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Life
on a Whaleship
Although
the crew's rations ranged from unpleasant to revolting, hard work
gave them good appetites, even for greasy pork, hard biscuits,
and cockroach-laden molasses.
An
isolated society: The whaleship was an isolated community
that roamed the oceans of the world on journeys that lasted for
years. In Etchings of a Whaling Cruise (New York, 1846), J. Ross
Browne describes the crew's quarters called the forecastle, or,
in sailor's parlance, the fo'c'sle:
"The
forecastle was black and slimy with filth, very small and hot
as an oven. It was filled with a compound of foul air, smoke,
sea-chests, soap-kegs, greasy pans, tainted meat," sea-sick
Americans and foreign ruffians. The ruffians were "smoking,
laughing, chattering and cursing the green hands who were sick.
With groans on one side, and yells, oaths, laughter and smoke
on the other, it altogether did not impress [me] as a very pleasant
home for the next year or two. [I was] indeed, sick and sorry
enough, and heartily wish [myself] home."
How long is long?: The larger a vessel, the greater distances
it could travel. The whaling schooner, the smallest whaler, generally
undertook 6-month voyages, while brigs, barks, and ships might
be at sea for three or four years. * The longest whaling voyage
is believed to be that of the Ship Nile from 1858 to 1869 -- eleven
years!
Men on board: The size of the crew depended on the size
of the vessel and the number of whaleboats it carried -- ranging
from sixteen up to at least 36 on the largest ships.
These men were organized in a rigid hierarchy of officers and
crew: * The captain was absolute master of this strange floating
world; * The officers -- three or four mates - were next in rank,
each commandimg a whaleboat. * The boatsteerers were the harpooneers
and enjoyed more privileges than the rest of the crew; * The blacksmith,
carpenter, cook, cooper (caskmaker), and steward also ranked higher
than ordinary crewmen. When the crew chased a whale, these men
remained behind as shipkeepers; * The foremast hands were the
ordinary crewmen.
How they were paid: Each man received a "lay," or percentage
of the profits, instead of wages, the size depending upon his
status. The captain earned the largest share, perhaps 1/8th, and
the green hand (inexperienced crewman) the least, as little as
1/350th. An ordinary crewman might earn only $25.00 for several
years work.
Earning less than nothing: On a voyage where profits were
low, the crew might receive nothing. Even on a profitable trip,
a whaleman might end up in debt to the shipowners. Cash advances
for his family or to spend in ports of call, and any tobacco,
boots, or clothes he purchased from the ship's store were charged
against his lay. In debt as they sailed into home port, many men
immediately signed on for another voyage.
Sleeping and eating: Meals and quarters reflected the ship's
class structure : * The captain slept in a stateroom and enjoyed
a cabin with a sofa and chairs in the stern (rear) of the ship.
He ate the best meals on shipboard. Ducks, pigs, and chickens
were often carried in crates to provide meat for his table; *
The mates had smaller cabins in the stern and ate meals with the
captain in the main cabin; * The boatsteerers (harpooneers) and
the more skilled members of the crew, such as the blacksmith and
cooper, had bunks in the steerage -- an irregular-shaped compartment
in the middle of the ship (midship). They ate in the main cabin
after the captain and mates left, usually being served the same
meals, except for butter and sugar. Like ordinary hands, they
used molasses to sweeten their coffee or tea; * The foremast hands
-- ordinary crewmen -- slept in the forecastle, a narrow triangular-shaped
room under the deck in the bow (front) of the ship, in narrow
bunks that lined the walls. The only seats were the men's sea
chests.
In fair weather, the cook's helper carried tubs of food to the
deck and the crewmen ate there, retreating below deck during foul
weather.
An appetite for salt horse: Although the crew's rations
ranged from unpleasant to revolting, hard work gave them good
appetites, even for greasy pork, hard biscuits, and cockroach-laden
molasses. Other fare included "salt horse" (heavily salted beef,
pork, or horse), beans, rice, or potatoes. The chance to eat something
fresh was a treat. At ports of call, fresh water, fruits, and
vegetables were taken aboard. Cooks became used to preparing sea
turtles, dolphins, sea birds, and fish. A ship cruising off the
African coast harpooned and ate a hippopotamus.
Living with accidents, vermin, and punishment: Apart from
the dangers of the hunt, life on a whaleship could be unpleasant:
* Rats, cockroaches, bedbugs, and fleas were facts of life, perhaps
because of the oil and blood that were not removed from the decks
by scrubbing. The men endured these creatures in their food, in
their bunks, and on their bodies; * Sharp-edged tools, hostile
natives, and shipboard arguments led to injuries. It was usually
the captain who dealt with illnesses, using limited knowledge
and supplies from the medicine chest. Occasionally, a captain's
wife on board would nurse ailing crewmen; * Punishments included
being "put in irons" and flogging (whipping). If a man disobeyed
orders or otherwise displeased captain or mate, he suffered one
or the other. The "cat-o'-nine-tails" (a whip of nine knotted
lines) was often used. It was painful for the crewman who experienced
it, and frightening for others to watch.
A multi-racial enterprise: During most of the history of
American whaling, ships drew their crews from men of varied racial
and ethnic backgrounds. The early deep sea whalers usually carried
crews of: * Yankees from New England and Long Island;* Gay Head
Indians from Martha's Vineyard; and * Negroes, as African-Americans
were called at the time. On some ships, the men on board were
all neighbors. It was possible in those days to begin as a foremast
hand and work up to the position of captain.
As the industry grew and New Bedford became its greatest center,
more men were needed for an increasing number of ships. Although
Yankees still went whaling, few shipped out as foremast hands
more than once. It was a cruel way to make a living and the financial
rewards were too few for all except the captain, the officers,
and some of the more skilled members of the crew.
A League of Nations on board: Captains and ship owners
picked up hands wherever they could find them. Of a ship's crew,
half might be Americans, while the rest came from other nations.
On some vessels, the crew was entirely foreign-born. Racial and
cultural stereotypes persisted and three groups in particular
experienced limitations on advancement: * African-Americans; *
Cape Verdeans; * Pacific Islanders (also known as "Kanakas," a
term derived from the Polynesian "Te Enata," which means "the
men").
A kind of racial harmony: Genuine integration did not exist
on most American whaleships, and violence sometimes flared. In
general, however, men who were packed into tight quarters for
years at a time and subject to the nearly unlimited power of the
captain and officers, usually found it wise to tolerate each other.
Chores: Days, weeks, sometimes months passed between whale
sightings. Some time was filled with routine chores, such as washing
the deck, setting sail (increasing or decreasing the number of
sails on the masts), steering, or standing watch at night.
Dealing with boredom: Whalemen devised ways of filling
hours of inactivity: * Socializing In the late afternoon and early
evening, most hands came on deck to socialize. They puffed on
pipes, talked, read, mended clothes. They often broke into high-spirited
singing and dancing. " * Scrimshaw is an art form developed by
American whalemen, who used long hours of idleness and the availability
of whale teeth and baleen (keratinous strips found in the mouths
of baleen whales) to carve homecoming presents for loved ones.
The most popular items were etched teeth and jagging wheels (pastry
crimpers). The term "scrimshaw" also covers pieces whalemen created
from sea shells, coconuts, tortoise shell, and other materials
(Go to Scrimshaw: The Whaleman's Art for more information); Gams
When whaleships met on the high seas, they usually held a "gam,"
an exchange of visits. This was a distinctive whaling custom.
(Merchant ships, intent on getting cargoes to port quickly, exchanged
only brief greetings.) The whaleboats ferried between the ships
so that every crewman had a chance to exchange news and socialize.
A gam might last a day or a week, but eventually the ships would
separate and the crews would return to lonely hours of waiting
for whales.
Logbooks: Logbooks were kept by the captain or first mate
for all the ship's records. Routine entries recorded the ship's
position (location), whales captured, the number of barrels of
oil they yielded, wind direction, accidents and sicknesses on
board, and anything else the logkeeper considered important. Private
journals kept by crew members also recorded details of daily life
on shipboard.
Routine days: The entire entry for November 18, 1858 for
the Bark Ocean Bird records: "At daylight land in sight bearing
E. by N. distant 50 miles -- wind light -- all hands variously
employed -- ship steering E. by S. -- cook still off duty with
the venerial."
And dramatic ones: A collection of logbooks analyzed by
historian Stuart Sherman contains details of "castaways, mutinies,
desertions, floggings, women stowaways, drunkenness, illicit shore
leave experiences, scurvy, fever, collisions, fire at sea, stove
boats, drownings, hurricanes, earthquakes, tidal waves, shipwrecks,
ships struck by lightning, men falling from the masthead, hostile
natives, barratry [fraud by a captain or crew at the expense of
the shipowners], brutal skippers, escape from Confederate raiders,
hard luck voyages and ships crushed by ice."
Mutinies: Uprisings on whaleships were remarkably rare,
considering the harsh conditions their crews suffered. Occasionally,
however, a leader would rouse his fellow crewmen to action. On
the New Bedford whaler Junior, mutineers killed all the officers
except the first mate one Christmas night. The crew, miserable
over rotten meat they had been forced to eat, were led by Cyrus
Plummer, who was angry about a flogging he had received. All the
mutineers were eventually captured and punished.
Ports of Call: "In their search for oil," Richard Ellis
writes in his book Men and Whales, "the roving whalers opened
the world, much as the explorers of the 16th century had done
in their quest for the wealth of the Indies."
Plum-pudding whaling: In the early years of American whaling,
voyages were restricted to the Atlantic Ocean. A common route
was to cruise south in spring to the West Indies, then to the
Azores, stopping at ports in these Portuguese islands, where whalers
picked up fresh food,water, and additional crew. From there, the
ships cruised past the Cape Verde Islands and the west coast of
Africa, before recrossing the South Atlantic to the Brazil Banks
or Falkland Islands. Returning to New England in July, the whalers
refitted, then sailed for the Davis Straits between Greenland
and North America for the summer. These relatively brief voyages
were known as "plum-pudding whaling."
The vast expanse of the Pacific: The Rebecca of New Bedford
sailed around the Horn (the southernmost tip of South America)
in 1793, becoming one of the first whalers to enter the Pacific
from an American port, launching the era of round-the-world- whaling.
Yankee whalers encountered scores of small islands and gave them
Yankee names. They saw the mysterious stone faces of Easter Island,
the lush isles of Hawaii, the frightening snowfields of the Antarctic.
They sailed into Japanese waters and from there into the Arctic
Ocean. After Captain Thomas W. Roys discovered bowhead whales
in the Arctic in 1848, New Bedford ships soon followed. (See Arctic
Whaling for more information.)
A unique way of life: Men - and sometimes families - on
whaleships lived in a strange, floating world and experienced
a way of life that was unlike any other. Its rigors repelled all
but the hardiest and most adventurous, or those who were desperate
for work or companionship. As Everett S. Allen wrote in Children
of the Light, "Never, in all of man's history, has there been
anything comparable to whaling in terms of what it demanded of
those afloat who pursued it or of the vessels in which they sailed."
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