. The marine mammals of the north-western coast of North America, described and illustrated; together with an account of the American whale-fishery. THE AMERICAN WHALE-FISHERY. 239 the blubber is being tried out rapidly ; and for this reason, the casks, when firstfilled, require the constant attention of the cooper, as the hoops have to be fre-quently driven, to prevent leakage. The oil taken from the case of the SpermWhale is sometimes put into casks without boiling; but, usually, it is carefullyscalded with the junk and a portion of the hump, and when put into casks, itis known as head, or h
. The marine mammals of the north-western coast of North America, described and illustrated; together with an account of the American whale-fishery. THE AMERICAN WHALE-FISHERY. 239 the blubber is being tried out rapidly ; and for this reason, the casks, when firstfilled, require the constant attention of the cooper, as the hoops have to be fre-quently driven, to prevent leakage. The oil taken from the case of the SpermWhale is sometimes put into casks without boiling; but, usually, it is carefullyscalded with the junk and a portion of the hump, and when put into casks, itis known as head, or head-matter. After the oil becomes cool, it is run througha hose into empty casks, which have been prepared with great care, and securelystowed in the hold, or they are lowered and stowed after being filled on deck. The whole fare having been stowed down, the decks are cleaned up, andwith lye (which is leeched from cinders and ashes taken from the furnaces of thetry-Avorks), the ship is thoroughly washed, as well as the soiled clothing of the. i. Blubber-fork. 2. Stirring-pole. 3. Skimmer. 4. Bailer. 5. Fire-pike. crew, when everything fore and aft again wears an aspect of order and the great labor involved in obtaining the oil from a whale afterits capture, ships have often been filled in a very short space of time. In formeryears, it was no unusual occurrence for both sperm and right whalers to getblubber-logged, which is the expression used when as many whales are caughtat one time as can possibly be cut in and tried out; and at the present day, inthe Arctic Ocean, whales are so scarce, that, in order to secure a good catoh, ifopportunity presents, as it may the last of the season, the whole between-decks ofthe ship is frequently filled with blubber before much boiling is done. At suchtimes, it is necessary to drive the work, and often eighty or one hundred barrelsof oil have been tried out and stowed down in twenty-four hours, and in a fewweeks ma
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Keywords: ., bookcent, bookdecade1870, booksubjectdolphins, booksubjectwhaling
