Page 118
Sorry for the delayed update, but I really wanted to finish up Act I with this batch of pages and I’ve succeeded! These ones will be….greasy…
I also wrote a historical context essay about the process of cutting in and trying out over here, if you’re curious about what you’re seeing here and the hazards therein!
↓ Transcript
Panel 1 [Long shot of ship with whale bound to the side as the crew begins to cut in. Night has fallen. The masts are lit from below with the light of the tryworks]
Panel 2 [Men stand on a scaffold alongside the ship and work to take blubber off with spades. One sheet of blubber is being held up by a blubber hook hanging above, peeled from the whale. Sharks are circling in the water below.]
Panel 2 [Men stand on a scaffold alongside the ship and work to take blubber off with spades. One sheet of blubber is being held up by a blubber hook hanging above, peeled from the whale. Sharks are circling in the water below.]
Man, I remember the day I first learned just how gory whale processing was. At the Mystic Seaport museum, of course, where there was a big exhibition. It’s still wild to me that they were processing it half in the water but really, what else could they do? Beautiful depiction!