The moment a wounded whale goes down the flag is shown from the boat, and there is a cry on deck, “A fall! a fall!” In an instant all hands are on deck, boats lowered, and many of the crew go away half dressed. When struck a whale goes down to a great depth. Sometimes a whale gets under the ice and will run all the line out in ten minutes, when it is probably lost. One or two turns of the line are taken round the bollard, but the line flies out at such a pace that smoke rises and it has to be kept wetted. If the line runs foul the boat is drawn under water. The struck whale goes down into the depths at a rate of ten miles an hour, and keeps under water for half an hour or more. The longest recorded time is 56 minutes. When, after a dive to 700 or 800 fathoms, the great beast returns to the surface, he is again harpooned and plied with lances, blood rises from the blow holes, he turns on his side and expires. All the boats in a line then tow the carcase to the ship, and it is cleared of lines and placed alongside with the tail abreast the fore chains and the head at the ship’s stern. The process of _flensing_ follows, the blubber being 2 or 3 feet thick. The band between the fins and head is called the _kent_. The _kent purchase_ is passed from the kent to the head of the mainmast, and the fall taken to the windlass. The upper surface of the carcase is then raised one-fifth out of the water, with the belly up. The harpooneers then go down with “spurs” (iron spikes strapped to the foot) to prevent slipping, and boys in boats are in attendance with knives. The speksioneer directs the operations. The blubber is divided into oblong pieces or strips by blubber spades and knives. _Spek tackles_[109] are fixed to each strip and flay it off, being worked with winches. The spek tackle consists of two single blocks, one fast to guys between the fore and main mast, the other fast to the blubber by a strop. The blubber pieces, half a ton to a ton in weight, are received on deck by the boat-steerers and line-managers, the former dividing it into smaller pieces with _strand knives_, the latter passing it between decks with _pick haaks_ down the main hatchway. It is received by two men called _kings_, who pack it in the _flens gut_. As soon as the strips are off, the whale is turned on its side by the kent purchase taken to the windlass. The whalebone is thus exposed, and is taken off on one side by bone handspikes and bone knives and spades, with the help of the spek tackle. It is split into junks on deck with bone wedges, and stowed away. Then there is another kenting. When the flensing is finished the carcase generally sinks. If it floats it is attacked by thousands of gulls and fulmars. The flensing of 20 to 30 tons of blubber can be completed in three or four hours, the average time. It is an extremely difficult operation, however, when the sea is rough.