three or four hundred fathoms of
line, the 'bull' to which Gardiner had 'fastened,' came up to the surface,
'blowed,' and began to move slowly towards the herd again. No sooner was
the harpoon thrown, than a change took place in the disposition of the
crew of the boat, which it may be well to explain. The harpoon is a barbed
javelin, fastened to a staff to give it momentum. The line is attached to
this weapon, the proper use of which is to 'fasten' to the fish, though it
sometimes happens that the animal is killed at the first blow. This is
when the harpoon has been hurled by a very skilful and vigorous harpooner.
Usually, this weapon penetrates some distance into the blubber in which a
whale is encased, and when it is drawn back by the plunge of the fish,
the barbed parts get embedded in the tough integuments of the hide,
together with the blubber, and hold. The iron of the harpoon being very
soft, the shank bends under the strain of the line, leaving the staff
close to the animal's body. Owing to this arrangement, the harpoon offers
less resistance to the water, as the whale passes swiftly through it. No
sooner did the boat-steerer, or harpooner, cast his 'irons,' as whalers
term the harpoon, than he changed places with Roswell, who left the
steering-oar, and proceeded forward to wield the lance, the weapon with
which the victory is finally consummated. The men now 'peaked' their oars,
as it is termed; or they placed the handles in cleets made to receive
them, leaving the blades elevated in the air, so as to be quite clear of
the water. This was done to get rid of the oars, in readiness for other
duty, while the instruments were left in the tholes, to be resorted to in
emergencies. This gives a whale-boat a peculiar appearance, with its five
long oars raised in the air, at angles approaching forty-five degrees. In
the mean time, as the bull approached the herd, or school,[*] as the
whalers term it, the boats' crew began to haul in line, the boat-steerer
coiling it away carefully, in a tub placed in the stern-sheets purposely
to receive it. Any one can understand how important it was that this part
of the duty should be well performed, since bights of line running out of
a boat, dragged by a whale, would prove so many snares to the men's legs,
unless previously disposed of in a place proper to let it escape without
this risk. For this reason it is, that the end of a line is never
permitted to run out at the bow of a boat