42 THE WHALE HUNTERS 



oak frames, pointed at both ends. They were in fact 

 descended from the Indian canoes in which the natives of 

 New England had first hunted the whale and they re- 

 tained all the qualities that had made the canoe fast and 

 manoeuvrable whilst being stronger and more seaworthy. 

 At this stage in their evolution they were about twenty-two 

 feet long and similar to the boats the islanders used on the 

 beaches, having five thwarts and a small triangular 

 platform in the bow and stern ; but in addition they were 

 fitted for the task of fastening to the whale and for this 

 purpose carried a bollard or loggerhead on the stern 

 platform and a narrow channel or fairlead lined with lead 

 between the converging gunwales of the bow. A wooden 

 pin bridging this fairlead served to prevent the whale fine 

 from jumping free. The wooden loggerhead in the stern 

 provided a means of checking the speed at which the line 

 ran out of the boat and enabled the man manning it to 

 strike a balance between the extravagance of allowing the 

 line to run free and the fatal folly of securing its inboard 

 end and being towed under by the whale; this resulted 

 very often in the boat being taken for what was later known 

 as a 'Nantucket sleigh ride'. The oars, paddles, mast and 

 sail lay ready for use but the tub that contained the whale 

 fine would not be put in the boat until lowering for whale. 



The sleek boats were a great advance on others the boys 

 had seen and it was no wonder that they captured their 

 imagination so readily. 



The boys went forward and climbed through the hatch 

 to the cramped forecastle, in which with thirteen other 

 mariners they were to eat and sleep during the coming 

 weeks. Furnished only with a table and two seating 

 forms, all of which were bolted securely to the deck, and 

 with a plentiful crop of iron hooks in the beams and bulk- 

 heads for the purposes of swinging hammocks and hanging 

 clothes, this tiny triangular compartment might have 

 been partitioned from the main hold as an afterthought 



