AT SEA: ON THE WHALING GROUNDS 157 



shaped to a sharp point at each end, and adapted to rowing, sail- 

 ing, or paddling. With a small mast and sail which could be 

 set or taken down at will, and a long, heavy steering-oar, they 

 were both fast and easily controlled. 



A boat's crew consisted of six men. The boatsteerer oc- 

 cupied the extreme forward thwart and pulled the bow oar 

 until close to the whale, when he stood in the bow ready to hurl 

 the harpoon J the bowman handled an oar and assisted the boat- 

 steerer in setting and taking in the mastj the midship oarsman 

 pulled the longest and heaviest oar 3 the tub oarsman was re- 

 sponsible for the line in the tubs as well as for his share of row- 

 ing j the stroke oarsman rowed, bailed the boat when necessary, 

 and assisted in handling the mastj and the boat-header, or 

 mate, manned the steering-oar, commanded the small crew, 

 and determined the strategy of the chase. 



The carrying capacity of a whaleboat was great enough to 

 contain, in addition to six thwarts, an assortment of parapher- 

 nalia known collectively as "whaling craft" and "whaling 

 gear." "Craft" included the razor-edged weapons employed 

 in attacking the prey — the harpoon for fastening to the cacha- 

 lot, the long, slender lance for penetrating deep within its 

 vitals, and the long-handled cutting-spade for severing the 

 tendons of the flukes and for making the incisions to hold the 

 heavy line by which the ponderous body was towed back to 

 the vessel. 



The term "gear" applied to the remaining equipment, com- 

 prising oars, paddles, a wooden bucket for bailing, a compass, 

 hard bread, water, and other emergency articles, and two 

 wooden tubs containing about three hundred fathoms of whale- 

 line, carefully coiled away and ready to be taken out at great 

 speed when the harpoon to which one end was attached was 

 sunk in a whale. This whaleline, in its combined strength and 

 lightness, represented the highest art of the rope-walk. It 

 was made of the best hemp, uniformly imbued with vapor 

 of tarj and though only two inches in circumference, it was 

 composed of three strands, each strand containing seventeen 

 yarns, and each yarn tested to sustain a weight of at least one 

 hundred and twelve pounds. During the latter half of the 

 eighteenth century the harpoon-gun and the bomb-gun were 



