The Fishing Season, 1888: How Belugas were slaughtered

"The black and white whales were caught in Prince Regent Inlet, the latter in Elwin Bay. The lancing of white whales as the tide receded was exciting work, for the fish lashed out violently with their tails in their struggles to get afloat, and threw the mud and water in every direction, whilst the men, waist deep in the churned-up sea, plied their lances wildly" (p. 420)

As a note of reference the black and white whales, also called "swordfish" or "grampus" by some whalers, were Orcas or Killer Whales, the chief predators of the Beluga whale. Whaling vessels would often take note of these pods as indication that they were hunting Beluga and follow signs to find similar pods of distressed Belugas chased into a sound or against a beach. Captain Adams gives the following account to the Zoologist:

The white whale is very shy and easily scared, quick in its movements, and very keen-sighted; it is consequently very difficult to capture in deep water. It is generally taken in the shallow bays after the ice breaks away from the land. The grampus is a great enemy of the white whale, and great numbers of the latter are found driven by them into the shallows. The fishermen are on the watch for such a chance, and when it occurs all boats are sent in pursuit; they are placed in a cordon around a school of fish, the boats being about equal distance apart and to the seaward of the fish; the boats gradually advance, driving the fish on shore at the most convenient place they can. When tide recedes the white whales are left aground, or nearly so, and then the slaughter commences, the men jumping into the shallow water and dispatching the fish with lances. Sometimes the fish turn and make a desperate rush seaward, great numbers escaping. Nets have occasionally been used in endeavouring to enclose the fish, but I cannot say that on the whole the use of nets has been a success. It has sometimes helped to secure a good result, but at other times the fish in a rush seaward have carried nets and all before them. (p. 414)

Furthermore, Lubbock writes:

"White whales feed on the salmon and, when they followed them up narrow fiords, it was sometimes possible to net the entrance behind them. A white whale drive was a noisy affair, with much firing of rifles and beating of tin cans. It took place at high water, so that the ebbing tide should strand the scared whales. Their value consisted mostly in their skins, which were worth about 1/6 per lb., and when dressed were sold as porpoise hide. From 6 to 7 of these whales boiled a ton of oil." (p. 414)

 From The Arctic Whalers by Basil Lubbock