254 The Story of the New England Whalers 



stroke had charge of the line tub and pulled a 

 heavy oar, 12 to 16 feet long. The next oars- 

 man had a still longer oar, formerly as much 

 as 1 8 feet long, while the man forward of him, 

 who was called the bow oarsman, had a shorter 

 oar and was required to attend to stepping the 

 mast and taking it down. The harpooner, called 

 boat steerer usually, pulled a light oar. The 

 mate steered the boat with an oar from 19 to 22 

 feet long. The long oars formerly used went out 

 of fashion because it was found that they wore 

 out the men in any but the shortest pulls. 



With sail alone in a good wind, with oars and 

 sail in a light wind, and with oars alone in light 

 airs and up wind, the boats headed away for the 

 whale. When approaching under oars the men 

 put them away, and took paddles as they drew 

 near the whale. The ship was usually left in 

 charge of the captain, the cook, the cooper, and 

 an idler or two. If the captain "lowered," the 

 cooper was ship keeper. 



The wildest boat races the world ever saw were 

 those made in chase of whales by boats from rival 

 ships, especially from ships of different nation- 



