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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.
A—Jaw of the Sperm whale
B—Case
C—Junk
D—White Horse
E—Blanket or blubber, which was stripped from the carcass in a spiral fashion. The blubber hook was inserted in a hole, f, for the first cut.
G—H—Head and lips of the Bowhead. The latter were very rich in oil.
The same method of stripping was employed in all species of whales.