AT SEA: ON THE WHALING GROUNDS 175 



of indescribable uncouthness, which renders it difficult to de- 

 scribe with anything like accuracy. There is a murderous ap- 

 pearance about the blood-stained decl^s, and the huge masses 

 of flesh and blubber lying here and there, and a ferocity in the 

 looks of the men, heightened by the red, fierce glare of the 

 fires, which inspire in the mind of the novice feelings of 

 mingled disgust and awe." ^^ 



But after several days and nights of such feverish, barbarous 

 activity even the largest catch was converted into oil and stowed 

 away. Fortunately all signs of conflict could then be washed 

 away without leaving any permanent stains on either vessel or 

 clothing. The thorough cleansing administered to every part 

 of the craft removed all traces of oil, blood, grease, and dirt 

 so efl^ectually that within two or three days the whaler had 

 fully resumed its wonted appearance, except for the blacken- 

 ing of sails, masts, and yards by the smoke from the fires. 

 This last, however, was a condition common to all whaleships 

 except those fresh from their home ports j so that even the ex- 

 perienced eye of another whaleman would have found it dif- 

 ficult to decide, as the result of a casual inspection, whether the 

 last whale had been cut-in and tried-out three days, three 

 weeks, or three months beforehand. 



Again Melville gives us a graphic description, this time in 

 the chapter on "Stowing Down and Clearing Up." 



In the sperm fishery, this is perhaps one of the most remarkable 

 incidents in all the business of whaling. One day the planks stream 

 with freshets of blood and oil; on the sacred quarter-deck enormous 

 masses of the whale's head are profanely piled; great rusty casks lie 

 about, as in a brewery yard; the smoke from the try-works has be- 

 sooted all the bulwarks; the mariners go about suffused with unctuous- 

 ness; the entire ship seems a great leviathan himself; while on all 

 hands the din is deafening. 



But a day or two after, you look about you, and prick your ears 

 in this self-same ship; and were it not for the tell-tale boats and try- 

 works, you would all but swear you trod some silent merchant vessel, 

 with a most scrupulously neat commander. The unmanufactured 

 sperm oil possesses a singular cleansing virtue. This is the reason 



1'' Browne, J. R., "Etchings of a Whaling Cruise," p. 63. Another good 

 description of "trying-out" operations may be found in Nordhoflr, Charles, 

 "Life on the Ocean," pp. 128-132. 



