Whale Fishing on the Coast of North Carolina aE 
with deep and wide barbs, so as to give 
the best possible hold when thrown into 
awhale. The blade of both this and 
the toggle iron is made of steel, ground 
very sharp, and the shank and socket 
of the very toughest and best quality 
of Swedish iron that can be procured, 
as it must be capable of withstanding 
the constant and sudden bending in 
any and all directions that it has to un- 
dergo when once fast ina whale. The 
toggle iron has a similar shank to the 
former, but instead of being fixed to 
the shank the head is hinged in sucha 
way that when the backward pull of 
the line comes on the iron a projector 
catches in the wound, and the whole 
head turns crosswise to the shank, com- 
pletely anchoring the iron in the flesh 
teyond any possibility of tearing out. 
Both these patterns have a long wooden 
handle fitting loosely into the socket of 
the iron, so that it comes out easily 
when the whale starts off. Theline, or 
warp, is made fast around the shank, 
and is either a ‘‘short’’ warp of seven 
fathoms, with a block of wood for a 
drag at the other end, or elseisa ‘‘long 
warp” of forty or fifty fathoms, which 
is handled from the boat and kept fast 
until it has to be cut away or cast off 
to prevent the boat being pulled under. 
This long warp also has a block of 
wood at the end, the line being run 
through a hole near one end of the 
block. The harpooner, as soon as the 
iron is thrown, throws all the warp 
overboard and then sticks the short end 
of the block under the head cap of the 
boat and holdson tothe long end like grim 
death. Whenever it becomes necessary 
to cast off he just tips the block over 
forwards, and the boat is free without 
any danger of a member of the crew 
fouling the line being dragged over 
with it. The lance is elliptical-bladed, 
with no barbs, and a much longer 
shank than the harpoon. It is used to 
kill the whale after it has been har- 
pooned and chased until pretty well ex- 
hausted. Then the boat is run right 
up on its back, the harpooner picks up 
his lance and drives it deep down be- 
tween the ribs into the lungs, jabbing 
it up and down with a stabbing motion 
until the movements of the whale warn 
him to withdraw it and back off. 
The whale fishing on this coast is en- 
tirely co-operative, every man engaged 
in a hunt sharing equally after certain 
other charges are paid from the pro- 
ceeds. Each gun draws two shares, 
one share goes to the owner of each 
boat, each full set of tackle (harpoons, 
lances, warps, etc.) draws two-thirds of 
a share, while the harpooner and steers- 
man of each boat draw the other third 
of the tackle share. The men actually 
in the boat constitute the crew in shar- 
ing, whether regular members of that 
crew or not, and if any one of the regu- 
lar crew is not on hand to take his place 
in the boat as it puts off his place is 
filled, and the substitute draws the 
share belonging to the position. Be- 
sides the above charges there is one of 
five gallons of oil to each kettle used in 
trying out. The proceeds, that is the 
oil and whalebone, are sold to the high- 
est bidder, and the amount realized 
divided as above, the benefits of a val- 
uable take being thus distributed 
throughout a whole neighborhood. 
It is an unwritten law of the whalers 
that a ‘‘ fish” belongs to the first boat 
that puts in an iron so long as it keeps 
fast to the whale, or until it calls in 
other boats to help. ‘Then all share as 
above, no matter how much or how 
small a part any individual one takes in 
the capture. As a rule, the first boat 
lets in all local boats that are at hand, 
