speck-tackle

Updated: May 10, 2025

With their blubber-knives the men then cut it into oblong pieces, just as a fish is cut across at table; and with their spades they lifted it from the flesh and bones, performing the same work on a larger scale that the fish-knife does. To the end thus first lifted a strap and tackle is fastened, called the "speck-tackle," by which those on deck haul it up. This operation is called "flensing."

William Henry Giles Kingston - Peter the Whaler