FOUR YEARS
ABOARD THE
WHALESHIP.
EMBRACING
CRUISES IN THE PACIFIC, ATLANTIC, INDIAN,
AND ANTARCTIC OCEANS,
IN THE YEARS
1855,’6,’7,’8,’9.
BY
WILLIAM B. WHITECAR, JR.
PHILADELPHIA:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
LONDON: TRÜBNER & CO.
1860.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.,
in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District
of Pennsylvania.
TO
MY FATHER,
WHO HAS EVER ENCOURAGED MY LITERARY EFFORTS,
AND
THE FIRST TO DIRECT THEM IN A PROPER CHANNEL,
THIS VOLUME
Is Respectfully Dedicated by
THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
Having been one of the crew of an American whaleship, I cruised on the
ocean for the four years of my life that have just elapsed. During
this long period it frequently occurred to me, and excited my wonder,
how little knowledge of the whaling-service in its practical features
was possessed by the people ashore, excepting a small portion of
those residing in cities whose maritime trade is represented almost
exclusively by whaleships.
My convictions as to the utility of an exposition of one’s daily
experience in this service--of the good, bad, and indifferent fortune,
as well as the perils of a pursuit which engages so many of our
American youth--were so forcible, that I was led, at the moment of
embarking on my voyage, to keep a log-book or journal, in which, at
the expiration of each nautical day, I noted the different employments
of the crew, manner of sailing the vessel, incidents arising in the
capturing of whales, general personal treatment, amount and quality of
provisions, and the phases of the weather in different latitudes.
Thus a description of life at sea alone came within my original
intention; but as I progressed, and became more interested in my
self-imposed task, (which, by the way, enabled me to occupy pleasantly
what would otherwise have been weary and unprofitable hours,) it seemed
to me, that my journal would not be complete, unless I should also
describe the seaman’s bearing when ashore, at liberty, and unrestrained
by discipline; and, as such a description involved adventures in
various localities of the globe, I at first was unconsciously betrayed
into a still farther enlargement of my task: namely, to incorporate
the most striking (or, rather, those in which I was most interested)
features and characteristics of the countries and people we visited.
My object, however, was merely to complete a narrative which might
be read to my relatives and friends, in the family circle, by the
homestead fireside: fancying, indeed, that it would really interest and
amuse those, whose knowledge of such incidents in a whaleman’s cruise,
both on the sea and land, was limited.
Publishing a book was not, therefore, within the object aimed at; but
through the advice of many kind (possibly, too partial) friends, I have
been induced to submit the manuscript to my generous and enterprising
publishers, who, despite its imperfections, have determined to present
it to the public.
Such being the ground upon which I have now come forward as an author,
I trust that due allowance will be made for the literary imperfections
of my book, when I further state, that the entire matter comprised in
my journal was written at sea, on a sailor’s chest, amongst seamen, by
night and by day, amid storm and calm, in localities situate between
the latitudes 41° 30´ north and 45° south, and longitudes 71° west and
170° east--embracing a wide field for observation: and comprehends
bird’s eye views in Australia, New Zealand, and other British
possessions in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans, also in the
Malay, Mascarenha, Azore, and Abrolhas’ islands.
Throughout the recital, I have confined myself entirely to facts,
without drawing on my imagination for coloring; but I have been forced,
from a fear of being too voluminous in this, my first effort, to omit
much that came under my observation during the voyage, which at some
future period I may find time to lay before the public.
Before taking leave of the subject, I would, if it were in my power,
press upon the notice of the Federal government the necessity of
cherishing and encouraging this important branch of our commerce.
If good seamen are to be formed anywhere, it is in the whaling-service
of this country. Here it is, on a three or four years’ voyage, that a
man becomes acquainted with the minutiæ of a seaman’s duty; and from
the great proportion of the time spent at sea in vessels cruising for
whales, the crew become perfectly familiar with, and wholly at home
upon, the sea.
The class of men, too, who sail from home in our whaling-vessels, being
generally well-informed men, and having home-connections, understand
and appreciate our free institutions; but it is too often the case
that, in the absence of any special inducement to remain true to
their engagement, a large proportion of the original crew desert from
the vessel. To obviate this, the government should attach a bounty
to the earnings of every sailor who remains in this service, in the
same vessel, for three years or more; and by this means foster a
class of citizens accustomed to danger and emergencies, not only in
their everyday occupation of battling with the elements, but by their
familiarization with peril in their conflicts with the Leviathan of
the deep--citizens, who would at all times be prepared to take charge
of our Navy, and defend the nation’s honor and privileges against the
world!
With these brief prefatory observations, I respectfully throw myself
upon the generosity of the reading community, and plead my novitiate in
the world of letters to secure me from too rigid a criticism.
WILLIAM B. WHITECAR, JR.
PHILADELPHIA, July 26th, 1859.
FOUR YEARS
ABOARD THE
WHALESHIP.
CHAPTER I.
In June, 1855, having decided upon embarking on a whaling voyage, I
took the steamboat from Philadelphia to Tacony, thence by railway to
New York, where, after a delay of a few hours, I boarded the steamer
Metropolis, and after a fine run of twelve hours, landed in Fall River;
there I entered the cars, and at five o’clock of the morning of June
20, I took up my quarters in the city of New Bedford.
I immediately instituted inquiries as to the preliminaries attendant on
the preparation for such a voyage. I soon acquired this information,
and was consigned to the tender mercies of one of that class known by
seafaring men as Land-sharks, a description of whom I shall attempt
hereafter.
This person treated me with much urbanity, desiring me to leave my
hotel to reside at a hoarding-house of his selection, stating to me at
the same time that numbers of whalemen, outward and homeward bound,
were located there. My suspicions were slightly aroused regarding the
accommodations of this boarding-house, by the earnestness with which
he urged my locating in it; but no other inducement was requisite
for me to coincide with his wishes than the one he last named; I
being desirous, before going afloat, to mingle and converse with the
initiated, to learn, if possible, something concerning the profession
in which I was about to embark. So, without more ado, I proceeded to
this domicile, which was located on South Water Street. It was kept
by a widow lady, who, for the moderate sum of four dollars per week,
for each, furnished just such edibles as you do not get at the Girard,
in Philadelphia, or the Metropolitan, in New York. The meat was, in
nine cases out of ten, salted; she wishing, in the abundance of her
forethought, to render the salt junk, which she knew would form the
principal article of our diet when at sea, agreeable to our palates;
or, on the other hand, desiring to give us a predisposition to scurvy
ere yet we were aboard ship. These motives were variously assigned by
we tyros as the cause for the over-proportion of the saline in our
food; as for those who had been at sea before, they appeared to relish
the old lady’s corned pork and beef, and if we made any remark to them
in reference to its profusion, they would answer us pertinently, “You
will eat worse grub than that, old fellow, before you have done with
whaling;” and these prophetic words ofttimes recurred to my memory
months, ay, years, afterward. Do not think, kind reader, that I was
rendered fastidious by former indulgence; far from it. I had made up
my mind to a change of diet, but not to so great a one; for in the
four weeks that I remained in this house, we never had but one meal
of fresh meat--it was fried beefsteak; and even that the cook and a
supernumerary, who had been engaged to assist him, with the aid of a
jug of New England rum, managed to burn to a cinder, so that we were
compelled to resort to our old provender.
As soon as my companion and myself had become members of this
household, we, with our assiduous friend the Shark, proceeded to the
agent’s, with whom he wished us to engage, and after being approved
by the Captain, and having made inquiries as to the character of the
vessel and her commander, we enrolled our names upon the articles of
the Barque Pacific, of New Bedford, Captain John W. Sherman, bound to
the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, to cruise for sperm and right
whales. The vessel was of three hundred and eighty tons burthen,
capable of carrying three thousand barrels of oil, and fitted out for
forty months; she was then undergoing thorough repairs, having but two
months previously returned from a voyage of thirty months’ duration,
in which she had been very successful; and this, with several previous
very remunerative voyages, had given her the name of a lucky ship,
which insured her a good crew; seamen, as a class, being superstitious,
are always eager to sail in a ship with which some favorable omen is,
or has been, connected, auguring from such data her subsequent success.
As she would not be ready for sea for about three weeks after I
had joined her, I had plenty of leisure time to look around me.
The principal objects in my eyes were, of course, the wharves and
shipping; and, indeed, the scene there presented was one of interest
to any observer; bustle and activity was everywhere apparent; ships
loading, discharging, repairing, &c., in every direction. Here one
might be seen hove on her beam-ends, receiving a new copper jacket;
another totally dismantled, preparatory to receiving new spars; on
another the riggers were aloft at work, with their merry song; below,
still another might be seen weather-beaten and shabby, her copper
covered with moss and barnacles, she having returned but a few hours
before from a long voyage, and the casks being hoisted from her hold
contain part of her cargo of oil, gleaned, during her four years of
cruising, from the monsters of the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic,
and Antarctic Oceans. Alongside this weatherworn ship, and in strong
contrast with her whole appearance, lies a smart, trim-looking vessel,
such a one as makes Jack Tar’s heart bound to look at; her hull is
perfect in model, her spars all rake jauntily aft, her yards are
squared by the lifts and braces, whilst the fresh appearance of her
paint gives her a coquettish look and bespeaks her ready for sea.
They are now putting aboard of her the remnant of her provisions not
yet stowed; and as we pass up the gangway we come in contact with a
sailor’s chest being conveyed aboard under the Argus eyes of its hardy
owner, who forms one of her crew.
On the wharves hundreds of coopers are employed coopering oil casks.
Their continual strokes of hammer upon driver, united with the heavy
rolling of the oil trucks, creating a Babel-like confusion from which a
stranger is glad to escape.
Whichever way we cast an eye we see oil casks or whalebone, harpoons
or lances, or some one or other of the various et ceteras belonging to
the whaleman’s pursuit; in fact, the yield of the whale supports New
Bedford, and is the nucleus around which clusters all the manufactures
of the city; and its vitality as a community must ever depend upon the
number of vessels it sends out in pursuit of the whale. After gazing
again and again at these objects, to me so interesting, I diverted
myself by walking through the town, with no other object but to kill
time--hours seeming days, and days months, that intervened between
this time and the day fixed for our departure; in fact, I had become
so infatuated with the idea of going to sea, that I viewed everything
through a glass whose tint was blue--blue water always dancing and
rippling before my mind’s eye. In my perambulations through this
city of whalemen I found that it was laid out with something like
care--the streets, like those of Philadelphia, at right angles; many
of the houses neat and well built, and, with the exception of a part
of one street near the river, wear a quiet and respectable aspect.
One street is an exception to the rule, it being occupied by houses
of ill-fame, where many a dollar, earned by exposure to the storm on
a long voyage, has been filched from the hardy mariner by the harpies
who occupy its tenements; and after what I had always read and heard of
the puritanical exactness of our New England brethren, I confess that
I was astonished that such a sink was permitted by the citizens of the
Bay State to remain in existence for the unsophisticated seaman to be
entrapped by. A liquor law had been passed by the legislature of the
State of Massachusetts, and whilst I was in New Bedford was professedly
in operation--but only professedly, as numbers of houses existed
wherein liquor was sold, which, from their public location, must have
been known to the authorities.
At my boarding-house, arrivals were continually occurring of young
men, from various parts of the Union, to embark on board whale-ships.
I viewed with regret the extreme youth of many of them. There is a
systematized mode of procedure carried on in our larger Atlantic and
Lake cities, for the purpose of recruiting this service. Shipping
agents engage young men, taking advantage of their inexperience or
necessities, paint whaling and its appurtenances in vivid colors,
induce them to sign their names, and then convey them to New Bedford;
and when they come to review their outfit bills, they will find a
charge of from ten to fourteen dollars for the agent’s services. Among
the arrivals at our house was one from Western Pennsylvania, who talked
sailor, walked sailor, and dressed sailor, rolling when he walked so as
almost to take in a pocketful of sand on each side, and wore an immense
kedge anchor on his neckerchief; he was looked at by the inexperienced
as a prodigy, but by old sailors with a contemptuous expression, always
accompanied by the remark, “Too much salt water there.” This individual
was afterward the most miserable poltroon in our ship, and despite his
vauntings of personal qualifications as a seaman, lashed himself with
a yard arm gasket to the main topgallant rigging whilst engaged in
furling the main topgallant sail. Such is generally the case--men who
talk loudly of their ability ashore are apt to be inefficient at sea.
And now, after remaining until wearied out, our ship is ready to sail
to-morrow. As is customary on the day before sailing, each man proceeds
to his outfitter and procures his clothing; the owners usually allow
to the foremast hands an advance of seventy-five dollars, for which
the foremast hand gives the outfitter an order, and receives his
clothing. The Shark, or outfitter, charges double the price of good,
for worthless articles, which must be taken at his prices, as there is
no redress. By the time the foremast hands’ board-bill and pocket-money
are deducted from his advance, the wardrobe he is able to procure is
slender and insufficient, so that in the course of a few months he will
be compelled to resort to the slop-chest, where, if the ship has been
successful, he will be eagerly welcomed--the more so, as the Captain is
often interested in the profits of the slop-chest; if unsuccessful, and
he has a liberal Captain, his necessities will be supplied; if, on the
other hand, he should be parsimonious, scowling looks will be all the
relief he gets, and he will be forced to beg from his shipmates, who
will not allow him to suffer, although the prudent are cautious, as in
a three years’ voyage every man must be careful of his effects, as they
constitute his capital.
Having procured our outfits about three o’clock in the afternoon of
Monday, July 23d, we went aboard, desiring to pass one night on the
vessel before she sailed. Soon after we hauled out into the stream,
and were towed by a steamboat down to Clarke’s Point, where we let go
our larboard anchor. During the afternoon others of the crew arrived,
amongst them a fine-looking old tar who knew the ropes, and had a
three gallon jug of New England rum stowed away in his chest, which,
as soon as carried into the forecastle, he produced and passed around
time after time, until all those who would imbibe were more than half
seas over, making night hideous with their discordant clang. At noon
the next day the Captain and others came aboard in the pilot boat. The
sails were loosed, windlass manned, anchor hove up to the inspiriting
chant. We are bound to the Western Ocean, and soon the old Pacific was
aweigh and off to sea again, leaving the land of her flag far in the
distance.
All was bustle and confusion aboard the ship, we having no less than
fourteen green hands, and the few foremast hands who had before
followed the sea were so overcome by the ardent that they were useless;
so that the officers were obliged in almost every case to execute their
own orders. We were blessed with a head wind, and were obliged to beat
out of the bay, and, with the consequent hurry and excitement attendant
on tacking ship, little leisure was left to us for reflection; but
as the sun sank low in the horizon, and the blue hills of the land
of my birth, and love, and veneration--the home of me and mine--were
gradually becoming more and more indistinct--as I looked around me on
the expanse of water, extending on every side, I felt alone; and then,
and not till then, did I feel the momentous character of what I had
undertaken; then I bethought me of the thousand little comforts of
home, the many kindnesses I had received from relatives and friends,
and I leaned my head on the bulwarks, and felt as if I knew what
desolation and heart-sickness were for the first time. This state of
affairs could not last long, so I rallied and attempted to look brave
and careless; but the effort was vain, for if any person had taken the
trouble to look at my lugubrious countenance, they could have seen,
that under an attempted careless exterior I carried an aching breast;
but all hands were too fully occupied by their personal feelings to
notice me, and so it passed unremarked.
Towards evening, that most annoying and distressing of all petty
maladies--viz., sea-sickness, made its appearance amongst our green
hands; having experienced it before, I escaped with but little
annoyance; not so with some other poor fellows, and amongst those I
noticed the person I mentioned before, who claimed so intimate an
acquaintance with the sea, utterly prostrated; a few hours previous he
was the blithest of the party, and was singing with great zest--
“A life on the ocean wave,
And a home on the rolling deep.”
but now, alas! he was tuneless, and almost breathless; but I imagined
that had he been able to sing, the burden of his lay would have been--
“The sea, the sea, the horrid sea.”
This individual, from a circumstance which I have before alluded to,
had received the appellation of Kedge Anchor, or Cage Anchor, or it was
sometimes abbreviated to Cage; and as he will figure repeatedly as I
proceed, I may as well at the outset give him the cognomen by which he
was known during his stay aboard with us. His sickness, and ludicrous
exclamations of “I wish I was on the steam-wagon again” (he had
formerly been brakeman on the New York and Erie Railroad), and pathetic
entreaties to be allowed to die in peace, when desired to do anything,
excited the mirth of all, no sympathy being tendered to him except in
one instance, when one of the seamen offered him a pint of salt water,
assuring him it was a cordial; a mouthful was sufficient to undeceive
him, he spat out the nauseating draught, and the queer expression he
wore on his phiz, and no less queer entreaty to take the darned thing
away, were so humorous as to shock his auditors into merriment, and
secured him against farther molestation.
The reason that so many green hands are shipped in vessels engaged in
this trade, is, that they are to be engaged for a trifling proportion
of the vessel’s earnings, and the great difficulty of procuring those
who have before been to sea, to go before the mast a second time; no
man whomsoever, if he can make any pretensions to mediocrity, being
obliged a second time to go before the mast; he is always qualified for
the post of boat-steerer, and can attain it without any trouble; and
those who are not disgusted with their first voyage and have a particle
of energy or ambition in their composition, invariably do so; and from
boatsteerer gradually ascend to be captains. Whaling is, in fact, a
progressive service, and although the probation comprises the best
part of a man’s life, yet the pinnacle of their fame is an honorable
one; and as the boys who are educated in New Bedford are brought up
with the idea that to be a whaling skipper is the _ne plus ultra_ of
all stations in life, so they consider it as the acme of all their
ambitious hopes.
At dusk the captain called the ship’s company aft, and addressed them
to the effect, that we were all together bound on a long voyage, in
all probability to last for years, and he considered it as necessary
that we should at the outset fully understand each other. He then
went on to say that all hands should receive a sufficient supply of
such provision as was in the ship, so long as it was not wasted. He
stated that none of the crew forward should be misused or imposed
upon by the officers. He then told us, that if there were any rascals
in the crew he should detect them; and concluded by stating that as
long as we used him well, he should return the compliment, and vice
versa. This was plane sailing, and all understood him. Immediately
afterward the watches, chosen from the boatsteerers and crew by the
chief mate and second mate, were set; the chief mate had the first
choice; the second mate, who heads the captain’s watch, succeeded him:
at the same time the boats’ crews were chosen by the officers, as
before, the chief mate having the first choice, and so in succession
according to rank, until the fourth mate had chosen. In many ships
that carry four boats the captain heads his own; but most, like us,
have a fourth mate, who supplies his place. But to return to setting
the watches, which took place at seven o’clock, P.M.; the starboard,
or captain’s watch, headed by the second, assisted by the fourth
mate, comprising half the foremast hands and two boatsteerers, had the
first turn in. On being ushered into the steerage or forecastle, those
who had been in the habit of having soft beds and comfortable bedding
provided for them by the hands of affectionate mothers, although
somewhat prepared for a difference, were surprised at their sleeping
accommodations--rude boxes, or rather berths, built to the sides of the
ship, about five feet long, and two and a half in width, furnished with
a pair of blankets, a quilt, and a bed, which, according to the amount
of attention paid to the outfit of the occupant, varied from a hair
mattress in one case, to the common corn husk or straw tick. However,
this was no time to soliloquize over past comforts, so all bundled in
without ceremony; and in a short time, from the unusual exercise of
the day, to judge from the nasal organism floating through the air,
profound slumber reigned throughout the between-decks of the ship. And
now, that one half the ship’s company are enclosed in the embraces
of Morpheus, we will glance round and take a peep at our vessel and
crew. The vessel, as I before mentioned, is an old fashioned barque,
built to ply as a packet between New York and Liverpool, which duty
she performed with faithfulness and satisfaction to her owners; and in
her palmiest days bore the reputation of being the fastest ship out
of New York; but the improvements in ship-building necessitated her
owners to dispose of an old and faithful servant, and replace her with
a modern modelled craft--safer could not be. She was bought by a New
Bedford merchant, who, after altering her for the purpose, put her into
the whaling trade, where for years she maintained her reputation as
a swift sailer, until clippers were introduced to compete with her,
when, of course, she was obliged to succumb. From this port she made
many successful voyages, enriching her owners and increasing her good
name, until 1855, at which time she was fifty-three years old, and
with the exception of being new topped and coppered, the latter at the
completion of each voyage, she had undergone no repairs. Her great age
attests to her staunchness and seaworthiness, and by all who had sailed
in her the greatest confidence was ever expressed.
On board of her was every article for the maintenance of men whose
principal resources for forty months lay in her cargo. There was, in
the iron implement line, everything that is used at sea, from a needle
to an anchor; clothing of all kinds and sizes; provisions, muskets,
ammunition; tawdry articles to trade with the semi-civilized natives of
the East India and Madagascar Isles; tin ware, soap, shoes, tobacco,
and saddles for the inhabitants of Australia; also sails, rigging,
spare boats, and all other necessaries to equip and enable her to
sustain herself for three years. Whalers, unless some serious accident
befalls, do not usually enter ports where their necessities can be
supplied at other than exorbitant prices, except the last one, where
they always calculate to dispose of surplus provisions, boats, and
rigging: being in a hurry to get home, they make some port of note so
as to be detained as short a time as possible in getting rid of them.
The reason for touching at obscure places, is the great danger of
losing men by desertion, which always occurs in commercial ports.
Besides all these she carried outboard four boats pendant from davits,
resting on cranes; one on the starboard quarter, which gives it its
name; one on the port quarter, called the larboard boat, is the chief
mate’s; directly forward of it, on the larboard side, are the waist
and bow boats--the former headed by the second, the latter by the
third mate; the starboard boat is headed by the Captain or fourth
mate, as the case may be. Each boat has a crew of four men, beside
the boatsteerer and officer, and carries two tubs of line, harpoons,
lances, boat spade, hatchet, knives, keg with water, keg containing
lantern, matches, candles, tobacco, pipes, bread, and a drug. Having
now pretty closely analyzed our vessel and her cargo, we will glance
over the inmates. The Captain, a large, powerful man, with a face
apparently expressive of frankness and good nature. The chief mate,
J. B. H., a young man of twenty-six, rather below the medium height,
with an eye like a hawk, quick to think and quick to act--a first-rate
officer. D. E., the second mate, a corpulent man, below the average
height, with an excellent mind and noble heart. The third mate, J.
D., formerly boatsteerer in this ship on her preceding voyage, and
the fourth mate, C. A., both powerful, hearty fellows, energetic and
pushing, putting their shoulders to the wheel on all occasions where
strong hands and brave hearts are wanted; these, with the steward,
inhabited the cabin or after part of the between decks of the ship. All
were Massachusetts men; none of them had ever learned trades, or been
employed in business ashore, but had pursued their perilous profession
from boyhood up, in every ocean and in every clime, from the frozen
north to the frozen south, and, hitherto, had always been successful.
The boatsteerers were four in number, two of whom had before steered
boats and made voyages in that position; the remaining two had each
sailed one voyage before the mast--one of them in this same good old
barque, to the frozen realms of the Ice king, in the Arctic Ocean,
whence the vessel returned, in the course of thirty months, with four
thousand five hundred barrels of oil; these four, with the cooper,
occupied the steerage, an apartment directly forward of the cabin.
The foremast hands, eighteen in number, of whom but four had ever
been to sea before, were a youthful, reckless, merry set, from all
over the Union. We had but two foreigners, Germans, in the ship--the
cook, and one of the crew. Many of the youngsters were New Bedford
boys, performing this voyage as apprentices. With the exception of
the Captain and old Jack Miller, as hardy an old tar as ever stepped
a ratline, and who could spin a yarn to order that would put Baron
Munchausen to the blush, there was not a married man, or one who was
over twenty-six years of age aboard the ship. To attempt, with the
exception of the Massachusetts men, to assign a reason for any of our
shipmates’ choosing whaling as a profession, would be mere conjecture.
Any one could see at a glance they were neither poverty-stricken
nor indolent; but on examining their features, a roving unsettled
expression might be detected by a close observer, on the lineaments of
each--a certain love of change, so all-absorbing with most young men;
nor were they on the whole ignorant, as I found by conversation--all
being thoroughly conversant with the leading topics of the day, and
each, like every true American, had his individual opinion of the
merits of newspaper notorieties, politics, and other matters that
engross the American mind; but we left them fast asleep, and as I, in
the interim, have spun a long yarn, it is time to conclude, as the
helmsman sings out “Eight bells.” A hoarse call is now heard at the
forecastle of “Starbowlines, ahoy!” and as the breeze has freshened
and the vessel is gently pitching, we will step into the forecastle
and criticise the appearance of our green hands. Part of them are
out of their bunks indulging in the most lachrymose expressions,
scarce able to dress, for fear the vessel’s motion will destroy their
equilibrium--and “I wish I was at home,” is the general cry; some
cannot muster resolution enough to get out of their berths, others have
thus far succeeded, but only to resume a recumbent position on their
chests, whilst a few with set teeth and praiseworthy resolution, manage
to get upon deck, and grasp the rigging on the fife rail enclosing
the foremast; there they stand, incapable of altering their position,
hanging on with a pertinacity worthy of a better cause, staring in
stupid vacancy at all around them, and when receiving an officer’s
order, acknowledging it by a sickly, unmeaning grin, to express their
willingness, but inability to perform. Officers are required to
exercise the utmost patience and forbearance in the management of such
a crew; instead of an active, able ship’s company, such as they have
been accustomed to sail with, here they have an assortment of men,
ignorant of a single rope in the ship, who are just as much acquainted
with the rigging as with Greek and Hebrew, knowing as much about the
cook’s leg as the cook’s nose, and more about the boy than the buoy,
and as like as not when ordered to heave the buoy overboard to heave
the boy. I have seen many laughable mistakes occur amongst our boys
when first out; do not think I take a sailor’s privilege and draw a
long bow, as I am at the same time included with these worthies--I
being, at the time of leaving home, as verdant as any of the rest. I
have seen them when ordered to haul down the flying jib, grasp the
spanker halyards, and spend any quantity of pulling and hauling upon
it, wondering at the same time why the darned thing did not come down;
their only mistake in this case was hoisting the aftermost sail in the
ship instead of lowering the foremost. With our officers, as a general
thing, these errors passed off good humoredly; but, as I said before,
they were required to use all their forbearance to repress their anger
at our lubberly mistakes; nor would it have been surprising, all things
taken into consideration, had they let out at us occasionally, and
I doubt much if Job, who, by the Book of books, is spoken of as the
most patient man of antiquity, were he afloat with a green crew, who
misunderstood all he said to them, and who in the multiplicity of their
ideas would attempt to haul up the mainsail with the spanker vang, or
clew down a topsail with the slab line--I say, I doubt whether even
he, the said Job, would not find his stock of patience, noted as he
was for that virtue, oozing out at his fingers ends, and be tempted to
anathematize their lubberly eyes in a heartfelt and seamanlike manner.
In a short time, however, things began to wear a totally different
aspect; improvement was the order of the day--each tried to excel the
other. This spirit of emulation was productive of the most beneficial
results to everybody, and in a short time we had an efficient crew,
perfectly competent to battle with the combined forces of Boreas and
Neptune.
When three days out, we spoke the ship Monmouth, of Bath; she was a
fine-looking ship, running free, with the wind on her quarter, and
everything alow and aloft drawing, presenting a beautiful sight.
On the fourth day out, whilst crossing the Gulf Stream, we were struck
by a squall, prevalent in that latitude. All hands were called, and
as this was our first trip aloft, we ascended the rigging with fear
and trembling--holding on to the shrouds as if it was our intention to
squeeze all the tar out of the rigging. When on the yards we were of
little use, carrying out the landlubbers’ motto to the letter, of both
hands for yourself and the rest for the owners. We all hung on like
good fellows, and if it had depended upon us to reef the sail it would
not have been done till now.
The first Sunday intervening after our departure from home, proved
a bright, beautiful day, the sun rising in gorgeous splendor. After
breakfast the chief mate went throughout the crew, and gave to all
who were not already provided, a Bible or Testament, also tracts and
religious papers. These books, I believe, were supplied by a Tract
Society, in New Bedford, who customarily place the word of God aboard
every ship that leaves the harbor. The books were all received with
thankfulness; and I will here take occasion to state that I never
heard a sailor speak irreverently of the Bible. Men aboard ship I have
heard do so, but only in three instances, and in those cases they
were neither sailors nor landsmen--incapable of filling a respectable
position on either element; therefore their opinions were of little
weight.
Directly after we got outside, the peculiarity of the great Yankee
nation began to manifest itself, and divers trades and speculations
were set afloat; the ship’s company having been transformed into an
Israelite assemblage worthy of South Street, Philadelphia, or Chatham
Street, New York, bartering for and exchanging old and new clothes.
Money is not a medium aboard a whale-ship, and the possessor of it
usually stows it away in the corner of his chest as so much dross,
of no value to him. Tobacco takes its place and is the currency; an
article being valued, not at so many dollars, but at so many pounds
and plugs of tobacco--thus substituting a vegetable for a metallic
currency; and as most men coming to sea, whether they use the weed or
not, provide themselves with a considerable quantity of it, some of the
old hands accumulated quite a stock; several of them numbering their
acquisitions by the hundred pounds. As they did not assign a motive
for hoarding it, I wondered at the propensity, but was not enlightened
until we made an Australian port, where, on account of the inferior
article imported, and the high duty, making the price per pound treble
of the best tobacco in the States, theirs, by smuggling it ashore, was
readily disposable at a good return.
Gambling, too, soon developed itself, and after a hard day’s work, or
when the gale was piping through the ringing, and the waves surging and
hissing in ocean’s cauldron, rendering the vessel’s motion unsteady, so
that the participators in the game could scarce retain their seats, I
have seen a half-dozen seated around a chest (or, in sailor’s parlance,
donkey), a pile of tobacco in the centre, shuffling a pack of dirty,
greasy cards, playing bluff or all-fours, and watching the game as if
their very existence depended on the winning or losing a few pounds
of tobacco. By this operation the green hands were the losers, of
course; those who had been to sea before working together, and always
making the game profitable to themselves; therefore, those who had not
strength of mind to refrain, were soon stripped of all their tobacco;
and I remember, one evening, seeing a man, after losing all his stock,
pull his shirt off his back and sell it for tobacco to continue the
game. This being speedily dissipated, his under-shirt was disposed
of in the same way. We, who did not take part in the game, stood it
as long as we could, as the usual attendants to a game of chance,
high words and quarrelling were rife; we finally began to complain,
when the captain, to avoid disturbance, offered a pound of tobacco
for every pack of cards that should be brought to him. This had the
desired effect, and we had the satisfaction of seeing the cards hove
overboard and lightly floating astern. We congratulated ourselves on
this amelioration of discomfort; but an inventive genius from New
Jersey, becoming, as he said, oppressed with ennui, manufactured a set
of dominoes from a sperm whale’s jaw; another contrived dice; whilst
a third made a checker-board; a fourth originated a sweat-table; and
thus we were attended by this evil throughout the voyage--the only
intermission being Sundays and the time occupied in capturing and
taking care of whales.
When a week out from home a false alarm was raised of “There she
blows! There she blows!” continued for some twenty or thirty times in
succession, at intervals of about thirty seconds. The boatsteerer on
the maintopgallant crosstrees, on being asked “Where away,” by the
captain, answered, “Two points on the lee bow, about two miles off.”
All hands were called, the lines put into the boats; they were then
hoisted, swung and lowered, the crew following the boats down the
sides of the ship, and leaping in the moment they touched the water;
then shoving off and pulling in the direction of the fish. Soon the
boatsteerer was ordered to stand up, then to give it to him, then to
give him the other iron; and then we found that there had been no
whales seen, but that the whole affair was arranged to familiarize
us with boat duty, so that we might be acquainted with the rigmarole
when occasion required. At first but little order or regulation was
observed, each one pulling on his own hook; but after some little
instruction we managed to make the boat go ahead without describing
half a dozen circles before starting. As we became warm with the
exercise, the old hands grew excited, and gave their short, quick
orders of “Give it to him! Stern, stern all--hard! Stern, men, for your
lives!” with as much enthusiasm as if a sperm whale was in reality
spouting under the head of the boat. The day being fine all hands were
delighted with the sport, particularly so our New Bedford boys; and
after coming aboard and hoisting our boats to a merry song, no doubt
more than one aspirant to the heading of a boat, went to his pillow to
dream of future successes, and turn up whales in imagination by scores.
Their ambition is pardonable, too, as, in the section of country in
which they reside, a successful whaling skipper is looked upon as a
much more important personage in the community than is a member of
Congress; and I do not doubt that if the choice of the appellations
Honorable and Captain were tendered to the youths of New Bedford and
its vicinity, nine-tenths of them would prefer the latter; nor does he,
in thus devoting himself to whaling as a profession, embrace an easy
mode of gaining a livelihood. He must be no mere carpet knight, but
must stand prepared to give and receive hard knocks; and combat, not
only with the winds and waves (the task of ordinary sailors), but with
the monarch of the seas--the great sperm whale; nor must he betray, no
matter how perilous his position may hap to be during an encounter with
leviathan, the slightest evidence of fear, as such a symptom would make
him a butt for rude personal jokes, which would drive him, by their
pointedness and sarcasm, out of the service; but he must view every
position into which he is thrown, and every peril to which he may be
subjected, with as much indifference as if it were of no importance to
him, and he will acquire a reputation for fearlessness and coolness,
which invariably, no matter what his faults may be, will gain him
respect both from officers and crew; sailors, as a class, admiring
reckless courage, and although they will always follow where an officer
in whom they have confidence leads, the slightest suspicion of their
leader’s capability or courage is sufficient to damp their ardor,
and cause them to act with lukewarm efforts. I do not mean to cast a
stigma on the well-won reputation of seamen for courage, but from the
discipline of a well-regulated ship, the seaman is taught to look up to
his officers, who, in his eyes, bear all the responsibility, and thus
in a measure he regulates all his motions by that of his superior, and
if anything goes wrong, imputes the error to its proper source. They
possess an old and familiar proverb--viz., “Obey orders if you break
owners,” and nine-tenths of seafaring men adopt it to the letter, and
thus avoid blame.
Two weeks after leaving home we were startled at about six o’clock
A. M., by the look-outs at the fore and maintopgallant cross-trees
singing out, “There blows! there blows! there blows!” continuously, at
intervals of about thirty seconds. After about ten minutes of vocal
execution, they cried out, “There goes flukes,” emphasizing with great
force the second word in the sentence. This was confirmatory of the
presence of sperm whales, and as their yield is by far greater in value
than that obtained from any other fish, we of course were anxious to
capture one or more of them. After considerable manœuvring on our part,
attended by excitement and bustle, three boats were lowered away.
Several hours were fruitlessly spent in pulling and sailing, when the
chase was given up as hopeless, the whales going faster to windward
than we could pursue them. The weather was threatening, the sea
boisterous, and therefore our seats in the boat were neither pleasant
nor dry; consequently, at the expiration of three and a half hours,
we returned to the ship. As I stepped aboard of her I felt that I had
reached home, and ever after that, as long as I belonged to her, home
and the old barkey were to me synonymous terms.
Whilst in the boats I saw a whale breach or leap bodily into the air,
his vast bulk appearing in bas relief, suspended for a moment in mid
air--the sky above, the sea beneath--and although it was not so perfect
a display of the creature’s immensity and power as I often afterwards
witnessed, still I was struck with the greatness of the Creator’s works
in this, to us, almost unknown element.
Soon after our incursion on the sperm whale territory we lowered for
blackfish, but were unsuccessful. This is not our legitimate pursuit,
but is always done in good weather when a ship has a green crew; and in
many instances the captain makes it a point to lower for and capture
them whenever the opportunity presents itself. This is a beautiful
fish, from twelve to twenty-five feet in length; always seen in immense
numbers herding together, as if for mutual protection; they have a jet
black, smooth, and shining skin, unmarred by a wrinkle, which in the
sun presents a beautiful appearance, and from it they derive their
name. The shape of their head reminds me of a pug-nosed dog. Unlike
the sperm whale they have both jaws furnished with teeth. A full grown
fish yields from two to five barrels of oil. Their meat is palatable
to my taste, although I could not recommend it to an epicure ashore;
nor would I, I think, partake of it anywhere but on board ship, when
long deprivation from fresh food makes anything, not saturated by salt,
a luxury. It is in appearance somewhat like beef, but coarser; it is
minced with pork and fried in balls about the size of the sausage
exposed for sale in our markets, and in this state its advent is hailed
by all aboard with great gusto.
Their oil is very little inferior to that of the sperm whale; indeed,
although I have never analyzed it, and speak merely from observation,
I think if the same care and attention were paid to trying out the
blackfish oil as is accorded to the preparation of sperm oil, it would
be found that the oil of the former possesses all the good qualities of
the latter. At least the experiment is worthy a trial.
On the 12th of August, 1855, we novices saw for the first time a
foreign shore. Its appearance was detected by an experienced hand
long before our eyes could discern it, and when, finally, they were
pointed out to us, it was with no little difficulty that we could
be led to believe the two islands other than clouds. They proved to
be Corvo and Flores, of the Azore group, or as they are familiarly
known, the Western Islands. They belong to Portugal, which rules them
with an iron hand, carrying away the flower of the youth born here to
support the throne in Europe. The next day we made land, and signaled
the barque Henry Taber, that left New Bedford on the same day as
ourselves. We passed her and stood close in to the Island of Flores.
When within about ten miles of the land, a boat containing a dozen
swarthy, grinning, chattering Portuguese, boarded us, who, immediately
on touching deck, made for the forecastle, and dove into the bread
barge, devouring all it contained and greedily inquiring for more. This
modest demand not being complied with, they offered for sale fruits,
comprising apples, oranges, lemons, limes, figs, melons, grapes and
tomatoes; also straw hats, milk, and aguardiente. They brought us,
amongst other edibles, an anomaly known to sailors as jackass cheese;
it is in round cakes, about three inches in diameter, and of the color
of cheese made from cow’s milk, although totally dissimilar in taste to
any other cheese I have eaten. As regards its origin, whether produced
from John Horse, goat, or cow’s milk, I cannot aver, neither do I care;
but its general good taste and appetizing qualities I can vouch for
from having partaken of it. After a short time another boat appeared,
bringing us eggs and fowls (and knowing a sailor’s preference for
potables), aguardiente and sour wine. These additions to our usual sea
fare, made us an excellent meal. For all these dainties these people
were willing to receive tobacco, which, on account of the monopoly of
the trade in that article by the government, commands a high price.
They are obliged to smuggle it ashore, but from the careless manner in
which they stowed it away I should think that little surveillance is
exercised towards the inhabitants by the excise officers; whilst an
American or European is pretty thoroughly searched on landing, to see
that he does not carry the contraband article.
At about ten A. M. the captain went ashore with a boat’s crew, for
the purpose of purchasing stores for the ship, excellent potatoes and
onions being produced in this genial climate, and from the little
intercourse these people hold with the rest of mankind, can be obtained
at a mere nominal price. On nearing the shore we found the coast rocky
and precipitous, covered with herbage of the richest green; a heavy
surf was beating on the rocks, but we landed by the assistance of the
Portuguese, who fearlessly plunged into the water and hauled our boat
ashore. We found on the beach a concourse of dark and light, young and
old, male and female, assembled to meet us; all shoeless, and many of
them hatless; all making a noise and bounding from cliff to cliff with
little less agility than the goats, of which great numbers are kept
for the sake of their milk and skins. On proceeding to the town, the
name of which I never could discover, not having seen an American who
knew, or a Portuguese who could tell me what it was, although I have
asked the question frequently, always with the same result, we found
that it was built without regard to order or regularity--the buildings
of stone. Many plats of ground were surrounded by immense stone walls;
some of these plats are not more than sixteen feet square, but are
enclosed by walls two feet thick, reminding one of the masonry in the
German castles of romance. At the town we saw little to attract except
the merry appearance of the female, and scowling expression of the male
inhabitants; the men looking upon us, it seemed, as intruders, and
desiring but little intercourse with us; the women, although barefooted
and with hair unkempt, their negligent dress exposing rather more of
their persons than accordant with modesty, were more than affable;
every article of our apparel that was exposed to their view being made
by them a price for which they were willing to prostitute themselves;
and so pertinacious were they, that it was with difficulty a sheath
knife was wrested from one of them by a blushing boy of our party to
whom their immodest offers (having but three weeks previously left
the bosom of a virtuous family of mother and sisters), sounded like
sacrilege, and, as he afterwards expressed himself, absolutely appalled
him. We saw little evidence of cultivation in the town; but upon
inquiry were informed, as well as their broken English could enlighten
us, that the produce grew higher up--in the mountains. To scale these
we were not adventurous enough; so we sat down, and, after some
bargaining, procured boiled eggs, fruit, bread, and sour wine, on which
we made a hearty repast. I observed about the town cows, pigs, and
dogs, but neither jackass nor donkey; so I do not think the aforesaid
long-eared gentleman possesses the right or title to claim the
paternity of the world-renowned jackass cheese; although seamen, in a
spirit of vagary, have given to it the appellation of that intellectual
animal.
In the afternoon we went off to the ship, got our onions and potatoes
aboard, and carried with us two Portuguese boys, about seventeen years
of age--one of whom goes into the forecastle to do duty as a foremast
hand, the other, into the steerage as steerage boy. Great numbers of
young men are carried off from these islands annually, by American
whaleships, the government demanding of each young man, born in the
islands, a certain amount of military duty in Europe. To emancipate
themselves from this irksome service they join whalers, as after an
absence on the part of one, during which he has acquired the English
language, he is exempted from military duty. Whether the government
does this to encourage the development of knowledge, or that, after a
tarry on his part amongst the republican Americans, they think him too
liberal in sentiment to mingle with other servants of their despotic
rule, I cannot say. When these people first come aboard the ship they
are indifferently dressed, and invariably barefooted; when those we
shipped were supplied with an outfit of sea clothes, they were greatly
astonished and delighted. They are a very economical people, and by
dint of washing for others, patching, at which in a short time they
become adepts, and other little jobs, they soon become possessed of
a large amount of clothing, which they hoard up and gloat over as a
miser would his gold. They are shipped for little or nothing as regards
remuneration, scarcely anything being said about a lay on either
side; but the captain, if generous, will always make them a liberal
allowance on the ship’s arriving at New Bedford. They are generally
strong and able-bodied, and make good working-hands to pull and haul,
but, except in rare instances, do not rise in position above steering
a boat; although there are several ships at present sailing out of New
Bedford whose masters are Portuguese by birth, yet in each instance,
I am informed by good authority, they were taken from the islands at
a very early age, and sent to school in America between voyages. When
they first come aboard they look thin and cadaverous, probably from
their almost entire diet being vegetable; but in a short time, from
prodigious indulgence of their appetites for flesh, they become round
and sleek. Their attenuated appearance has led to the standing joke
amongst sailors, that if you want a Portuguese crew, all you have to do
is to run close in to one of the Western Islands, heave a hook and line
overboard baited with fat pork, and in a few minutes you will catch as
many as you want. To tell the Portuguese this is considered by them as
a bitter affront, they always magnifying their position ashore, I do
not know how many times, making everything _grand_, as they express
it. To illustrate their passion for meat, I shall not go into figures
as regards the consumption, as few, if any, would credit my bare
assertion; but I will state that one of the boys gained sixty pounds in
weight during the first five months he was with us.
If there be only one or two of this race aboard, and they are separated
in different parts of the ship, and not allowed too frequently to
converse with each other, they soon acquire English and become useful;
but if there are half a dozen together in the forecastle, they jabber
and chatter their unmusical jargon from morning until night, and will
go a three years’ voyage, knowing at the end of it little more English
than is embraced in the technical terms of the service, which, being
impressed on their memory with a kick or blow by way of injunction,
they are apt to retain.
These people are, or profess to be, devoted to their padres or fathers
in the church, and from my light observation of them and their
peculiarities, I should be inclined to give it as my opinion that they
are totally under the sway of their Jesuitical advisers; but I must
about ship and resume the thread of my narrative.
Whilst lying here off and on shore we gammoned the ship E. L.
Jones, of New Bedford; the barque Sea Flower, of same port,
and schooner Antarctic, of Provincetown. This is an excellent
whaling-ground--numbers of large and small craft are continually
cruising here, and in the course of a voyage generally do well.
Gammoning at sea is the term for an interchange of civilities between
two or more ships, and is much in vogue amongst whalemen, who have so
much time that hangs heavy on their hands, and are glad to vary the
monotony by the sight of a stranger, or, if a later arrival, receiving
intelligence from home. When a ship wishes to gammon another, or, as it
is pronounced at sea, gam’, the second syllable being dispensed with,
the _lee_ ship hauls aback her mainyard, or sets a signal signifying
her wish, the _weather_ craft squares her yards, puts her helm up,
runs across the other’s stern and speaks her. Then the captain of one
lowers away and boards the other, the mate returns in the boat with a
fresh crew, the officers resort to the cabin, the boatsteerers to the
steerage, and the crew to the forecastle. As soon as breathing time is
allowed to the visitors they are beset by a dozen querists, who, all at
once, want to know how long they are from home, what success they have
had, and the birth-place, or place of residence of each. For instance,
here one steps up and inquires, “Any New Yorkers here,” or “Any
Philadelphia, New Bedford, or Boston chaps,” whichever place to him is
best known; and if, perchance, he finds a townsman, in a few minutes
they are as thick as lovers, and as far advanced in friendship as an
acquaintance of twenty years ashore would warrant; and ere they part
chests are thrown open, with the injunction to help yourself added,
and do not be backward about it either. Soon after some one calls for
a song, and in a short time, after some pressing and coaxing, which is
as necessary here as in more select circles, the time-worn, but sweet
melodies of the sea are sung, if not with artistic correctness, with
spirit--all hands joining in the chorus, till the old ship rings again.
Meantime, the officers in the cabin are rehearsing old memories of
whaling, telling of the largest, wickedest and quietest whales which
they have borne a hand at taking; dire and wonderful are the _fish_
stories that in this manner receive birth. These relations, assisted
by the genial influence of the bottle and the pipe, soon while away
the time, and ere one would have thought it, the signal is up for
returning. The boatsteerers are killing time in much the same manner,
lacking only the ardent; whilst the crew, if a merry set of fellows,
have, ere this, got the fiddle or accordeon player, if one is aboard,
on deck (providing that it is good weather, and the ship on an even
keel), and are breaking down in the waist at a rate that would set
a French dancing-master crazy; but it is all the same to them--they
enjoy, and are bound to make sport of it. The signal for returning
being set, books are exchanged, tobacco, pipes, and in cases of need,
articles of clothing are freely presented, and the visitors go over the
rail into their boats, with “God bless you. _Greasy_ luck to you. Take
care of yourself, my hearties,” or some other equally expressive and
kindly wish following them; and the two ships resume their courses in
different directions to different quarters of the globe.