i68 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN 



off and hoisted on deck by turning the body round and round 

 in the water, just as a layer of tape may be stripped from a 

 cane.-^^ 



While the blubber was being taken on board, it was neces- 

 sary for one of the boatsteerers to get down on the slippery 

 heaving carcass, which was only partly out of water and covered 

 with oil and blood, in order to adjust the hooks used in hoist- 

 ing. In the lurching, rolling, tossing motion of a heavy or 

 even moderate sea, and with such an exceedingly treacherous 

 footing, this duty was unpleasant and dangerous in the extreme. 

 In addition to the possibilities of being struck by the sway- 

 ing iron blubber-hook, of sliding on to one of the mates' keen- 

 edged cutting-spades, of tumbling into the sea on one side and 

 of being drawn between the whale and the ship on the other 

 side, there was the ever-present danger of being torn by the 

 multitudes of sharks attracted by the flesh of a dead cachalot. 

 In recognition of this precarious situation the boatsteerer al- 

 ways had a rope fastened under his arms and a man on deck 

 detailed to pull him out of danger whenever necessary. 



When the first strip of blubber was ready for hoisting, the 

 hook was inserted into a hole cut near the fin and the word 

 given to heave away. Through the combined efforts of most 

 of the foremast hands, who were heaving at the windlass, the 

 blubber was peeled off and hoisted many feet into the air by 

 means of a great block and tackle depending from the main- 

 yard. When this strip had reached the utmost length allowed 

 by the height of the block, a second hook v/as caught near the 

 bottom and the blubber cut with a boarding-knife just above 

 this. The pendent piece of blubber which resulted from this 



^1 The following diagram, taken from Beane, J. F., "From Forecastle to 

 Cabin," p. 35, will illustrate the important parts of the sperm whale which 

 figured in the cutting-in operations. 



