Here
a large baleen whale is seen in the early stages of flensing.Flensing was another highly skilled job on board
a whaling ship, perhaps second only to that of a gunner, a chief
flenser would be held in great respect by the other whalemen. The
first cut was often made as the whale was being hauled onto the
ship.
The chief flenser would often position himself near the top of the
slipway and make his first incision through several inches of
blubber as the whale passed by, allowing the winches to do the
work, rather than him having to walk along the whale. He would
then begin to make other cuts climbing onto the whale partly by
the cutting of steps in the whales blubber, like a mountaineer
cuts steps in a snow slope and partly by the use of spikes in his boots.
Previous
