240 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



Towards night the guests are transferred to the tug, the lines are cast off, and with farewell 

 greetings of good luck, and a boisterous hurrah, the tug steams back to the harbor of New Bed- 

 ford ; the whaler heads for the Pacific, and the whaleman realizes for the first time, perhaps, that 

 he is just commencing a voyage of four years' duration; but he feels that the unpleasantness of 

 leaving home has been tempered by a warm "send off" of friends and acquaintances who have 

 accompanied him at least part of the way. 



3. THE WHALE-BOAT. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. The vessel being too large to take an active part in the capture of 

 the whale, carries boats to the cruising grounds and sends them off to kill the cetacean and to 

 bring back its body. The whale- boat, therefore, becomes the most important factor in the capture. 

 Owing to its unparalleled seaworthiness and peculiar adaptation to the whale fishery, this type of 

 boat has been employed in almost its present shape for over a century. It was formerly " clinker- 

 built"; a term arising from the noise made when going through the water; but as the whales 

 grew wary, it was found unsuitable, and therefore a smooth-bottomed boat, to glide comparatively 

 noiselessly upon the unsuspecting animal, was suggested and finally adopted. As this kind of 

 craft must be propelled backward, the moment the harpoon is darted the steru should necessarily 

 be sharp. It is therefore a " double euder," progressive motion being obtained with equal facility 

 by either head or stern. The boats originally built for the whale fishery were heavy, unwieldy, 

 and much shorter and narrower than those of the present; but it is very generally conceded from 

 the outset that they were made sharp at both ends. They had round or canoe bottoms also, and 

 were made without center-boards. 



BOAT EQUIPMENT. Few people outside the whale fishery have an adequate idea of the number, 

 character, and varieties of implements of all kinds employed on the various vessels engaged in 

 this industry. When we look into a whale-boat which is almost filled with utensils scattered here 

 and there, we naturally teel slightly incredulous, when we are told that six men must get into it 

 before the outfit is completed. Such a craft should of course carry not only all the instruments 

 required for the capture, and for working the boat, as well as those necessary for the comfort of 

 the men when separated from the ship, but other instruments which may be termed accessories. 

 We have in such a boat six long oars, the largest and heaviest used steadily in any branch of the 

 service, varying from 1C to 22 feet in length ; six paddles; two tubs, one of them almost as large 

 as fn ordinary wash-tub, for the whale-lines; one bucket for wetting the line to prevent friction 

 when carried out by a whale; one wooden keg for fresh water; one piggin for bailing the boat; one 

 utensil, in the shape of the frastrum of a cone, termed the lantern-keg, for the lantern, tinder-box, 

 matches, candles, pipes, tobacco, hard bread, &c. ; one drag, or " drug" as it is called, to impede 

 the motions of a wounded whale or calf; a '' blackfish-poke" and several small Hags with very long 

 poles for "waifing" dead whales; several pairs of canvas nippers for handling the whale-line; one 

 boat-hatchet for cutting harpoon handles from dead whales and other purposes; one fog-horn; two 

 knives to cut the whale line should it "null" or foul when fastened to the whale; one boinb-guu or 

 a darting gun; a bag containing bomb-lances; five or six harpoons; three hand-lances; a boat-spade 

 for cutting holes in the lips of the whale to reeve the tow-rope; one large mast, a mainsail, and jib. 

 We should also remember that the boat has a center-board and five thwarts which take up consid- 

 erable room, and 300 fathoms of whale line, a portion of which must be led both fore and aft over 

 the oars, and around the loggerhead to communicate with the harpoons. Yet when the boat is 

 lowered from the side of a vessel, every man takes his place, and she skims over the water without 

 the least confusion, provided <;he men are trained. 



