292 FISHEEIES OF THE UNITED STATES. [22] 



which is included in this series, is known to the Provincetown whale- 

 men as the " cane-knife," and is used, I am told, by natives of the West 

 Indies for cutting sugar-cane ; but it is not so well adapted for the man- 

 ufacture of boarding-knives as are the saber and cutlass, and is simply 

 mentioned as a specimen of the knives sometimes found on whaling- 

 vessels. 



The boarding-knife is used by one of the officers of the vessel, usually 

 the third mate, during the process of "boarding" the blubber, for 

 cutting the holes, by making longitudinal thrusts through the immense 

 blanket-piece, into which the blubber-tackle is made fast. This having 

 been accomplished, the blanket-piece is unwound from the whale until 

 its upper end or " head" is hoisted to the main-top, or "two blocks.'' 

 The officer with his formidable-looking boarding-knife cuts off, near the 

 planksheer, a section of the blubber, about 14 feet long, 6 feet wide, 

 and as thick as nature has made it. This section is lowered into the 

 blubber-room, where it is stowed away, and subsequently •' leaned." 



Leaning-Knife. — The leaning-knife resembles the ordinary butchers' 

 knife of medium size, or the common kitchen knife, and is used in the 

 blubber-room for "leaning blubber," that is, detaching small pieces of 

 flesh or muscles which cling to the fat when cut from the whale, and 

 which otherwise would blacken the oil when boiled-out. 



Mincing-Knives. — The mincing-knives may be used, as it is termed, 

 "by hand," or in connection with a machine designed expressly for minc- 

 ing or slicing the blubber. Although these knives are used for the same 

 purpose, yet they differ in form, and will be treated separately. 



Hand Mincing -Knife. — Mincing by hand was the first method adopted 

 and is largely in use at the present time, notwithstanding labor-saving 

 machines have been constructed for the purpose. Hand mincing is 

 extremely laborious, but some of the whalemen prefer this way of pre- 

 paring the blubber for the try-pots, claiming that the horse-pieces 

 are minced more uniformly, and that the oil, in consequence, is more 

 freely boiled out. The horse-pieces are laid upon a rudely constructed 

 bench called the " mincing-horse," and cut into slices varying from one- 

 fourth to three-fourths of aninch thick. These slices are called " bibles" 

 or " books"; they are not detached at the base of the piece, but are held 

 together as are the leaves of a book, and resemble an enormous piece 

 of fat pork. In this condition they are pitched into the try-pot. 



The Mincing-Machine Knives. — This sort of knife, without handles, 

 is rigidly fastened to a frame on the machine, and is automatically 

 manipulated by the revolutions of a crank. The shapes of such knives 

 vary, depending upon the kind of machine for which they are especially 

 designed. The work of mincing is more rapidly accomplished with the 

 machine than with the hand-knife. It is not always practicable to use 

 the machine, owing to the yielding nature of the blubber of some spe- 

 cies of whales, and therefore the hand-mincing knives are always car- 

 ried, though the machine is included in the outfit. 



