WHALERS AND WHALING. 



this stalwart young sailor who had been through it all himself so re- 

 cently. This was his first voyage as a boat steerer, so he w r as more 

 than willing to answer my eager questions, and explained lots of 

 things I had always wanted to know. For instance, why the whale 

 boats are steered with one oar instead of a rudder, as is invariably 

 the case in the pictures in the geography. He told me that a boat 

 could be suddenly sheered around and managed much quicker when 

 steered by the oar, because she must have a certain amount of for- 

 ward motion, "steerage way," — as they call it — before she can answer 

 to a rudder. Also why a whaleship carries three of her boats on 

 one side and only one on the other, which doesn't look shipshape 

 and trim. " They have to leave space for a whale to be hauled along- 

 side and cut in," explained this most typical jolly tar, who was kept 

 in a perpetual grin at my amusing ignorance. 



What a strange sensation it must be to come back from one 



