AT SEA: ON THE WHALING GROUNDS 173 



fires with cracklings, in moving the empty casks up to the 

 copper cooler, in lashing them securely on deck after being 

 filled, and in a multitude of minor tasks. The slippery, oil- 

 saturated, blood-stained condition of vessel, clothing, and bodies 

 was now greatly aggravated by the heat and smoke of the fires 

 and by the nauseating, fetid odor of the burning cracklings and 

 of the boiling oil.-^^ 



Nowhere is there half so good a description of the pictur- 

 esque processes and equipment involved in trying-out as in 

 Melville's chapter on "The Try- Works," in "Moby Dick." 



Besides her hoisted boats, an American whaler is outwardly distin- 

 guished by her try-works. She presents the curious anomaly of the 

 most solid masonry joining with oak and hemp in constituting the 

 completed ship. It is as if from the open field a brick-kiln were trans- 

 ported to her planks. 



The try-works are planted between the foremast and mainmast, 

 the most roomy part of the deck. The timbers beneath are of a pe- 

 culiar strength, fitted to sustain the weight of an almost solid mass 

 of brick and mortar, some ten feet by eight square, and five in height. 

 The foundation does not penetrate the deck, but the masonry is firmly 

 secured to the surface by ponderous knees of iron bracing it on all 

 sides, and screwing it down to the timbers. On the flanks it is cased 

 with wood, and at the top completely covered by a large, sloping, 

 battened hatchway. Removing this hatch we expose the great try- 

 pots, two in number, and each of several barrels' capacity. When not 

 in use, they are kept remarkably clean. Sometimes they are polished 

 with soapstone and sand, till they shine within like silver punch- 

 bowls. During the night-watches some cynical old sailor will crawl 

 into them and coil himself away for a nap . . . 



Removing the fireboard from the front of the try-works, the bare 

 masonry of that side is exposed, penetrated by the two iron mouths 

 of the furnaces, directly underneath the pots. These mouths are 

 fitted with heavy doors of iron. The intense heat of the fire is 

 prevented from communicating itself to the deck, by means of a 

 shallow reservoir extending under the entire enclosed surface of the 

 works. By a tunnel inserted at the rear, this reservoir is kept replen- 

 ished with water as fast as it evaporates. There are no external 

 chimneys; they open direct from the rear wall . . . 



Here be it said that in a whaling voyage the first fire in the try- 



1^ Tlie odor, taste, and feel of blubber were practically always offensive to 

 the uninitiated. The older whalemen, however, often developed a tolerance 

 or even a liking for it. Biscuits were sometimes soaked in the hot oil; and 

 whale meat, prepared in various ways, was occasionally eaten. 



