292 THE WEALTH OF THE SEA 



the boat for miles before the whalers could get close 

 enough to lance their quarry. Sometimes the whale 

 would sink so deep that the rope would all be run 

 out, and the boat would be in danger of being pulled 

 under. Then the rope would have to be cut, and the 

 chase begun again. Even after the whale was killed 

 with the lance it would occasionally sink and be lost 

 before it could be brought to the schooner. Such a 

 chase involved a multitude of dangers. Probably it 

 was the most dangerous occupation of the eighteenth 

 century. 



Each ship was a floating factory; as soon as a 

 whale had been killed, it was towed to the ship and 

 made fast to the side by means of a chain around the 

 narrow portion of the body next to the tail. Then 

 the work of cutting up the whale and hoisting the 

 valuable parts of the carcass aboard was begun. 



As fast as. the blubber was taken from the whale it 

 was hauled aboard and lowered into the hatch, where 

 it was cut into chunks of about a cubic foot. These 

 horse-pieces were then minced into small bits which 

 were rendered in the kettles placed on brick fireplaces 

 near the foremast. The heat caused the separation of 

 the oil, which was ladled out into a cooler and then 

 placed in casks. The fires were fed by the scraps or 

 cracklings left in the kettles after oil had been ren- 

 dered. This work was continued night and day until 

 all the whale had been worked up. At night, pieces of 

 blubber were burned in an open iron frame, lighting 

 the scene with a weird glare. 



Oil, whalebone, and ambergris were all that were 

 prepared from the whales in those days. The bones 



