Trywork
A trywork, located aft of the fore-mast, is the most distinguishing feature of a whaling ship.
In two cast-iron trypots set into this furnace of brick, iron and wood, whale oil was rendered from the blubber of whales, much as grease is rendered from frying bacon. The furnace is temporarily affixed to the deck by "iron knees", and a reservoir of water under the bricks keeps the heat from burning the wood of the deck.
In the 18th- and 19th-century New England whaling industry, the use of try-works (two large try pots in a brick furnace) to use on a whaling ship allowed them to stay at sea longer and boil out their oil. The slices of blubber were kept as thin as possible for the process, and on New England whaling ships, these slices were called "bible leaves" by the sailors.[1]
Try-works being used at sea on board a ship was the major technological innovation that enabled the success of the Yankee whaling industry.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Cf. Moby-Dick, Chapter 95, "The Cassock", footnote 1.
- ^ "Overview of American Whaling", New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, Massachusetts
[edit] Further reading
- "Trying Out the Oil", chapter in the book by Peter Cook, You Wouldn't Want to Sail on a 19th-Century Whaling Ship!, New York : Franklin Watts, 2004. ISBN 0-531-16399-7
