100 THE WHALE HUNTERS 



the floes till it seemed they must charge straight into the 

 large floe to which the Der Browery was anchored. But the 

 school divided and as they passed on either side of the ship 

 the shallop, now manned by seven blond Dutchmen, 

 pulled away from under the stern and attacked the flank 

 of a big cow whale even whilst her mouth was still wide 

 agape. At the prick of the first iron, snap went the jaws, 

 up went her tail and in a second she had sounded. As if 

 by magic the other fifteen whales disappeared from sight 

 leaving only the squat shallop to hold the stage. 



Over her bows the line ran out rapidly and the linesman 

 standing by his loggerhead could only stand and watch it 

 uncoiling first from one and then from the other of the 

 two tubs; but as the speed slowed he took a turn and 

 checked it a little using pads of sailcloth to protect his 

 hands. 



On the high poop-deck of the Der Browery the Dutch 

 whaling master cupped his hands and shouted orders in the 

 direction of a small berg. Looking in that direction, 

 which was on the opposite beam, the lads saw four shallops 

 in line ahead, attached bow to stern by short ropes. 

 They were towing a dead Greenland whale to the ship 

 but at the captain's order the lines were cast oflf from the 

 three foremost craft and they joined their comrade whose 

 linesman was now hauling in on the whale line. 



The whale surfaced and was soon despatched and 

 brought to the ship's stern where it was moored to await 

 its turn for cutting. 



The other whale was brought to the starboard side 

 where a long gap in the bulwarks always remained open 

 during the period of catching whales. 



With a speed born of long experience some of the Dutch- 

 men who wore spikes on the heels of their boots climbed 

 on to the whale and removed the tongue and cut out the 

 lips. These alone would be boiled down to a dozen 

 barrels in the try- works at Hoorn. Then the crownpieces 



