The ship being now as good as anchored by the vast mass of flesh
hanging to her, there was a tremendous task awaiting us to get
the other fish alongside. Of course they were all to windward;
they nearly always are, unless the ship is persistently "turned
to windward" while the fishing is going on. Whalers believe that
they always work up into the wind while fast, and, when dead, it
is certain that they drift at a pretty good rate right in the
"wind's eye." This is accounted for by the play of the body,
which naturally lies head to wind; and the wash of the flukes,
which, acting somewhat like the "sculling" of an oar at the stern
of a boat, propel the carcass in the direction it is pointing,
Consequently we had a cruel amount of towing to do before we got
the three cows alongside. Many a time we blessed ourselves that
they were no bigger, for of all the clumsy things to tow with
boats, a sperm whale is about the worst. Owing to the great
square mass of the head, they can hardly be towed head-on at all,
the practice being to cut off the tips of the flukes, and tow
them tail first. But even then it is slavery. To dip your oar
about three times in the same hole from whence you withdrew it,
to tug at it with all your might, apparently making as much
progress as though you were fast to a dock-wall, and to continue
this fun for four or five hours at a stretch, is to wonder indeed
whether you have not mistaken your vocation.
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