Finback

"What's the difference between a 'finback' and a 'humpback,' Hank?" asked the boy, after the canvas had been stowed, the vessel under auxiliary steam having speed enough to keep up with the cetaceans, "are they 'right' whales?" ❋ Francis Rolt-Wheeler (1918)

a kind of finback, an 'is the largest animal livin'. ❋ Francis Rolt-Wheeler (1918)

Just last month, a group of whale watchers got an unexpected treat when they witnessed a twirling finback whale. ❋ Unknown (2011)

The park is a great place to whale watch, especially between February and April, and several kinds of whale are frequently seen in these waters, including the blue, humpback, finback, pilot, and the occasional gray whale. ❋ Unknown (2008)

The more common marine mammals that can be observed from the park, albeit with a diminishing frequency in recent years include pilot whale Globicephala melaena, minke whale Balaenoptera autorostrata, finback whale B. physalus (V) and harbour seals Phoca vitulina. ❋ Unknown (2008)

Inspired by Pluvialis' post on the finback whale skeleton exhibited at Cambridge, I took this picture of a blue whale mounted in front of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. ❋ Unknown (2006)

If you hate Denny soooo much, throw his opponenet, Progressive Democrat John Laesch a finback or a sawbuck. ❋ Unknown (2006)

Visitors can sign up for Shearwater Excursions, where minke, finback and humpback whales are on view, or visit the Whaling Museum on Broad Street, which features a restored 1847 candle factory. ❋ Unknown (2006)

Ishmael discussed Hairy Harry while the Tailorcraft wiggled through the last hundred miles to Jameson, in between showing his passenger such curiosities as a finback whale coming up to spout between dives, over seventy feet of smoothly shaped gray-blue creature calmly pursuing a majestic existence framed by whitecaps on green waves. ❋ Van De Wetering, Janwillem, 1931- (1994)

He frequently directed them to a fine school of black-fish, or bade them see whales, or man their canoes for the chase of the finback; he told them when to plant and gather in their corn, and foretold to them the approach of storms with an accuracy productive of the greatest advantages to them. ❋ James Athearn Jones (N/A)

He now frequently demanded the half of a whale instead of a tenth, or took, without asking, the whole of a grampus or finback. ❋ James Athearn Jones (N/A)

Compared to the excitement of the chase in the open boat this seemed very tame to Colin, and he said so to the captain, when he went aft, while the steam-winch gradually drew up the finback whose end had come so suddenly. ❋ Francis Rolt-Wheeler (1918)

Owing to the approaching darkness, there was no time to wait for an exact shot, and Hank fired at the big finback on the first opportunity. ❋ Francis Rolt-Wheeler (1918)

Now, a finback is built more for speed an 'has a big fin on the back -- that's where it gets its name. ❋ Francis Rolt-Wheeler (1918)

Then Hank, who had been standing in the bow beside the gun, watching every move of the cetacean during the afternoon, suddenly signaled with his hand for "full speed astern," by this maneuver stopping the ship squarely, as a whale -- a medium-sized finback -- came up right under the vessel's bow. ❋ Francis Rolt-Wheeler (1918)

The whales dived below, fortunately; for one blow of a finback or sulphur bottom would have played skittles with the canoes. ❋ Unknown (1903)

Had that finback attempted to play about a passenger ship in such a fashion, all the loungers on board would have been popping at him with their revolvers and rifles without ever a thought of compunction; yet here, in a vessel whose errand was whale-fishing, ❋ Frank T. Bullen (1886)

From which lucid narration I gathered that the finback had himself to thank for his immunity from pursuit. ❋ Frank T. Bullen (1886)