The Corvette by Richard Woodman Page B

long shafted weapons like boarding pikes. ‘The lance is plied until the vitals of the fish are found and he is deprived of life.’
    ‘It is not against your sensibilities to deprive the fish of life, Captain?’
    Sawyers looked surprised. ‘Genesis, Captain, Chapter One, verses twenty-six to twenty-eight, “God gave man dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” And in the Eighth Psalm “the Almighty madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet
    the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O, Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth
    “.’
    ‘Amen.’ The speksioneer added fervently and then Sawyers resumed his discourse as though nothing had interrupted it.
    ‘It is ordained thus.’ He looked at Drinkwater, ‘But I do not hold with the practice used by Jaybez Harvey and others, including thy friend Ellerby, of discharging the harpoon from a gun. It is a method lately introduced and not much in favour among the more feeling masters. Now there,’ he said indicating a massive vertical post set near the bow of the whaleboat, ‘is the bollard, round which a turn of whale-line may be taken to retard his progress and the more quickly tire him. This is very necessary in the case of a young whale or one which swims under the ice. It is, as you see, deeply scored by the friction of the line and may require water, supplied by this piggin, to prevent it setting fire to the timber.’
    ‘Good heavens, and the line is able to take this strain?’
    ‘Aye. The line is of the very best hemp and the finest manufacture. I have seen a boat pulled under when a fish dives and towed along underwater until the fish surfaced exhausted.’
    ‘And you recovered the boat?’
    ‘Yes. It does not always occur and here is an axe with which the harpooner can, at any time, cut free. But once a boat is fast, the harpooner is reluctant to let it go and he may, as we say, give the fish the boat, to induce fatigue or drown it.’
    ‘Drown it? I do not understand.’
    ‘The fish breathes air, respiring on the surface. He is able, however, to sustain energetic swimming for many minutes before nature compels him to return to the surface for more air. Should he dive too deep, as is often the case with young fish, he may gasp many fathoms down and thus drown.’
    ‘I see,’ said Drinkwater wondering. ‘It must be of the first importance to ensure that the line is properly coiled and does not foul.’ The man in the boat grinned and nodded.
    ‘Aye, Cap’n, for if it fouls and the line-tender or harpooner don’t cut it through quick enough, it may capsize the boat and take a man down in its ‘tanglement.’
    ‘Thou hast seen that, Elijah, hast thou not?’
    ‘Aye, Cap’n. Once in the Davis Strait and once off Hackluyt’s Head.’
    Drinkwater shook his head in admiration. ‘I do not see a harpoon, Captain Sawyers, and am curious to do so.’
    ‘Ah.’ Sawyers regained the deck and led Drinkwater forward. Three men sat upon a hatch, each carefully filing the head of a harpoon. A forge was set up on deck, with bellows and anvil at which a fourth man was fashioning another.
    ‘The harpoon is made of malleable iron allowing it to twist but not to break. Here, Matthew, pray show Captain Drinkwater what I mean.’
    A huge man rose from the hatch and grasped the harpoon he was sharpening, holding it at each end of the shank. Drinkwater noted the narrow shank which terminated at one end in the barbed head and at the other in a hollow socket intended to take the wooden stock used by the harpooner to throw the deadly weapon.
    The man Matthew walked to the rail and hooked the shank round a belaying pin. With a grunt he bent and then twisted it several times.
    ‘The devil!’
    ‘Old horseshoe nails, Captain, that is what the finest harpoons are