Whaling in the 19th century was a way of life for many men living on the east coast. Whaling however had many risks involved and the men often lived by the words “A dead whale or a stove boat!”. In the article “Whaling the Old Way” by James Wilford, he describes what it was like to be a whaler. The meaning of the saying “A dead whale or a stove boat!” is that men would either catch and kill the whale or they would end up dead and their boat destroyed. Whaling usually involved 6 men in small boats about 25 feet long armed with handheld spears. Chasing a 60 foot whale in a boat less than half the size would have been very dangerous and the boats could easily be destroyed and sunk by the whales. Whaling today is illegal in most countries, however