Books: Of Men & Blubber

YANKEE WHALERS IN THE SOUTH SEAS (304 pp.)—A.B.C. Whipple—Doubleday ($3.95).

The New England Yankee may yet go down in history as supreme of all the breed of men who chose to battle whales.

A whaling ship today is a quite safe combination of floating factory and ocean liner, but in the 18th and 19th centuries, the world's most powerful animal was hunted down in ships so small that the whale could, and sometimes did, butt them into driftwood. In all man's hunting, none has been so downright risky and exciting. As a result, no true armchair adventurer can easily bypass a readable new...