WHALEMAN AND FAMILY
Low wages and long voyages away from home imposed bachelorhood on most whalemen, irrespective of race or color.

Only officers could afford the luxury of a wife and children, and only captains were permitted to take their families with them to sea. For this privilege they had to reimburse the owners for the expenses of provisions and lodging -- typically $1000 per voyage in 1895 -- but many whalers saw this as a worthwhile investment in family togetherness and a hedge against the brutal loneliness of a year, or two, or three on the whaling grounds.

In whaling communities ashore, where many of the men were away at sea on protracted voyages, women had to assume responsibilities that were unusual for womenfolk elsewhere, heading households and running businesses long before it was common for women to exercise such independent authority.