Trywork

A trywork is a furnace, used to heat blubber from whales for the recovery of oil, on a whaling ship.

Try pots on display at the Southampton Historical Museum in South Hampton, New Hampshire.

The trywork is located aft of the fore-mast, and is typically constructed of brick and attached to the deck with iron braces. Two cast-iron trypots are set atop the furnace. It is similar to the rendering process for producing lard by heating or frying fatty pork. A reservoir of water under the bricks keeps the furnace from scorching the wood of the deck.

In the 18th and 19th century New England whaling industry, tryworks on whaling ships allowed the vessels to stay at sea longer as it allowed them to boil out the oil during the voyage and not have to carry unprocessed blubber home. Slices of blubber were cut as thinly as possible for the process, and on New England whaling ships, these slices were known as "bible leaves" by the sailors.^[1] The ability to use tryworks at sea thus enabled the Yankee whaling industry to flourish.^[2]