AQUATIC PKODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 193 



CONVEKSrON OF THE BLUBBER INTO OIL. 



The followini; notes on 1 lie pi-e.sent methods of converting whale 

 blubber into oil <ii'(; the i-esults of iiH[uii-ies jiiul investigations made 

 by the writer during llie last four years, and esi)eciall}' in October, 

 1901, when many pra<;tical whalemen W(!i-e interviewed. Especially 

 are we indebted to Capt. George O. i)ak<M-, (-apt. Charles H. Robbins, 

 C'apt. James Avery, and Mr. W. R. Wing, of Ncav Bedford, Mass. 



The reduction of oil from the solid mass of blubber, though tedious 

 in detail, is an oi)eration of simple character, requiring merely that 

 the substance shall be exposed to heat. The blanket-i)ieces, 12 or 

 15 feet long and 5 or feet wide, are first "leaned," consisting in 

 removing the pieces of muscles which cling to the fat during the 

 process of cutting-in. By means of spades they are cut into smaller 

 sections, called " horse-pieces," about 2 feet long and G inches wide. 

 These are passed to the mincers. If the blubljer is too thick, say 

 over 12 inches, it is sometimes split before it is minced. 



Two methods of mincing the blubber are employed, viz: by hand 

 and by machinery. The former was the first adopted and is gener- 

 ally used at the present time. It is extremely lal)orious, but juost 

 whalemen j) refer it, since the pieces are minced more uniformly and 

 consequently the oil boils out more freely. The horse-pieces are laid 

 lengthwise and with the flesh side downward upon a bench called 

 llm "mincing-horse," and are scored or cut into slices varying from 

 one-fourth to three-fourths inch thick, called "minced horse-pieces." 

 I'he knife cuts through the skin, but is stopped Avithin about an inch 

 of the base, so that the slices are held together like the leaves of a 

 book, and in this condition they are pitched into the try-pots. 



The try- works are built of brick athwartships between the foremast 

 and the mainmast. The usual dimensions are 8 or 10 feet long, 7 or 

 8 feet wide, and about 4^ feet high. The first course of bricks, or 

 the base, is laid in openwork, forming channels through which the 

 water may freely cii-culate. The firei^laces, or " arches," as they are 

 known aboard a whale ship, are strengthened by pieces of iron and 

 are furnished with sliding doors. Two large metallic try-pots are 

 placed within the try-works, with their bottoms resting upon the 

 arches or furnaces. These are shaped like the old-fashioned 3-legged 

 pots so intimately associated with the domestic hearths of our fore- 

 fathers. They range in capacity from 120 to 200 gallons each. 



While boiling the blubber, the fires are kept up day and night. 

 Naturally, the fuel supply is an item of no small consideration to the 

 whalemen. A quantity of cord- wood, each stick sawed into two 

 pieces, and all kinds of refuse wood are included in the vessel's outfit 

 and relied upon for starting the fires. But when fairly under way the 

 highly combustible residue of the fat, known as "scrap," is mainly 

 depended upon. Once in awhile a whale is secured so fat that the 

 scrap is not sufficient to keep the fires going and the "fat lean " and 



F. C. 1902 13 



