224 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHEEIES. 



ranked next to the captain of the vessel, and "had unlimited control of the people of the fishery," 

 while the captain acted properly as navigator during a whaling voyage to the Greenland seas.* 

 The same author also speaks of the consideration with which the English harpooners were 

 treated: "All the harpooners (seven in number) were invited to dine with me. I usually call 

 them together on our entrance into fishing stations, to deliver to them such instructions as my own 

 views of the business, the success of our exertions, and the liberal treatment of other adventurers 

 who may happen to become our competitors, seem to require. On this occasion I urged them to 

 activity, perseverance, and unanimity among themselves ; to a benevolent exertion for the assist- 

 ance of all ships, of all nations, to whom it might be useful, whenever that assistance could be 

 rendered without evident detriment to their own prosperity ; and gave them a code of rules to 

 assist their judgment in cases of difficulty or danger."t 



During the wars between the Dutch and English in the middle part of the seventeenth century, 

 Holland endeavored to cripple the British whaling fleet by issuing a proclamation prohibiting, 

 among other officers, the Dutch harpoouers from engaging in the whale trade of any foreign country 4 

 Oarsmen ; foremast hands. In the whaleboat the foremast hands are the oarsmen. Oommeuc 

 ing at the bow of the boat, the oarsmen are placed as follows : (1) the harpooner, or boat-steerer. 

 who has the extreme forward thwart ; (2) the bowman, who occupies the bow-thwart, pulls the bow- 

 oar, assists the boat-steerer in setting the mast and taking it in ; makes himself useful in various 

 ways to the boat-steerer, or boat-header, as the case may be, and also attends to the line when 

 bowing on. Among the oarsmen his is the most important position, as will hereafter be seen, and 

 the best-trained man on the ship is usually selected for the position. (3) The midship oarsmen 

 occupies the midship thwart, and pulls the midship oar. (4) The tub-oarsmen has the tub-thwart, 

 and manipulates the tub-oar, his duties being to " wet line" when the whale is running or sound- 

 ing; and (5) the stroke oarsman, who is usually the lightest man in the boat; he occupies the alter 

 thwart, and pulls the stroke-oar; he also assists the boat-steerer in coiling the line when recovered 

 from the whale, and in disposing of the mast after the whale has been struck ; he also bails the 

 boat, keeps the water-kegs supplied with fresh water, and assists the boat-steerer in "rigging" 

 the boat. 



* All the early adventurers on the whale-fishery, both English and others, were obliged to be indebted to theBis- 

 cayaus for their superintendence and help. The office of harpooner requiring great experience as well as personal 

 courage, was only suited to the Biscayans, who had long been inured to the dangers and difficulties attendant on the 

 fishery of the fin-whale. The Biscayans were likewise looked to for coopers, " skillful in setting up the staved cask." 

 At this period, each ship carried two principals; the commander, who was a native, was properly the navigator, as 

 his chief charge consis;ed in conducting the ship to and from Greenland; the other, who w;is called by the Dutch 

 peckay*der, or cutter of the fat, as his name implies, was a Biscayau, and had the unlimited contiol of the people in 

 the fishery ; and indeed every operation belonging to it was entirely confided to him. When, however, the fishery 

 became Letter known, the commander likewise assumed the superintendence of the fishery. The office of specksioueer.. 

 as it is called by the English, was nevertheless continued, and remains to this day, though with a more limited pre- 

 rogative. The specksioueer is now considered the principal harpoouer, and has the "ordering of the fat," and extract- 

 ing or boiling of the oil of the whale; but he serves entirely under the direction of the commander of the vessel. 

 SCORKSBY: vol. 2, 3H-40. 



Whence also are derived the terms upeck-troitgh (a receptacle for blubber) and speck-falls (the cutting falls used 

 in hoisting in the blubber), peculiar to English whalemen. J. T. B. 



t Whale ship Baffin, of Liverpool, William Scoresby, jr., commander; on her third voyage to the Greenland whale 

 fishery, in the spring of 1822. SCOUESBY : N. Whale Fishery, 1823, p. 33. 



} The Dutch beiug at war with England in 1653, and having neither men nor ships of war to spare for the protec- 

 tiou of their whale fishery, this lucrative branch of commerce was obliged, for the season, to be suspended. In the 

 war of 1659, as well as in that of 1665 and t wo following years, the fishery was also conditionally prohibited. As at 

 such times their unemployed fishing officers might be induced to engage in the service of foreign nations, and thus 

 carry the trade abroad to the disparagement of their own country, a proclamation was issued, prohibiting, under severe 

 penalties, all commanders, harpooners, boat-Meerers, &c., from embarking in the whale-fishery trade in the ships of 

 any oilier nation during the war. SCORESHY : Aivic 1'egions, Vol. <;, p. 55. 



