Just a thought. If you carve a master you could cast them out of Plaster of Paris. You might have to make some compromise about the internal volume but if you fill it with thwarts and gear and paint the innards black it would probably work out ok.
As far as the gear, I believe the line tubs were kept onboard the ship and loaded into the boats when needed. That stuff was state of the art and expensive, of course the whole enterprise depended on its integrity.
not going through all that trouble on the boats. thinking about a diorama of cutting in a whale. Only us crazy detail people will be able to tell the difference anyway.
I reme3mber seeing a dio along those lines–but, I cannot remember if it was in my one trip to Mystic, or on one of a couple trips to museums in SF and/or SD.
As a ship dio, it has much to commend it to the modeler. During the flensing, only enough sail was set to keep way on. This helps the modeler, if only in answering the "should I set sails or not " question.
Visually, you have some challenges, which will make good vignettes too. Like folk sharpening harpoons & lances; a boat could be being painted. Toughest part will be in getting the smoke coming off the tryworks.