Scoresby speaks of a whale which drew out from the different boats ten thousand four hundred and forty yards, or nearly six miles, of rope. It was necessary when the line of one boat was nearly exhausted to bend on the end to a new rope in another boat and so on, and of course often miles of rope and many harpoons would be lost if the whale escaped. When the line was drawn out rapidly it was necessary to pour water over the snub post to keep the rope from burning.
There have been races almost as exciting as a Harvard-Yale race when the boats of different nations have been dashing for a whale, which is prized at between three thousand and four thousand dollars. Many years ago an English, a French, a Dutch, and an American ship lay becalmed in the Pacific, when suddenly a whale was “raised.” All four ships lowered and raced across the waters, with the American in the rear. In a few minutes the Yankee passed the Dutchman, who yelled “donner und blitzen!” The American captain encouraged his men by shouting “Thar she blows, she’s an eighty-barreler, break the oars, lads!” and soon the French were left astern with curses of “Le diable.” The Englishmen were still ahead; the American boat-steerer now began to help the stroke oarsman by pushing his oar, and their boat crept up slowly upon their only rivals. The English boat-steerer also grabbed his stroke’s oar, but it snapped off at the rowlock, and the Americans overtook them and captured the whale. Another international race took place in Delagoa Bay, which has become a classic among American whalemen. Again an English and a Yankee whaleboat were chasing a whale, and, in some manner, the former was able to cut in between the whale and the Americans, and as the English harpooner was reaching for his iron, the American harpooner “pitch-poled” his harpoon over the English boat, and his iron made fast.
[Illustration: A “cutting” stage, showing blubber being stripped from the whale.]
[Illustration: Hauling the “case,” or head, on board. The case weighs sometimes as much as 30 tons.]
[Illustration: Cutting off the lower jaw of a sperm whale, showing the teeth.]
After a capture came the long, hard row back to the ship, then the tedious process of “cutting in” and “trying out.” First of all the head, or “case,” was cut off and tied astern while the strips of blubber were cut from the body and hauled on board, as next shown, by means of huge tackles from the mast. Blubber averages in thickness from twelve to eighteen inches, and if cut four and one-half inches thick would carpet a room sixty-six feet long by twenty-seven wide. Then the head was either bailed out, if it were a sperm whale, or else the whalebone was taken in, if it were a right whale. The strips or “blanket pieces” were then minced, and after boiling, the oil was cooled and stored away in barrels below deck. The “try-works” consisted of iron pots set in brick furnaces, and there were pans of water underneath to prevent the decks from burning. This process of boiling the oil was most irksome and disagreeable as the men were soaked in oil from head to foot, and the smell of the burning fluid was so frightful that it has often been alluded to as Hell on a large scale, and was usually called a “squantum,” which is the Nantucket word for a picnic; nevertheless, old whalers delighted in it.