33 o DISCOVERY REPORTS 



exceed 4 fm. (p. 334). The iron is not thrown as one might throw a spear, but rather pitched in a kind 

 of forceful lob, downwardly directed, so as to get maximum effect from the weight of the harpoon as 

 well as from the man behind it. The spot on the whale chosen for the dart may be anywhere on the 

 back or upper flanks between the levels of the umbilicus and the flipper : a dart forward of the hump 

 in the thoracic region is popular because the iron may toggle under a rib and so be lodged with 

 especial firmness. The head presents a solid and hard surface to the iron and so is always avoided. 



The second iron is darted immediately after the first, or tossed overboard if there is no chance of 

 another dart. 



The manoeuvre of backing water to clear from the whale was accompanied or instigated by the 

 traditional cry ' Starn all ' from the boatheader in the American fishery, but in the Azores there seems 

 to be no order, the action taken being automatic. 



When there are many whaleboats from the same company at sea, but only one or a few whales, it 

 may happen that more than one boat will fasten to the same whale. Several 'fast-boats' will usually 

 kill the whale more quickly and certainly, although there may be difficulties in boat management. 



The fast-boat. In the American whaleboats, the striking of mast and sail (in a boat which had gone 

 on under sail) was partly the job of the harponeer as he went aft to change ends with the boatheader. 

 In the Azores the bow and midship oarsmen attend to the mast and sail, for the boatheader and 

 harponeer never change ends in the present survival, and this is the one detail which distinguishes the 

 existing technique of hunting from that of 100 years ago. To the last days of American whaling it was 

 an invariable rule that the harponeer fastened the whale but did not lance it: he gave place to the 

 boatheader for this operation, and himself went aft to take the steering-oar and tend the line at the 

 loggerhead. He was in fact known as the ' boatsteerer ', for the term ' harponeer ' was rarely or never 

 used by whalemen. But in the Azores the harponeer keeps forward where he both fastens and lances 

 the whale. For this reason I have purposely avoided using the word ' boatsteerer ' which is not applic- 

 able to the Azores survival. The dangerous task of lancing calls for greater judgment and a firmer 

 resolution than does harpooning, and the reason for the exchange procedure in American boats is 

 usually given as the need to have the more experienced man, the boatheader (who was one of the 

 whaleship mates), in the more responsible position. But one might argue that no job is more responsible 

 than the line-managing and the steering in a fast-boat. Indeed, the American practice was long ago 

 examined and logically criticized by Melville (1851, p. 299) who held that, instead of further jeo- 

 pardizing the safety of the boat by running fore and aft in the crowded moment following the dart, 

 the two officers should keep their places, and that the harponeer should mostly be relieved of rowing 

 during the chase, so as to be fresh when called to dart his iron and, later, his lance. The Azores 

 harponeer wields both these weapons, but he also continues to pull an oar. How or when the relin- 

 quishing of the American technique came about is not known to me, but there is the fact that the 

 Azores shore whalemen have not had to contend with the question of prestige inherent in the manning 

 of a whaleship and her boats. 



As soon as the whale feels the harpoon, he runs away with the line, usually sounding but occasionally 

 in headlong flight at or near the surface. What happens afterwards until the whale is killed may occupy 

 a short or long time, sometimes as little as half an hour or an hour, and sometimes several hours : 

 similarly the behaviour of the fastened whale and the consequent management of boat and line varies 

 a great deal and from whale to whale. Nor can these variations be associated with sex or size of the 

 quarry. What follows is therefore an attempt to give a general idea of the range of procedures and 

 events. 



As the whale's pace begins to slacken, the first effort is made to snub the line at the loggerhead. 

 This may rush the boat ahead, but typically it brings the bow down and some water may be shipped, 



