H—The Greener gun—used by Dundee whalers in the Arctic.
J—The harpoon—with slot and travelling ring—fired from the Greener gun.
THE WHEEL
This type of steering wheel known as “shin cracker” was peculiar to the Yankee whaleships. The wheel was mounted on the tiller and the helm was moved by means of tackle which ran around the drum, through sheaves and blocks to the bulwarks. Consequently, when the steersman turned the wheel he walked back and forward with it across the deck.
In the deck over him there was a small hatch through which he could watch the sails.
THE FOC’S’LE
The foc’s’le was reached by a hatch, forward of the mainmast, which also served as the only inlet for daylight and fresh air.
In some cases the ceiling was so low that any man above average height could not stand upright. In heavy weather the deck was never dry, due to leaky hawse pipes and dripping oilskins, and in the tropics it was a furnace. Altogether, the combined odours of unwashed bodies, unwashed clothes, bilge water, tobacco and oil lanterns, made it a noisome habitation.