396 CUTTING UP THE WHALE. 



standing in the main-rigging ; the mate, in the gangway, 

 repeating his orders, if necessary. 



Under the direction of the speksioneer, the se^ven 

 harpooneers take their stand upon the whale, and with 

 their blubber spades and knives separate the blubber 

 from the carcass in long strips, which are hoisted on 

 board by means of the " blubber guy." Each harpooneer, 

 to prevent him from slipping, wears iron spikes, or 

 " spurs," attached to his boots. 



Operations always commence at the belly of the whale ; 

 and when this has been completely stripped of blubber, 

 the fish is " canted," or " tilted," and the blubber from 

 the opposite side is similarly removed. Next, the whale- 

 bone is detached ; the lips are then hoisted in ; and so 

 the process of " flinching " is continued, until all that is 

 valuable of the dead monster has been carefully got on 

 board. The tail being separated from the carcass, or 

 " kreng," as it is called, the latter goes down to the 

 depths with a heavy plunge, amidst loud shouts of 

 triumph. 



Meanwhile, the large pieces of blubber, as they are 

 hoisted on deck, are cut up by the boat-steerers into 

 pieces about two feet square. These are seized by the 

 line-managers, armed with " pickics " or " pick-haaks," 

 and lowered into the hold, where they are received by the 

 skeeman, and stowed away for the nonce. The whalebone, 

 on the other hand, is split up, by means of large iron 

 wedges, into portions, each containing from nine to six- 

 teen blades ; and these are subdivided into smaller pieces 

 of three or four blades. The whale's tail is cut up into 

 blocks, which answer a useful purpose in the further pro- 

 cess of " making-oiF," yet to be described. 



