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Showing results for tags 'Moby Dick'.
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A warning to new readers. This thread reached the ninth page on a tidal wave of enthusiasm, but on the 3rd March 23 I admitted to myself that my literary tide had gone out. The thread doesn't end there but staggered on for a few more pages and then the boat hit the shelf of doom and has stayed there ever since. Worst of all, due to a storage issue ALL of my embedded photos have been permanently lost. I have edited my posts, where possible, to leave a thread which may at least be read without the illustrations, but a lot of it made no made no sense at all without pictures so I deleted those sections. I intend to restart the build at some time. I have no idea when. Whaling isn't considered a noble profession in the 21st century by many (and that's as close as we need to get to the politics of conservation, my friends) but in the 1860's it was a trade for brave men. I read Moby Dick ages ago, and will read it again in the coming weeks. It's a brilliant book but I didn't appreciate how tiny and fragile the New Bedford Whaleboats were until I bought the Amati kit. A few sticks and a crew of six against the ocean and the whales, rarely aggressive but very big and dangerous, especially when close enough to harpoon with little more than a caveman's spear. It was a bloody and dramatic way to make a living. The whaleboat kit is built in the same way as the original, more or less. The ribs are planked inside and out to make a lightweight and strong structure. It's almost all wood and metal apart from two or three resin buckets and tubs for the harpoon line. I'm very tempted to remake them in wood to keep this as old school a project as possible. All of the boat’s equipment is included. There's a mast and sail, oars, paddles, harpoons and so on. There are knives built into the boat for cutting the harpoon line in emergencies. It wasn't unusual for a crewman to become entangled and whisked over the side and down among the whales. There is a rudder for sailing and a steering oar for rowing in the hunt. The whaleboat has two sharp ends so that it was as swift in either direction when the time came for dancing with the big fishies.