Olaus Magnus, too, tells of sleeping whales being mistaken for islands:--“The Whale hath upon its Skin a…
- Date of account
- Published 1890
- Source
- Curious Creatures in Zoology
- Reference
- Curious Creatures in Zoology · selected passage 43
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English
- Record updated
- 2026-08-24
Record summary
Olaus Magnus, too, tells of sleeping whales being mistaken for islands:--“The Whale hath upon its Skin a superficies, like the gravel that is by the sea side; so that oft times when he raiseth his back above the waters, Sailors take it to be nothing else but an Island, and sayl unto it, and go down upon it, and they st…
Published source text
Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.
Source passage
Source text · mention onlyOlaus Magnus, too, tells of sleeping whales being mistaken for islands:--“The Whale hath upon its Skin a superficies, like the gravel that is by the sea side; so that oft times when he raiseth his back above the waters, Sailors take it to be nothing else but an Island, and sayl unto it, and go down upon it, and they strike in piles upon it, and fasten them to their ships: they kindle fires to boyl their meat; until at length the Whale feeling the fire, dives down to the bottome; and such as are upon his back, unless they can save themselves by ropes thrown forth of the ship, are drown’d. This Whale, as I have said before of the Whirlpool and Pristes, sometimes so belcheth out the waves that he hath taken in, that, with a Cloud of Waters, oft times, he will drown the ship; and when a Tempest ariseth at Sea, he will rise above water, that he will sink the ships, during these Commotions and Tempests.
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis source supplies historical scientific, skeptical or conventional context. Its terminology and conclusions may not reflect current scholarship.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyLattice uses this as an alternative-explanation source, not as an automatic dismissal of testimony. Claims still need to be compared with the actual evidence and current knowledge.
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