Even with his ship “full to the eyebrows” the whaling skipper could not resist the taking of one more whale, until every possible container, large and small, was full to running over.
The call of the lookout was a sort of wail, running through a scale of five or six notes, each man putting in his own curlicues according to the quality of his voice.
He would sustain the call as long as the blow lasted:
“A blow!—A blo-o-o-o-ow! A blow. A blow!!”
“Where away?” from the skipper.
“Two miles—weather beam—Blo-o-o-ow! Blo-o-o-o-! There she breaches—A blo-o-o-ow! A blow!—A blow!”
LOWERING
The boats were kept ready for instant lowering. The tubs were first put aboard and a man took his station at each of the “falls” or davit tackles, one man remaining in the boat to fend her off the side of the ship.
“Lower away!”