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A richly illustrated sketchbook that documents the techniques, equipment, and daily life of traditional whaling through detailed plates and diagrams. Sequential images and captions depict fitting out, sail handling, whaleboats, harpooning and lancing, the struggle of the chase, cutting-in and rendering blubber, shipboard trades and tools, and shore activities such as gams and recruiting. A foreword frames the material by contrasting the romantic image of sail whaling with mechanized modern whaling, while the artwork emphasizes technical accuracy, danger, and the labor and culture of the whalemen.
If more whales were in the vicinity, the dead one was “waifed” with a small red flag and the pursuit resumed.
A whale usually ran to windward—leaving the ship far to leeward, shorthanded, and faced with a long beat to pick up her boats.
A line was made fast by a hole cut in the flukes, the boats were connected, and all hands put their backs into the arduous task of towing back to the ship.