231- WHALE-FISHERY. 



clearly coiled beneath it, so that tlic harpoon can 

 be taken up and disciiarged in a moment. The 

 oars used for rowing the Greenland boats, are about 

 16 feet in length, and those used for steering are 

 18 or 20 feet. All the oars are fixed by rope- 

 grommets to a single thole, so that when not in use, 

 they can be readily unshipped or pushed out of the 

 boat through the grom.met, as far as a stop on the 

 extremity of each oar will admit, and then left to float 

 parallel with the sides of the boat. An oar is used 

 for steering in preference to a rudder, in conse- 

 quence of its possessing many advantages : An oar 

 does not retard the velocity of the boat so much as 

 a rudder ; it is capable of turning the boat v»'hen in 

 a state of rest, and m.ore readily tlian a rudder 

 when in motion ; and it can be used for propelling 

 the boat, in narrow places of the ice where the row- 

 ers cannot ply their oars, by the process of sculling, 

 and in calms for approaching a whale without 

 noise, by the same operation. 



The crew of a whale ship are separated into di- 

 visions, equal in number to the number of the boats. 

 Each division, consisting of a harpooner, a boat-steer- 

 cr, and a line-manager, together with three or four 

 rowers, constitutes " a boat's crew." 



The harpconer's principal office is, as his name 

 implies, to strike the whale, also to guide the lines, 

 or to kill an entangled whale with liis lances. 

 When in pursuit, he rows the bow-oar. He has 



