Mystery: Mr. Witch and Ms. Hunter

Chapter 164 Processing of Whales
"It doesn't matter. Didn't you tell us about this possibility in advance?"

Adele nodded slightly. "Besides, with this whale, you will have a lot more material for your research."

Wendy sighed in frustration. "I'm a marine biologist, not a chemist. One or two whale anatomical materials a year are enough. I don't need that much..."

"To be honest, I would rather study their population changes and living habits rather than their edible value such as meat quality and fat content."

Wendy waved her hand, showing an expression of dismay: "You'd better not go to the deck next, because until we reach the island with an open-pit coal mine, the sailors will concentrate on the deck to deal with the whale. To be honest, I don't like that scene, so I have to hide here for a while, so that they won't ask me to help."

At sea, there is little difference in the division of labor between men and women. Even scholars and researchers like Wendy have to join in the daily heavy work when necessary. So Wendy usually slacks off in the engine room or somewhere else to prevent someone from seeing her idle and dragging her to clean the toilet or the deck.

"Sister Wendy, can you tell me how they deal with the whale? Mom won't let me go to the deck to watch..."

Sophie, who was originally feeling a little depressed because she couldn't see the subsequent scenes, immediately ran to Wendy happily after hearing what Wendy said, pulled her skirt, and looked at her pitifully.

Wendy lowered her head and saw Sophie's sparkling red eyes. She felt a chill in her heart, but she didn't dare to show it. She could only force a dry laugh and nodded.

"Let me think... I haven't dealt with animals like this for a long time. Besides, this isn't my job, so maybe my memory isn't very clear..."

She scratched her head and slowly described the scene based on her memory:
"Whenever a whale is caught, whether or not they have a blast furnace installed to extract whale oil, they must process the whale as quickly as possible because the blood from the whale's wounds will quickly attract predators such as sharks, and their harvest will be much less."

"There are many ways to handle whale oil. The 'Little War Horse' has two sets of oil-cutting pulleys that I designed. Among the equipment for handling whale oil, there is a set of heavy main pulleys. It is difficult to lift them by human strength. You can only rely on a pulley block. This set of equipment is hung on the main mast and fixed to the top of the strongest lower mast on the deck like a bunch of grapes."

"When we deal with whales, we put one end of the rope on the winch and fix it, then turn the huge pulley of the tackle over the whale. The sailors will climb down the ladder on the side of the ship and use a long-handled whale shovel to make a large hole in the top part of the whale near the two fins, and at the same time cut a wide semicircular line around it-"

It seemed that she was talking about her professional field. Although she did not like the process of processing whales, Wendy still looked very excited when she described how these machines worked.

"Sister Wendy, what are those wide lines and holes for?"

Sophie asked cooperatively. Although she was talented and a quick learner, Wendy was talking about something she had never seen before, so it was difficult for her to understand immediately.

"Good question!"

Wendy patted Sophie's head approvingly, as if she had forgotten what happened last night.

"Under the pulley we just talked about, there is a big hook that is heavier than ten of you. Since the whale's fat is wrapped around the whale's body like orange slices, we have to peel off the orange peel by rotating it. The sailors will insert the hook into the hole just cut, and then use the winch to apply a twisting force to the whale, so that the whale's fat can be pulled out of the hole."

"Then, when the blubber stops moving, a special sailor will come up with a heavy blade and cut a big hole in the bottom of the blubber. Then he will insert the hook of another set of tackle used for skinning into the hole. Then he will cut the blubber off with a long-handled axe or some other tool."

"One piece of the cut blubber is sent to the plain 'blubber room' by the second set of pulleys, and the other piece is transferred from the skinning pulley to the second set of pulleys in a similar way, with the two sets of pulleys working alternately. At the same time, the sailors in the blubber room will deftly roll these things together, rolling the blubber into long strips like a carpet."

Wendy took a breath, took her water cup from the bedside and took a sip. "The next step is to extract the whale blubber. Not only does it smell bad, but it's also extremely hot. Many sailors even burn the boiler in their underwear. I would never go there, so I don't know the specific process."

(Actually, it wasn’t in the documentaries I watched, so it’s a blind spot in my knowledge)

"As for the uses of whale oil, perhaps because I've come across it so often, I don't know where to start... However, as usual, since we caught a whale today, there will definitely be whale oil products on the table. At the very least, I recommend you try the whale oil residue and whale fried bread. Compared to foods like whale steaks that have a strong fishy smell, these should be easier to accept."

After saying this, Wendy found that Sophie was looking at her with admiration, her ruby ​​eyes full of envy.

"Sister Wendy, you are such a good storyteller, much better than Sister Venata. She only tells stories that sound unhappy, and the protagonists all die in the end, so pitiful..."

Adele noticed that Vinata, who was reading a book nearby, twitched her mouth slightly.

"What stories did you tell her when you were in Backlund?"

Adele leaned over to Venata's ear and whispered.

"Don't listen to her nonsense. I have a very good taste in choosing stories. They are all classic tragedies highly praised by the literary circles of various countries such as Feysac and Loen, such as "His Name" by drama master Roy King..."

Vinata protested unhappily.

"Reading tragedies to children..." Adele rubbed her temples, which felt swollen and painful for the first time in a long time.

I was wrong. I shouldn't have had too high expectations of a "provocateur"'s ability to raise a child just because of superficial phenomena...

"Although you have obtained a bachelor's degree in sociology and a teacher's license from Feysac University, you obviously failed the course on how to get along with children..."

Adele sighed helplessly.

The hustle and bustle on the deck continued, as the impromptu stop, the open-pit mine, was still a day's journey away.

(End of this chapter)