The deck at the stern is used for the cleats which I have mentioned, for the lines from the rudder and the steering oar, and under it is the cuddy or locker in which are carried the breaker of water and the lantern-keg and the compass and other small things with which a whaleboat is usually equipped. The lantern-keg contains biscuit—hardtack—candles, flint and steel, or matches, pipes and tobacco; all the necessaries of life. The main purpose of this after deck, however, is to provide a convenient place for the loggerhead. The loggerhead is a miniature mooring-pile projecting from this deck on the starboard side, and continued downward through the cuddy into the keel. Its top is six inches in diameter, and it is eight inches high. The whale line passes around it on its way out, and one or more turns can be taken around it, so that the line can be snubbed as much as is wished, or can be held there. It is a frequent occurrence for the loggerhead to get so hot {38} from the friction of the line that it smokes, and is only prevented from bursting into flame by throwing water upon the line by the bucketful or the hatful. Whale line is a beautiful silky rope, usually seven eighths of an inch in diameter, although I have seen whale line that I thought was larger than this, perhaps one-inch rope. Old line, however, may change its diameter, becoming either larger or smaller than when new. It is of long fibre manila, flexible and soft, the best rope that can be made. In 1872 it may have been of hemp—I do not remember distinctly. It is made in a rope-walk, not on machines, and its length is therefore limited to the length of the walk in which it is made. The line has a longer lay than machine-made rope, is not so tightly laid up, which may make it less attractive in appearance to one who does not know its qualities, but not to a whaleman. I have a passion for whale line. There is an old piece somewhere among my dunnage now—about three fathoms of it. I have had it for years. I have no use for it, but I like to handle it—almost fondle it. The whale line, without knots or splices, is kept in tubs, usually one for a length, sometimes two, near the stern. The tub oar gets its name from this. It is most carefully coiled, so that it shall run out freely, without kinks. A second length of line, coiled in its tubs, is carried by each whaleboat, and can be bent on to the first in case of need.