A pamphlet printed and possibly written by Hendrick Haestens and etched by Hendrik Hondius of a beached sperm whale in Berkhey 2 February 1598. Hondius most likely used drawings done on the spot, perhaps by himself, for his engraved image as the whale is rendered realistically. The exception is the depiction of the whale's pectoral fin, which is not anatomically correct.
The pamphlet provides text in French, Dutch, and Latin. The French and Dutch text provide detailed information on the circumstances of the beaching, the zoometric data, the reactions of the spectators, and the distribution of bones and sperm. The Latin text is more barren in comparison.
However, the French and Latin text indicate the time of beaching, around 4 in the afternoon. The author of the text must have presupposed that the French and Latin-speaking readers would not know of the hamlet of Berkhey as the text qualifies that ten or twelve cottages were once there. Both texts continue to note that the first eyewitnesses of the sperm whale fled frightened into the dunes.
It is interesting to note the linguisitc confusion between the three versions of the text regarding the terminology for the pectoral fins. The number "7" in the French version is noted as "ouye," ear or gill, but in the other two versions, it is marked correctly as "vinne" and "pinna," or fin.
