HARPOON: When a whale was sighted, the whaleboats were immediately prepared. The six-man crew would row out, pursuing the whale with the aim of harpooning it just after it surfaced. At this stage, the whale couldn't dive again until it replenished its oxygen supply for another hour-long dive. Often, the crew had to wait for the whale to resurface. Once the whaleboat got close enough, ideally within three fathoms, but preferably right alongside the whale, the harpoon was darted. Rather than being thrown like a spear, it was more accurately pushed into the whale. A harpoon could be darted up to a maximum of eighteen feet if necessary. Ideally, a second harpoon was also darted, its short warp loosely attached around the main warp with a bowline. If the second harpoon couldn't be darted, it was thrown overboard to trail out of the way. The first harpoon was always a new one, while the second was typically one that had been previously used and straightened by the ship's blacksmith or cooper.
SHOULDER GUNS, HARPOONS & BOMB LANCES: After 1846, shoulder guns were introduced, capable of firing a special gun harpoon into the whale. These were not very effective as the harpoon, trailing the heavy whale line, rarely flew straight and often hit the whale broadside, if at all. A witness to a demonstration of a new gun harpoon remarked that when it was fired, "The whale is the safest creature in or on the ocean." The maximum weight for a shoulder gun projectile was about 3 pounds, constrained by the gun's recoil. The guns themselves weighed over 20 pounds to help absorb the recoil.
SWIVEL GUNS & IRONS: Swivel guns were first introduced in the early 1700s, but they weren't practical at that time. In the late 1800s, heavier swivel guns were mounted on the bows of whaleboats. A popular choice was the Greener gun, invented and manufactured by William Greener of Birmingham, England. These guns could fire large, heavy harpoons at greater distances than hand-darted harpoons, and they could also fire large bomb lances. While the Greener gun allowed for heavier projectiles than shoulder guns, the excessive recoil could damage the relatively weak structure of the whaleboat. Swivel guns were particularly useful for approaching whales in ice fields and capturing those difficult to approach.
DARTING GUNS: Around 1870, darting guns gained popularity. These were mounted on standard iron poles and could plant a harpoon in the whale while simultaneously firing a bomb lance to kill it. The darting gun was used in the same manner as a hand harpoon, with the bomb lance replacing hand lancing. The darting gun iron had a tapered end instead of a socket, which fit into lugs on the darting gun for easy detachment after darting. An iron loop forge welded to the shank, just forward of the tapered iron tang, was used to attach the whaleline.
LANCE: After the whale had exhausted itself from running, the crew would haul in the whale line attached to the harpoon, pulling the whaleboat up to the whale. The mate, who had been leading the boat and directing the crew, would then switch positions with the harpooner, who became the boatsteerer. Only the mate was allowed to lance the whale. The lance was longer than a harpoon, enabling it to reach the whale's "life," a large reservoir of oxygenated blood used for deep dives, located near the lungs. When the lance pierced this area, it was churned to cut as much tissue as possible. The blood would fill the whale's lungs, and when it spouted, it would expel red blood. This phenomenon, described by whalemen as the whale's "chimney was afire," indicated that the lancing was effective and the whale would soon die.
BOAT SPADE: To secure the whale to the whaleboat, a length of whale line was tied around the whale's flukes, or tail, or through holes cut with a small boat spade. The whale was always towed back to the whaleship tail-first. Upon arrival, the whale was tied alongside the whaleship with a fluke chain, flukes forward, on the starboard side.
CUTTING SPADES and BLUBBER HOOK: A cutting-in stage made of planks was suspended above the whale so officers could position themselves above the carcass to strip the blubber. First, a hole was cut in the blubber near the head and fin. Blubber was stripped by cutting scarfs in the blubber with cutting spades mounted on long poles, about 15 to 20 feet in length. A huge blubber hook suspended from the mast was inserted into the initial hole cut in the blubber. The line from the mast to the hook passed between the cutting-in stage and the hull. Using the ship's windlass, a strain was applied to the hook, and the officers on the stage would cut the blubber with cutting spades. They made a cut around the hook and then in parallel lines, forming a six-foot-wide strip of blubber to be peeled off. As the blubber hook pulled the blubber up, the officers continued cutting, and the whale would roll in the water as the blanket piece was hauled up. Only officers were allowed to "cut on a whale."
BOARDING KNIFE: When the hook had been hoisted as far as it could go, known as "two blocks" when the two pulleys (blocks) came together, a new hole was cut in the blanket piece below the hook. This was typically done from the deck using a boarding knife, a two-edged, sword-like blade mounted on a wooden handle. Another hook, or more likely a wooden toggle, was put through the second hole and tension applied to the line securing it. There were two systems of blocks and tackle for raising the blanket pieces. Once secured by the second system, the blanket was cut off above the second hook or toggle, and the now freely hanging blanket piece was swung inboard and dropped onto the deck. This process, known as boarding the blanket, involved cutting with a boarding knife.
BLUBBER ROOM SPADES: While the officers on the cutting stage continued to strip the blubber with their cutting-in spades, the blanket piece on the deck needed to be cut into smaller, more manageable pieces. This could be done on deck, but it was cumbersome due to the other activities and the sliding of the blanket piece with the ship's motion. Therefore, the blanket piece was lowered into a hold called the blubber room. There, using spades on short poles called blubber room spades, the blanket piece was cut into smaller horse pieces. These horse pieces were six feet long (the width of the blanket piece), one foot wide, and approximately ten inches thick. The horse pieces were then tossed up to the deck with a blubber fork, and subsequently processed on the mincing horse.
MINCING KNIFE: The mincing horse consisted of planks set over a wooden tub. One man would use a small hand hook to pull the horse piece across the plank of the mincing horse, placing it with the black skin side down. As it moved along, another man would slice it into thin pieces to facilitate boiling out the oil. This was done with a two-handled mincing knife in a slicing motion that cut through the blubber but not the black skin. The sliced horse piece, referred to as "book" or "bible leaves," was ready for further processing.
LEANING KNIFE: Often, small bits of flesh known as "lean" would adhere to the blubber. If not removed, this flesh would darken the oil, reducing its value. Part of the blubber room gang's job was to trim these flesh bits off the horse pieces using leaning knives. Additionally, leaning knives were used to mince the blubber of blackfish and other small whales.
TRYPOTS: The bible leaves were then transported to the large cast iron trypots located forward on the deck. They were thrown into the trypots using a blubber fork. Typically, two trypots would be set side by side within a large brickwork structure, heated by burning the tried-out scraps from a previous whale. These scraps burned with an intense flame, and each trypot could hold several hundred gallons of oil.
BLUBBER FORK: Bible leaves were tossed into the trypots with a blubber fork or blubber pike and heated until the whale oil rendered out, similar to grease cooking out of bacon. Care had to be taken to avoid burning the oil while ensuring that all the oil was extracted from the bible leaves.
POT SPADE: The trypots were constantly stirred with a pot spade, a small spade worn down by repeated sharpening until it was too narrow for cutting. The pot spade was also used to scrape off any small pieces clinging to the inside of the pots.
BLUBBER PIKE: The bible leaves were maneuvered and lifted out of the trypots with a blubber pike. The pike was also used to remove burned-out scraps from the fire beneath the trypots and to poke the fire as needed.
SKIMMER: Once the bible leaves no longer contained oil, they were removed from the trypots with a skimmer. The skimmer, mounted on a long wooden pole, featured a large copper shallow dish with perforations to allow the oil to drain back into the trypots while removing the fritters.
BAILER: The oil in the trypots was extracted using a large ladle called a bailer and then poured into copper cooling tanks secured alongside the brick tryworks. After sufficient cooling, the whale oil was transferred into wooden barrels for storage below deck.
Bibliography Harpoons History Knives Lances Links Markings Non-Whaling
Patents Poison Processing Shoulder-Guns Shoulder-gun Irons Spades Swivel Guns and Irons
© Website originally created by Thomas G. Lytle.
