1 86 FOLLOW THE WHALE 



is that these men in small, open rowboats somehow managed to tow 

 hundred-ton whales to shore through the terrific tides, rips, and cur- 

 rents that run along the south coast of the island. How they did so 

 is now almost incomprehensible, but that they did accomplish the 

 feat time and time again is undeniable. 



They also maneuvered their catches through the pounding surf 

 that characterizes this island. The blubber was stripped from the 

 corpse while it lay among the breakers, and was then hauled ashore 

 by giant capstans known as "crabs." Somehow, these enterprising 

 people also devised methods of turning the giant bodies over so that 

 they could be stripped of their blubber from all sides. In this, we 

 are told, they were ably assisted by the red men, who received in 

 lieu of wages all the unwanted parts of the corpse plus cast-off cloth- 

 ing and rum. 



The details of processing whales remained the same throughout 

 the ages until the present century, so that they need not be de- 

 scribed in this instance. The blubber was "tryed out," or rendered, 

 in large pots, and the oil cleaned through cloth filters. The baleen 

 was cleaned, trimmed, softened in hot water, and sold to manufac- 

 turers of various objects — notably ladies' stays — and the meat and 

 bones were abandoned or given to the Indians. 



On Nantucket, however, the whole procedure was devised upon 

 novel principles that had most important consequences. The Nan- 

 tucketers instituted an important innovation in the industry that 

 had far-reaching effects, and, strangely, this was of a purely social 

 nature. 



Whatever whaling had been carried on in Europe since the hap- 

 hazard, roistering, and individualistic days of the Norsemen had 

 always been a rather grimly capitalistic affair with undertones of 

 slavery. Even the Basques went to sea under the stern and watchful 

 eye of a master who either owned the ship or represented its build- 

 ers and the providers of its gear and supplies. Seamen and officers 

 alike worked for masters and were paid set wages, albeit usually with 

 some form of bonus. The British and Dutch dispensed with all such 

 nonsense, and any dereliction of duty on one of their whalers re- 

 sulted in a flogging at least, and death at worst. Even ships' cap- 

 tains, as we have seen, were sometimes subservient to company 

 supercargoes or agents. The Nantucketers, on other hand, were 



