-pack. The bow was scarce
distinguishable from the stern by its lines, and the masts stuck up
straight, without that rake, which adds so much to the trim appearance of
a clipper. Three peculiarities chiefly distinguished the whalers from
other ships of the same general character. At the main royal-mast head was
fixed the "crow's nest"--in some vessels a heavy barrel lashed to the
mast, in others merely a small platform laid on the cross-trees, with two
hoops fixed to the mast above, within which the lookout could stand in
safety. On the deck, amidships, stood the "try-works," brick furnaces,
holding two or three great kettles, in which the blubber was reduced to
odorless oil. Along each rail were heavy, clumsy wooden cranes, or davits,
from which hung the whale-boats--never less than five, sometimes more,
while still others were lashed to the deck, for boats were the whale's
sport and playthings, and seldom was a big "fish" made fast that there was
not work for the ship's carpenter.

The whale-boat, evolved from the needs of this fishery, is one of the most
perfect pieces of marine architecture afloat--a true adaptation of means
to an end. It is clinker-built, about 27 feet long, by 6 feet beam, with a
depth of about 2 feet 6 inches; sharp at both ends and clean-sided as a
mackerel. Each boat carried five oarsmen, who wielded oars of from nine to
sixteen feet in length, while the mate steers with a prodigious oar ten
feet long. The bow oarsman is the harpooner, but when he has made fast to
the whale he goes aft and takes the mate's place at the steering oar,
while the latter goes forward with the lances to deal the final murderous
strokes. This curious and dangerous change of position in the boat, often
with a heavy sea running, and with a 100-ton whale tugging at the tug-line
seems to have grown out of nothing more sensible than the insistence of
mates on recognition of their rank. But a whale-boat is not the only place
where a spill is threatened because some one in power insists on doing
something at once useless and dangerous.

The whale-boat also carried a stout mast, rigging two sprit sails. The
mast was instantly unshipped when the whale was struck. The American boats
also carried centerboards, lifting into a framework extending through the
center of the craft, but the English whalemen omitted these appendages. A
rudder was hung over the side, for use in emergencies. Into this boat were
packed, with the utmost ca