The Collaborative International Dictionary
Whaleback \Whale"back`\, n. (Naut.) A form of vessel, often with steam power, having sharp ends and a very convex upper deck, much used on the Great Lakes, esp. for carrying grain.
Wiktionary
n. (context historical English) A kind of cargo steamship with a hull that continuously curved above the waterline from vertical to horizontal.
Wikipedia
A whaleback was a type of cargo steamship of unusual design, with a hull that continuously curved above the waterline from vertical to horizontal. When fully loaded, only the rounded portion of the hull (the "whaleback" proper) could be seen above the waterline. With sides curved in towards the ends, it had a spoon bow and a very convex upper deck. It was formerly used on the Great Lakes of Canada and the United States, notably for carrying grain or ore.
The term developed in common usage in response to the ship's appearance when fully loaded. A total of 44 such vessels were constructed from 1887 to 1898. All but two were built initially as lake freighters for service on the Great Lakes. Six were built at Duluth, Minnesota; 33 were built at West Superior, Wisconsin; 2 at Brooklyn, New York; one at Everett, Washington; and one at Sunderland, England. A number of the Great Lakes vessels left the lakes for service on salt water seas.
The term "whaleback" has also been applied to a type of high speed launch first designed for the Royal Air Force during World War II, and to certain smaller rescue and research vessels especially in Europe that, like the Great Lakes vessels, have hulls that curve over to meet the deck. An example of the former is the British Power Boat Company Type Two 63 ft HSL. The designation in this case comes not from the curve along the gunwale, but from the fore and aft arch in the deck.
Another application of the term is to a sheltered portion of the forward deck on certain British fishing boats. It is designed, in part, so that water taken over the bow is more easily shed over the sides. The feature has been incorporated into some pleasure craft based on the hull design of older whaling boats, in which it becomes a "whaleback deck".
Whaleback is a ski area located in Enfield, New Hampshire, United States. As of 2016, after several bankruptcies over previous decades, it is operated by a non-profit organization called the Upper Valley Snow Sports Foundation.
Whaleback may refer to:
- a whaleback, a type of steamship
- a type of tender in rail transport
- the Whaleback Light, a lighthouse
- Whaleback (ski area), a recreation area on Whaleback Mountain in New Hampshire
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Mount Whaleback, in Australia
- the Mount Whaleback mine, in Australia
- the Whaleback Shell Midden, an archaeological site in Maine
- the Whaleback Rocks, off the coast of Antarctica
- an alternate name for a bornhardt
- an alternate name for a roche moutonnée
- the "Whale's Back", a section of Maine State Route 9
- a terrace outside the hamlet of Yeavering
- a lava spine which existed in the crater of Mount Saint Helens from 2004 to 2005
- a golf course in Parkwood, Western Australia
- the back of a whale
Usage examples of "whaleback".
He hoped to win the throw, not because he especially wanted to venture out among the low whaleback hills but because he thought Bahadur was in poor shape psychologically to make the journey himself.
As Travis and Condy were going down the gangplank they met the captain of the whaleback coming up.
His editor promptly asked for the whaleback stuff, and Condy was forced into promising it within a half-hour.
Mindful of their experience with the mate of the whaleback, Condy and Blix were all attention in an instant.
He scrambled up the closest of the Whalebacks and stood high, trying to see over the bluffs into the island.
At the far end of the beach, Hatch could make out the smooth rounded forms of the Whalebacks that he and Johnny had clambered over, more than twenty-five years before.
He proceeded under low engine, keeping the boat at three knots, looking away from the Whalebacks and the other, more dreadful landmarks he knew would lie just beyond.
He aimed the boat at a small pebbled area between the two Whalebacks, keeping the throttle wide open until the last second.
An ice machine that can make three tons of ice a day sits on her whaleback deck, and state-of-the-art electronics fill her pilothouse: radar, loran, single sideband, VHF, weather track satellite receiver.