THE PRESENT SURVIVAL OF OPEN BOAT WHALING 313 



for he manages the great steering oar: when sailing and using the tiller, and at times apart from the 

 more urgent moments of hunting, the boatheader often finds a seat on the cuddy-board. When going 

 on a whale (p. 328), and at most times when handling the steering oar, the boatheader stands on two 

 projections from the risings, called the standing-cleats, so as to get a ' longer view '. The bow-thwart is 

 also the main-thwart and is specially strengthened, being dunnage all the way across, that is, the 

 space on the thwart between the two sets of thwart -knees is planked-in flush from side to side, so that 

 the thwart effectively comprises two thicknesses of plank : the other thwarts have one knee to each side 

 and are dunnage only on the side where the oarsman sits, giving him a flat seat. The strengthening of 

 the main-thwart is to support the mast-hinge. This consists of a hinged tabernacle for the mast, with 

 step below, which was introduced in the late nineteenth century so that, when going on a whale under 

 sail, the mast and sails can be struck with the utmost despatch as soon as the harpoon is darted. From 

 the level of the main-thwart forward into the eyes of the boat, and covering the lower planks of the 

 ceiling, there is a platform which may be called the harponeer platform, where the harponeer stands 

 to dart his iron and afterwards to lance the whale. (It will be seen on p. 330 that in the Azores the boat- 

 header does not come forward to lance the whale as he did in the American whale fishery.) Aft there 

 is a short boatheader platform similar to the forward one. It is on the boatheader platform that slack 

 line is coiled when hauling up to a fastened whale. The stern of the boat is decked across at gunwale 

 level by the cuddy-board. 



Projecting upwards from the cuddy-board, off-centre towards the starboard side, is the most 

 striking feature of a whaleboat. Some 8 in. high and shaped like a silk hat, this bollard (so-called in 

 the old English Greenland fishery) is the loggerhead (Az. logaete, logaiete) around which the whaleline 

 from the after line-tub is taken, afterwards passing between the rowers down the fore-and-aft line of 

 the boat and thence either to the box to be coiled there as the box-line or, in a boat fastened to a whale, 

 through the chocks and so outboard. At the loggerhead the whaleline is controlled : when the sounding 

 which follows the initial dart is exhausted then a turn or so round the loggerhead checks the slackening 

 line : whilst the whale is towing the boat the line is snubbed here, or paid out as required : when the 

 whale begins to tire and the boat hauls forward for the lancing, then slack line is taken in round the 

 loggerhead. It is managed by the boatheader. After a little service the loggerhead acquires a con- 

 siderable groove round the base, worn by the smoking friction of the line. Taking such strain, the 

 loggerhead is very securely fastened : its foot extends down to a tapered insertion in the keel, and for 

 additional strength there is provided on the cuddy-board a sort of king-plank with a curious flowing 

 curve, the lion's tongue or loggerhead strip. 



The Azores whaleboat is never hoisted, and therefore no lifting lugs are fitted fore and aft, such as 

 were universal in American pelagic whaling. 



Towing behind the motor-boat. For towing from the coast towards the sighted whales, or for short 

 tows during the periods of hunting, each whaleboat has a long hemp towing-warp, fastened in the boat 

 by a wooden towing-toggle jammed under the clumsy cleat. Whilst towing, the warp is tended by the 

 harponeer, who uses a corner of the lowered jib for partial shelter from the drenching spray, for the 

 motor-boats tow at speeds around 16 knots. The boats are either towed one, two, or three in line 

 astern, or else in tandem, when they are veered by the boatheaders at their tillers. 



In American whaleboats working from whaleships on the high seas there were, of course, no power 

 boats generally employed, and the only line comparable to the Azores towing-warp was the boat-warp 

 or painter. 



Sailing. The present-day Azores whaleboats, at least all that I have seen, are rigged with gaff mainsail 

 and jib, the latter either loose- or club-footed. Mention has already been made of the astonishing sail area 

 carried by these boats without centre-boards. The gaffsail rig with jib, although the customary American 



