134 TUB WHALE HUNTERS 



idle days when whales did not present themselves to 

 provide more exciting activity. 



But the head had to wait till the body was stripped. So 

 down came the lower block of one of the two large cutting 

 tackles that always hung ready like a bunch of grapes in 

 the maintop and on to it was shackled the big blubber 

 hook. 



And now Jamie fastened the canvas belt of the *monkey 

 rope' around his middle and leapt down on to the whale. 

 It was the duty of another harpooner on the deck above 

 him to hold the other end of this rope and to prevent 

 Jamie accidentally offering himself as a second course to 

 the dozens of sharks which were gorging upon the whale's 

 carcass. 



Another rope was fastened to the blubber hook and its 

 free end was passed down to Jamie who, steadying 

 himself as well as he could upon the slippery, heaving 

 surface, began to haul towards him the several hundred- 

 weights of hook and tackle. 



He wrestled with this swaying mass until he had got the 

 fluke of the blubber hook into the hole that Thomas had 

 cut. Then, leaping back to the ship, he called out, 'Hook 

 fast. Haul away!' and the men at the windlass began 

 cranking and the three-fold tackle tautened till the mast 

 to which its upper end was attached felt the weight and 

 leaned towards its burden. There was a sudden snap as 

 the semicircular section of blubber was rent from the 

 whale and the ship rolled back to the upright position. 

 At the same time the two mates on the staging extended 

 the two ends of the semicircular cut with their spades and 

 so commenced the continuous strip that would be peeled 

 in spiral fashion from the whale. With a helping hand 

 from the heaving swell the tackle tugged at the blubber 

 and the mates cut it away whilst all the time the whale 

 rolled with each fresh pull. 



Now the two blocks of the tackle met high above and the 



