The Grandissimus
The sailor called the mincer, assisted by two allies, carries the whale’s grandissimus (as mariners term the organ) across the forecastle, staggering under its weight similarly to a grenadier carrying a dead comrade from a battlefield.
The Mincer’s Preparation
The mincer prepares the grandissimus’s outer pelt for use as a garment: he removes the dark pelt from the organ, turns it inside out like a pantaloon leg, stretches it to nearly double its original diameter, hangs it spread in the rigging to dry, trims off three feet of its pointed end, cuts two slits for armholes at the opposite end, and slips his entire body into the prepared pelt.
The Cassock
Once suited in the prepared pelt, the mincer is invested in the full traditional canonicals of his occupation. This immemorial garment, standard for all members of his order, provides adequate protection for him while he performs the specific duties of his office.
The Mincing Office
The mincer’s official role is to chop whale blubber into small pieces for boiling to extract oil. He works at a dedicated wooden apparatus on the forecastle, with a large tub beneath to catch the minced pieces as they fall as fast as sheets from a rapt orator’s desk. Dressed entirely in black within his pelt cassock, he cuts a striking figure comparable to a clergyman in a pulpit or a candidate for high religious office such as archbishop or Pope.
The Wooden Horse
The mincer performs his mincing work at a curious wooden horse, positioned endwise against the ship’s bulwarks, with a capacious tub mounted directly beneath it to collect the chopped blubber pieces as they drop.
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