CAULKERS (מַחֲזִיקֵ֖י בִּדְקֵ֑כְ, lit. making strong the seams).

The only references to this profession are in Ezekiel 27:9, 27. Here the famous ship builders of Gebal in Phoenicia are mentioned. The caulkers were the craftsmen who drove tarred oakum into the seams between the planks of the ship to make the vessel water tight. Their final work was to coat these oakum seams with melted pitch. Any cracks in the planks themselves were treated by the same method.