[19] FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



principally at Xew Bedford — by blacksmiths who are engaged almost 

 wholly in the manufacture of such '< craft," including harpoons, hand- 

 lances, etc. The best cast steel is used for the heads, and wrought 

 iron for the sockets and shanks. About thirty cutting-spades without 

 poles arc included in the outfit of a whaling vessel. The poles, which 

 are made of spruce, from fifteen to twenty feet long, are "rigged" at 

 sea. 



Cui TING-IN Spades. — The cutting-in spades include the narrow spade 

 for "scarfing," which is a term for cutting the blubber into spiral strips 

 as it is unwound, or peeled, from the body of the whale; the wide cut- 

 ting-spade for "leaning," severing the small pieces of flesh and muscles 

 which adhere to the blubber; the head-spade for cutting the bone in 

 decapitating a whale; the "sliver-spade" for detaching the pieces of 

 flesh and blubber which connect the head and body when cutting off 

 the head; the "throat-spade" for making a passage through the blub- 

 ber of the head for the head-strap^ and for taking out the baleen which 

 remains in the throats of the right- whales; and the "deck-spade" for 

 reducing to small sections the large blanket-pieces which may possibly, 

 during the j>rocess of boarding, have to be temporarily placed on deck, 

 before they can be lowered down the main hatch. 



The above spades are used by the officers, sometimes the captain, but 

 usually the mate and the second mate, who stand upon stages slung 

 over the side of the vessel. 



The Blubber-Room Spade.— The blubber-room spade, with a wide 

 blade and short handle, is used between decks for the reduction of the 

 large blanket-pieces to smaller sections, known as " horse-pieces, " which 

 are pitched ujion deck, minced, and thrown into the try-works. 



The Pot-Spade. — The pot-spade is similar to the deck-spade, with 

 the exception of the handle, which must, of necessity, be longer, as this 

 instrument is used about the seething cauldrons of oil, for spading the 

 pots to prevent the scrap from burning on the sides and bottoms and 

 discoloring the oil. 



The Boat-Spade. — The boat-spade is a small, thick-set, gigantic 

 chisel, with chamfered edges and sides, and always included in the out- 

 fit of a whale-boat, though seldom used by modern whalemen. It was 

 mainly relied upon by the early whale- fishermen for "stopping a run- 

 ning whale," a process commonly known as " spading flukes." For this 

 purpose the boat was propelled to the junction of the caudal-fin and the 

 body — the '.'small" of the whale — and the animal disabled by discon- 

 necting the cords, or by spading a large vein which underlies the " small"; 

 a feat which required considerable skill and bravery, and was the most 

 dangerous in the fishery. The introduction of the bomb-lances, however, 

 has done away with this performance, and the whales are "stopped" as 

 effectually at a greater distance. This spade is always carried in the 

 boat, and used for making holes in the lips of the whale for reeving 

 the tow-rope. 



