More than in any other maritime trade, the Yankee whale-hunters had plenty of shipboard leisure time. The voyages were long, but the work was sporadic.

On the whaling grounds, the crew had most evenings free; hunting whales is only practical in daylight, and, as weeks or even months might pass without a whale being sighted, there were prolonged periods of inactivity, punctuated only occasionally by the frenzy and dangers of actually hunting and processing whales. Even the most successful crews seldom took more than 50 whales on a four-year voyage.