536 MODERN SEA FISHING 



port side just forward the thwart for the stroke oar, and the 

 small tub on the starboard side against the centre-board cover 

 between Nos. 3 and 4 thwarts. 



The loggerhead (i.e. bollard head) is placed right aft slightly 

 on the starboard side of the boat, round which the line from 

 the big tub is led, and down the boat through the score to the 

 harpoon. They carry two harpoons on a ' mik ' on the starboard 

 side, and if the second harpoon is not used, it is thrown over- 

 board and hangs on the line. There are other slight differences 

 between British and American methods which space will not 

 admit of noticing. The main one seems to be running the line 

 from right aft, which would appear to be an advantage where 

 one boat alone is employed to kill a fish, as it must be much 

 easier to recover line and haul up to the fish to lance her. 

 However, in the case of a foul line, the Scotch plan would 

 appear to have advantages, as a harpooneer has been known, 

 on the cry of foul line, to take the turns off the bollard head 

 and throw the foul part of the line overboard, saving the boat 

 and eventually securing the fish. 



The officer in charge steers the boat, and the moment a fish 

 is struck shifts ends with the man who has harpooned the fish. 

 He comes aft and runs the line. The officer uses the bomb 

 gun and lances. There may be other descriptions of boats and 

 ways of fitting them, but this is a summary of the information 

 the writer has been able to obtain from personal observation 

 and research. 



The whales taken by American fishermen with harpoons, 

 &c., are as follows : The Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus), 

 Right Whale (Eubalcena), Pacific Right Whale (Balcena 

 japonica)\\. may be noted that there are said to be several 

 species of the Right Whale Bowhead, Greenland Whale 

 (Mysticetus), Humpback Whale (Megaptera), Californian Grey 

 Whale or Devil Fish (Rhachianectes glaucus), the Sulphur- 



