When going upon a whale, a boat always goes, if possible, under sail. This is not for the purpose of saving the men trouble, although you would think that a praiseworthy purpose. It is to avoid frightening the whale, which hears the sound of oars at considerable distance, the sound undoubtedly going through the water. When the sail cannot be used, oars are used, or paddles. The paddles are used only when it is necessary to go very quietly, and there is no wind. They are usually stout and heavy, about four feet long; and when not in use are stuck along the sides, near the thwarts, and out of the way.
Oars are the normal method of propulsion. There are five long oars, three to starboard and two to port. From bow to stern, they are called harpooner’s (generally called “harpoonier” on a whaler), bow, midship, tub, and after oar. The harpooner’s and the after oar are fourteen feet long, and the midship oar eighteen feet. Those three are the starboard oars. The port oars, the bow and the tub, are sixteen feet each. Under the tub oar, by the way, seems to be the favorite place for a whale to strike a boat. By this inequality in length of the oars a pretty good balance is reached, whether the harpooner is rowing or not. Each of these long, heavy oars is handled by one man, who sits far over on the thwart on the opposite end from the thole-pins or rowlocks. When thole-pins are used the oar works on a mat laid up of small line, placed between the pins, to muffle the sound; rowlocks are matted with marline or other small stuff.
The steering oar, as I have mentioned, is twenty-two feet long. It passes out astern over the gunwale on the port side of the stern-post, through a bight of rope covered with leather, which rests on a bracket. One end of the rope forming this bight is taken inboard through an eye, and belayed on a cleat on the deck at the stern. There is a projecting handle on the upper side of the steering oar, and the steersman stands up to his work. When the steering oar is not in use, it is drawn in clear of the water, and on the boats of the Clearchus, at any rate, the handle was held in an eye spliced into a rope, which was worked in above the gunwale on the port side. This just fitted the handle, and held the oar out of everybody’s way and ready for instant use.
The boat is decked over for three feet at the bow, and four feet at the stern. The deck at the bow is sunk six inches below the gunwale, and is called the “box.” Directly aft of the box is the cleat, or “clumsy cleat.” This is a wide, heavy plank, on a level with the gunwale, in which—on the port side, unless made especially for a left-handed man—a roughly semicircular piece is cut out, into the place of which will fit a man’s left thigh, or upper leg. The edges of this hole are thickly matted with yarn or other soft stuff. Into this opening the harpooner fits his left thigh to steady him when he is about to dart the harpoon, or the mate fits his when he is about to use the lance. Various sheaths are on the forward edge of the cleat, for knives, and along its top runs a loose piece of heavy line, its ends knotted underneath at opposite ends of the cleat. This is the “kicking-strap,” under which the whale line passes. There is a hatchet in a frame on the side of the boat below the cleat, where the mate can reach it easily, to cut the line; and a whaling-gun lies on a board under the cleat, at his right, fast to the boat by a line through its stock.
The deck at the stern is used for the cleats which I have mentioned, for the lines from the rudder and the steering oar, and under it is the cuddy or locker in which are carried the breaker of water and the lantern-keg and the compass and other small things with which a whaleboat is usually equipped. The lantern-keg contains biscuit—hardtack—candles, flint and steel, or matches, pipes and tobacco; all the necessaries of life. The main purpose of this after deck, however, is to provide a convenient place for the loggerhead.
The loggerhead is a miniature mooring-pile projecting from this deck on the starboard side, and continued downward through the cuddy into the keel. Its top is six inches in diameter, and it is eight inches high. The whale line passes around it on its way out, and one or more turns can be taken around it, so that the line can be snubbed as much as is wished, or can be held there. It is a frequent occurrence for the loggerhead to get so hot from the friction of the line that it smokes, and is only prevented from bursting into flame by throwing water upon the line by the bucketful or the hatful.
Whale line is a beautiful silky rope, usually seven eighths of an inch in diameter, although I have seen whale line that I thought was larger than this, perhaps one-inch rope. Old line, however, may change its diameter, becoming either larger or smaller than when new. It is of long fibre manila, flexible and soft, the best rope that can be made. In 1872 it may have been of hemp—I do not remember distinctly. It is made in a rope-walk, not on machines, and its length is therefore limited to the length of the walk in which it is made. The line has a longer lay than machine-made rope, is not so tightly laid up, which may make it less attractive in appearance to one who does not know its qualities, but not to a whaleman. I have a passion for whale line. There is an old piece somewhere among my dunnage now—about three fathoms of it. I have had it for years. I have no use for it, but I like to handle it—almost fondle it.
The whale line, without knots or splices, is kept in tubs, usually one for a length, sometimes two, near the stern. The tub oar gets its name from this. It is most carefully coiled, so that it shall run out freely, without kinks. A second length of line, coiled in its tubs, is carried by each whaleboat, and can be bent on to the first in case of need.
From the tubs, then, the line passes around the loggerhead, where the boatsteerer handles it, and snubs it as much as he wishes. It may be running out so fast as to burn his hands; and a swiftly running line not only burns the hands, but can take the very flesh off the bones, as I know to my sorrow. To guard against this, hand-cloths or “nippers” are provided, much like those worn by bricklayers, and often forgotten. The “nipper” is a patch of canvas, eight inches square, to be held in the hand without fastening, as it might take a man overboard if fast to him. From the loggerhead the line passes forward along the length of the boat, in its middle line, lying, when slack, on the looms of the oars. As each man sits well over to one side of his thwart, the middle line of the boat is left clear for it. It then passes under the kicking strap, and through a groove—the “chocks”—in the head of the stem, in which it is held by a small wooden peg or pin. This pin is purposely small and frail so that if there is any obstruction, such as a kink in the line, the pin will break instead of carrying the boat under. In the bottom of the chocks there is a small metal roller which does not always work.
The whale line, after passing out of the boat through the chocks, is taken in again, and a considerable length of it coiled up on the box—the little sunken deck at the bow. This is called the “box line.” The first harpoon is attached to the free end of the box line, the second iron to an extra piece of line, the “short warp,” fast to the box line a little way from its free end. These two harpoons rest with their points projecting over the bow and their sapling hardwood handles in the crotch. The crotch is a sort of double Y-shaped contraption, which is set into a socket in the starboard gunwale, and projects about sixteen inches above it.