Right half of a large engraving on two folio sheets on the Greenland fishery in exacting detail. In the center is a large stern view of a whaling vessel. Two bears stand on the shore, and the head of a walrus emerges from the waves in the foreground. Whaleboats chase after whales alerted by the waterspouts.
The title (Qui Vidit Mare Turgidum) is only the second half of the complete title (Qui Siccis Oculis Monstra Natantia Qui Vidit Mare Turgidum). It is from The Odes of Horace and translates to: "He who sees with his own dry eyes the monster swimming, sees a wave-tossed sea." A poem is inscribed in German in three columns below the title. According to the translation taken from "Whaling Prints in the Francis B. Lothrop Collection" by Elizabeth Ingalls on p.14, the poem reads:
"Much bravery is shown by those, who in a sea full of water-ghosts / Face icebergs, storms, and rocky cliffs, / For catching whales on Greenland's shores / Only guided, even beyond North Cape, by Hecla's glow. / Samoyeds are afraid when they see the spouting whales / As the raging monsters are chased and killed / And sea harpoons paint the Ice-Sea red with blood. / But Iceland lives from walrus, oil and seal. / The brave take care of Holland's growing trade. / Be silent, Colchis, and see how Holland's heroes rove / Searching beastly monsters in the northern darkness / Until the Polar Circle's ice the whalemen holds."
The engraving is considered one of the grandest and most ambitious of whale fishery prints. It is a composite of the set of sixteen celebrated whaling prints also made by Meulen, Laan, and Schenk Iun around the same time. Both publications are notable for their exceptional historical comprehensiveness, historical accuracy, maritime detail, and artistry that provide rare pictorial documentation of the industry. For a conjoined, duplicate print see CC-D-0074.
