time method.
As they got close, we urged them with our cheers and cries to go in and show
what they were good for. Straight ahead they shot onto the “bunch,” and just as
they almost touched one that they had picked out, there was the curve of an iron
through the air; the next minute they were going like the wind with the whale’s
flukes just clearing the stern, throwing spray in every direction.
The second mate, as cool as a cucumber and with a happy smile on his face,
stood in the bow crouched down to keep as dry as possible, and with his bomb gun
under his arm was yelling, “Haul in on the line!” There was no slacking our speed
for him, with half a chance to get in a shot!
By night two whales were being worked on. That day’s excitement and sport was
worth a hundred dollars to me, for the whole thing was truly marvelous and it fully
compensates for all the discomfort and privation that I have felt....
The cutting in and trying out of the blubber is a prosy job, and nasty is no name
for it. All hands strip down to a shirt, a pair of overalls rolled up to the knees,
showing bare shins and sockless feet in large brogans, and in we go—grease from
head to foot—day and night until the whale is all cut safely on board. If we tarried,
bad weather would no doubt deprive us of our spoil.
It gives you a funny sensation at first to get into a deckful of blubber, with the
slimy stuff around your exposed cuticle, and oil squashing out of your shoes at
every step. But I am getting used to that now, and I feel like a veteran.... The try-
works are run day and night, while there is blubber to feed them, and the refuse
scrap is all the fuel they need, so it is very economical. They consist of two large
caldrons mounted in brick work, near the center of the ship, and the whole
structure is about six feet high. In the dark, with the flame roaring out of the short
chimneys and torches stuck on poles about the deck to give light, we must form an
interesting spectacle. The men, moving about the deck under the peculiar
illumination, look like conspirators in a comic opera.