214 The Story of the New England Whalers 



"The whale line is laid in Flemish coils [i.e. 

 in flat, concentric coils, one on top of the other], 

 225 fathoms in the large tub and 75 fathoms in 

 the small tub, which each whale boat carries," 

 says The Whale Fishery. "The upper and lower 

 ends of each line are exposed and provided with 

 eye-splices in order that one end of the line may 

 be made fast to the harpoon and the other end 

 to the other line when fast to a whale. Each 

 boat carries 300 fathoms of line, and if a whale, 

 by running or sounding a great distance, takes 

 it all out, another boat is signalled and assists 

 in the capture." 



Scoresby tells of a Greenland whale that drew 

 out six miles of line, with fifteen harpoons attached, 

 and carried down a whale boat with all hands 

 before it was killed. Usually a whale takes 

 out no more than 200 fathoms 1200 feet of 

 line. 



The most important weapon used in the modern 

 fishery is the whaling gun, of one of the forms 

 now to be described. Among the weapons used 

 on war-ships in the seventeenth and eighteenth 

 centuries was the swivel cannon. It was usually 



