The whaleboats were usually five in number slung from wooden davits along the rail. A boat’s crew consisted of six men-the officer of the boat, who was one of the mates, carried the title of “boat header”; the harpooner, a petty officer whose rank was next to the mate, known as “the boat steerer”, and four oarmen. The “boat steerer” struck the whale with the harpoon and the officer usually killed it.
A whaleboat is a type of “open boat” that is relatively narrow and pointed at both ends, enabling it to move either forwards or backwards equally well. It was originally developed for whaling, and later became popular for work along beaches, since it does not need to be turned around for beaching or refloating. The term "whaleboat" may be used informally of larger whalers, or of a boat used for whale watching.
See also topic: “Whaler or Whaling Ship”
Today whaleboats are used as safety vessels aboard marine vessels. The United States Coast Guard has been using them since 1791. Their simple open structure allows for easy access and personnel loading in the event of an emergency. These whaleboats are now considered very important, and highly regimented safety vessels. Boats must include a hatchet, lifeboat compass, lifeboat sea anchor, emergency signal mirror, emergency drinking water, lifeboat first aid kit, jack knife with can opener, lifeboat bilge pump,and emergency provisions. On modern warships, a relatively light and seaworthy boat for transport of ship's crew may be referred to as a whaleboat or whaler. It may also refer to a type of vessel designed as a lifeboat or "monomoy" used for recreational and competitive rowing in the San Francisco Bay Area and coastal Massachusetts.
The whaleboat's design takes after those the Vikings used during the 11th century, around the time Beowulf was written and Leif Erickson came to America briefly,
(see Topic; “Leivur Eirksson” (Leif Erickson) by Auke Palmhof)
before the Vikings really made their mark on English culture. As a whaling vessel, it fulfilled its purposes for what it went through and its “superior handling characteristics soon made it a popular general-purpose ship’s boat”.
Whaleboats became prevalent in ancient Inuit and Yupik culture when trade and other forms of nutrition were sparse. Whaleboats gave them a means of travelling to distant places in order to obtain resources. Natives had to gather sustenance, generally large fish such as whales, when at all possible, from the sea. Whaleboats were not always taken out to sea to hunt whales, but they could also be used to transport dead whales that they had scavenged from the shallow waters. Whaleboats used in whaling had a stout post mounted on the aft deck, around which the steersman would cinch the rope once the whale had been harpooned, and by which the whale would drag the boat until it was killed. Large baleen and bow heads whales became their main export to Europe and the Americas, which in turn would help in revitalizing the trade in their region, an area that ranged from the Bering-Chukchi Sea to eastern Arctic.
Norwegians began to dominate whaling when they turned it into a full-blown industry in 1904. They were more skilled and had better techniques than other civilizations around this same time period. The Norwegians had very efficient gunners, men who fired the weapons, the technology of the Sven Foyn gun and the grenade harpoon, and they utilized the powered whale catcher. Although all these factors were effective and sped trade, the demand of oil was its own issue. Whales were mainly used for their fat that was melted to oil. The Norwegians had a system in place and partnered with the British to profit. The simple whale boat received a number of modifications throughout this period. What was once a simple single hull, open boat became a body of new technologies to make whaling more efficient. Changes included the use of radar and radio instead of a lookout and new handling tools.
Monaco 1949, S.G.?, Scott: 243.
Greenland 1982, S.G.?, Scott: 148.
Source: Wikipedia.