28 WHALING AND BEAR-HUNTING 



wood-work of the deck and masts, has now become a little 

 more personal, and more homelike. We have had our engine 

 hoisted from the slipside by a great crane and slowly and 

 tenderly sunk into the engine-room, a very modern six- 

 cylinder Diesel motor made in Stockholm. The fo'c'sle is 

 well aired and lighted, and is fitted up with comfortable 

 bunks and mattresses on wire stretchers. Each man has a 

 long chest beside his bed, for we believe in making the men 

 as comfortable as the after-guard. 



The binnacle is now on the bridge, in front of the wheel ; 

 its bright new brass looks resplendent ; and two hermetic- 

 ally closed boilers we have fixed on deck on either side under 

 the bridge for boiling down whale blubber at sea. 



Our hull forward of the engine-room is made up of iron 

 tanks, and in these we hold crude oil for the engine. They 

 will be filled, we hope, by whale oil and whalebone as we use 

 up the crude oil for the engine's fuel. 



Above the most forward tanks is the hold, where we shall 

 stow our whale lines light lines for sperm or cachalot, or 

 the small Right whale, Australis, of the Southern Seas, and 

 our heavy lines for the great fighting finners will be in two 

 bins to port and starboard. Forward of the hold there is the 

 fo'c'sle and men's quarters, with more space under their 

 floor in the peak for more spare lines and sailcloth, and many 

 other necessaries for a prolonged whaling cruise. 



We have a small cabin aft, below deck, with four 

 little cabins off it to starboard, the captain's ; the writer's 

 temporary berth is to port, to be used later for any 

 extra officer or pilot or for stores ; the first mate's and 

 first engineer's cabin are a little aft on either side of the 

 companionway. 



The iron galley with its small cooking-stove is forward, on 

 deck, and attached to it we have a mess-room, into which 

 four or even five of us can squeeze at one time for meals. 



Aft of this mess-room and the foremast we have a very 

 important part of our gear, a powerful winch driven by a 

 donkey steam-engine. This is our reel, to wind up or let out 

 our line, the five-inch cable when we play a finner. The line 

 passes five or six times round two grooved barrels of the 



