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How
Whales Were Processed
An
awesome sight: The whaleman's work did not end when the whale
died. If the wind was favorable, the whaleship sailed to where
the carcass floated in the sea. Frequently, however, the boatheader
of the capturing boat attached a line to the whale's head through
a hole made with a cutting spade and the tired crew rowed slowly
back to the ship, towing the dead whale behind them.
Cutting In: It was important to process the whale quickly
to prevent sharks from feasting on too much of the valuable carcass.
The crew, divided into two watches, worked six-hour shifts, day
and night, until the job was done. The process could take from
several hours to several days, depending on the size of the whale,
the skill of the crew, and the weather.
The whale was made fast to the starboard (right) side of the ship
with heavy chains. The crew erected the cutting stage (plank platform)
above the carcass and:
* Stripped off the blubber, a thick layer of fat, with cutting
spades set in 15-foot long poles. The process was very much like
peeling skin from an orange. * Cut the long strips into "blanket
pieces," weighing about a ton each. * After hauling the blanket
pieces up on deck, divided them into smaller "horse pieces" and
"Bible leaves," so-called because they resembled books.
Trying Out: Although trying out, or "boiling" (extracting
oil from blubber) was carried out on shore in the early days of
whaling, by the mid-nineteenth century, whaleships carried "tryworks"
- big iron pots set in a brick stove. * A fire was set in the
stove beneath the pots; * "Bible leaves" were tossed into the
pots and cooked until the oil was rendered (extracted) from the
blubber; * The oil was cooled, placed in casks of varying sizes,
and stored in the hold of the ship (the cargo space at the bottom
of the ship near the water line). Onshore, it would be strained
and bleached, then sold, primarily as lamp oil. The standard unit
of measure, the barrel, contained 31 1/2 gallons.
The precious head: The head of the sperm whale was very
valuable. It was separated into three parts:
* The "case," at the top of the whale's head. Tons of the purest
oil were scooped from the case with buckets. This oil, known as
spermaceti, hardened into a white waxy substance that was worth
three to five times more than other whale-oil. Up to 500 gallons
of the liquid wax might be scooped from the head of a large sperm
whale. * The "junk" or lower half of the forehead, which contained
more oil, was cut into horse pieces and tried out separately.
Although oil from the junk was not as valuable as the spermaceti
from the case, it was considered superior to the rest of the whale's
blubber. * The jaw and teeth, which were saved for scrimshaw carving
by the crew.
Baleen: Unlike sperm whales, all baleen whales, such as
bowhead and right whales, do not have teeth. Instead, they use
strips in their mouths, called baleen, to strain ocean water for
krill, masses of shrimp-like organisms that float near the surface.
Baleen is made of keratin, a substance found in nails, horns,
hoofs, and hair. It was used for:
* Buggy whips; * Carriage springs; * Corset stays; * Fishing rods;
* Frames for traveling bags, trunks, and women's hats; * Hoops
for women's skirts; * Umbrella and parasol ribs.
Dangerous even in death: Processing a whale was nearly
as dangerous as hunting one. The deck became so slick with blood
and oil that a man could slip overboard to the sharks below. Others
were crushed by the enormous weight of strips of blubber or wounded
by cutting tools. As the blubber was being rendered in the tryworks,
a wave sometimes rocked the ship and splashed scalding oil onto
the crew. On rare occasions, the fire in the tryworks spread and
devastated the ship. And throughout the days and nights of work,
an unforgettable stench clung to the men and their ship.
The big cleanup: After the last cask was stowed in the
hold, the crew scrubbed and polished until the ship was once again
as clean as it could be, considering that the unescapable odor
of smoked blubber could never be eradicated. It was said that
a ship downwind could smell a whaleship coming.
And begin again: As the cleanup ended, lookouts were sent up to
the mastheads to watch for whales. Eventually, the cry of "There
she blows" would ring out over the ship and the hunt would begin
again.
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