Some casks have been cleared out of the hold, and the space is called the _flens gut_. When it is full of blubber comes the operation of _making off_[110]. This is the freeing of blubber from all extraneous matter, cutting it into small pieces, and stowing it in the casks. The _skee-man_ directs these operations. The _spek trough_ is an oblong box over the place where the casks are to be filled. The surface of the lid forms a table, on which pieces of the whale’s tail are placed as chopping blocks. A canvas tube, called a _eull_, is then led down to the hold. The _kings_ then throw the blubber out of the _flens gut_. It is received by the _krengers_, who remove all the muscular parts called _kreng_. The harpooneers then slice off the skin, and the boat-steerers divide the blubber into blocks 4 inches in diameter. The line managers receive it in the hold by the _eull_, and put it in the casks through the bung-holes. Their cries were “_let lob_” when they wanted the blubber to come down, and “_rip the eull_” when it was to be stopped. In the early days of the fishery the _making off_ was always done on shore. The jaw-bones, 25 feet long, were brought home to make posts and arches for gateways: still to be seen in the country round Hull and even further afield. It will be seen that the catching of a whale was not the mere harpooning with the attendant danger and excitement, but that it entailed a long and very hard day’s work, with incessant labour and the exercise of much skill and intelligence. It was a splendid nursery for our seamen, combined with the dangers of ice navigation and the constant need for a bright look-out. In 1806 Captain Scoresby had his son with him on board the _Resolution_ as Chief Officer. Both were good sailors and navigators and unrivalled as whaling officers. The son had the advantage of a better education, and was devoted to scientific research. Both were unostentatiously religious, as all our great Arctic heroes have been.