Baleen – Sheets of a substance similar to the material in fingernails, which hang from the upper jaw of some whales and are used to filter out food from the seawater.
Barometer – An instrument for measuring air pressure. Falling pressure usually predicts stormy weather while rising pressure usually means fair weather ahead.
Barrel – A whale-oil barrel held about 35 gallons of oil.
Blubber – The layer of fat just inside the skin of a whale. It provides insulation for the whale, and it contains the oil which the whalers sought.
Boatsteerer – The crew member who harpooned the whale and then went to the stern to steer the boat while the officer, usually a mate, killed the whale.
Bow – The front of a boat or ship.
Capstan – An upright, barrel-like device on the front of the main deck used for hauling in ropes and anchors.
Caulk – To fill the gaps between the planks of a wooden boat by driving in a material called oakum between the planks and then adding hot pitch to seal the oakum.
Catching a crab – Hitting the water with an oar on the backstroke.
Chanteys – Songs sung on board a large sailing ship to give a beat or rhythm for the men working together.
Chips – A common nickname for a ship’s carpenter.
Cooper – A barrel maker. Coopers often sailed on whaling ships to put together the barrels which came on board in parts.
Cutting in – Cutting the blubber from the whale.
Cutting stage - A platform from which the cutting in was done.
Davits – A pair of cranes at the side of a ship used for holding, lowering, and raising the whaleboats.
Deck – The floor of a ship. On some ships there are several decks. Whale ships commonly had only two, the main deck and the lower deck.
Doldrums – Areas just north and south of the Equator which get very little wind.
Equator – The imaginary line which divides the earth between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
Finback – A baleen whale. The second largest animal in the world, only the blue whale being larger. It can reach lengths between 60 and 70 feet.
Flukes – The two lobes that comprise the tail of a whale.
Forecastle or Fo’c’stle – The crew’s quarters in the front of the lower deck.
Foremast – In a ship with two or more masts, the mast nearest the bow.
Furl – To roll up a sail and tie it to the yardarm or mast.
Gam – A meeting at sea where two whale ships exchanged some crewmembers to visit with each other.
Gamming chair – A specially built chair in which a woman could be lowered from the deck to a boat or raised from a boat to the deck for the purposes of going gamming.
Green hands – Crew members who have never been on a ship before.
Harpoon – A spear with a barb and line usually thrown at a whale to catch it and make it fast to a whaleboat.
Harpooner – Another name for a boatsteerer.
Heeled – Leaned to one side.
Hemisphere – Half of the world, usually the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, divided at the Equator, or the Western and Eastern Hemispheres.
Hold – The inside bottom of a ship. In whale ships it was used to store water, barrels of whale oil, etc.
Hull – The body of a ship, including the decks, the sides, and the bottom of the ship but not the masts or rigging.
Irons – Lances and harpoons
Lance – A sharp spear used to kill the harpooned whale.
Larboard – The older term for the left side of the ship when facing forward. It was officially changed to “port” in England in 1848 but the whalers continued to use the term “larboard” for many years.
Lash – To tie down.
Main deck – Usually the top deck of a ship.
Mainmast – The tallest mast, behind the foremast and, when there were three masts, the one in the middle.
Mast – An upright spar from which sails or other spars are hung.
Mate – The officer next in line after the captain. Whale ships often had a first mate, a second mate, and a third mate. Each mate was usually in charge of a whaleboat and of killing the whale with a lance.
Missionary – A person who travels to a foreign land to teach about and proselytize his or her religion.
Nantucket sleighride – The towing of a whaleboat through the water by a harpooned whale which was usually in pain and trying to escape.
Mizzenmast – The mast nearest the stern in a ship with three masts.
Navigate – To figure out where a ship is and where it is going.
Outriggers – Small hulls or large logs connected to and parallel to the hull of a canoe to keep it steady.
Pod – A group of whales.
Putting in – Sailing into a harbor or port.
Reef – A line of coral close to the surface so as to be a danger to a ship entering a port.
Rigging – (1) (n.) All the ropes, lines, and wires which support and control the masts, spars, and sails. (2) (v.) Setting up the ship’s rigging.
Scrimshaw – The art of decorating by carving a picture or design on a whale tooth or on whalebone.
Sea chest – A box or trunk used by a seaman to hold his belongings.
Sea legs – The adjustment to the motion of a ship so that one can walk easily and be free from seasickness.
Ship-keepers – Crew members left on board the ship when the whaleboats were chasing whales. Their job was to sail the ship as close to the whaleboats as possible.
Spars – The term for all wooden poles, including masts, yardarms, and booms.
Spermaceti – A waxy yellowish or white oily wax taken from the head of a sperm whale. It was often used for candles because it burned with almost no smoke or odor.
Spoke – Talked talk to another ship. No whaling man would ever say ‘spoke to’.
Square sails – Four-sided sails, usually curved rectangles, hung from the yardarms.
Staging – A platform extended out from the side of a whaling ship. Men stood on it to cut in the whale.
Starboard – The right side of a ship when facing forward.
Steerage – Living space on the lower deck.
Steering oar – A large oar hung over the side of a whaleboat towards the stern and used to steer the boat. Whaleboats did not have rudders.
Stern – The rear end of a ship or boat.
Steward – A crewmember responsible for the food and clothing of the crew, particularly the meals of the officers and the captain’s family. There was usually also a cook.
Swells – Long, deep, rolling waves which do not break.
Tack – To change the direction of a ship in order to catch some of the wind in the sails.
Topsails – The sails hung from the second section of a mast. Sometimes they are divided in two, the upper topsails and the lower topsails. There are often other sails, such as the topgallant and the royal which are above the topsails.
Trade Winds – Winds that blow steadily in the same direction, usually west to east in the Northern Hemisphere.
Try out – To melt and collect the oil from whale blubber.
Trypots – Large pots on the main deck used for boiling the blubber.
Watches – Periods of duty or work, usually four hours, during which the crew on watch worked and managed the ship.
Weigh Anchor – To pull up the anchor.
Whaleboat – A rowboat, about 25 feet long and pointed at both ends. It was manned by five crewmembers and an officer and used for capturing a whale. Often the boat also had a mast and sail which could be put up.
Whalebone – Another term for baleen.
Widow’s walk – A rooftop platform with a railing in some seagoing towns from which ships could be watched as they entered or left the harbor. Some widow’s walks were enclosed with glass.
Yard or Yardarm – A horizontal spar from which a square sail is hung.