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WHALE-FISHERIES.

The United States Democratic Review.

Volume 19, Issue 102, December 1846,
pp. 453-464

WHALE-FISHERIES.^*

     The whale-fishery must take rank among the most important branches of American industry. It is not only important in itself as affording means of livelihood to a very great number of persons, but, from its enterprising and missionary character, is and has been productive of great results in those distant regions which had else not been visited by the white race, nor become the object of the pious care of Gospel preachers. The Polynesian Islands have become familiar to the civilized world only through the intercourse of whalers. Christian missionaries in New-Zealand, New-Guinea and New-Holland, as well as in hundreds of islands in the South Pacific, have in every instance been preceded by the adventurous whaler – preparing the way for their exertions, by making manifest the advantages of intercourse with the white race. The lucrative trade now carried on by Europe and the United States with South America owes its origin to the "whale-hunters." The very existence of the now important English colonies of Australia must be ascribed to the opportune visits of these adventurers, who have repeatedly stood between the colonists and starvation. – With the growing commerce that has universally sprung up in the track of the whalemen, civilization and independence have generally taken root as consequences. The dark shadows of Spanish rule might long have stunted colonial growth, had not the intercourse of whalemen pointed the way to greater advantages than a state of vassalage would permit.

      Although the catching of whales for their spoil appears to have been of very ancient origin, the fishery as a branch of commerce dates its importance from about the middle of the 18th century, when the hardy New-Englanders embarked in it with their wonted energy and success. The earliest whale-fishery was prosecuted by the most northern nations of Europe, who penetrated into arctic seas in search of those monsters of the deep. The efforts of the English and Dutch to find a northern Indian passage were rewarded with the discovery of the favorite haunts of the whale. The rivalry that a new and lucrative trade naturally inspired, resulted in the superiority of the Dutch, who, at the close of the 17th century, carried the northern fishery to its zenith. At that time they employed 260 ships and 14,000 sailors. Those phlegmatic Dutch living among dykes and morasses, had drawn to themselves, by their industry, the greatest wealth possessed by any nation of the world; and from their cities, standing upon ground which their persevering energy had wrenched from the sea, sent out fleets and sailors not only to rule the ocean, but to master and draw from its bosom the hugest monsters it contained. Taking the business from their hands, there was then just springing into life a mighty people in the new world, destined on other oceans to carry the pursuit to a far greater magnitude. As early as 1660 the settlers of New-England commenced the catching of whales; and it continued to increase as a business, chiefly at Nantucket, through the 18th century. In 1720 that island was already in a flourishing condition from the success of its whaling ventures; and nearly 50 years after, when the oppressions of the mother-country were exciting the resistance of the sturdy colonists, a large fleet, and numerous sailors trained to hardy enteiprise, were at hand to lend their aid in the coming struggle. In 1771 Massachusetts alone possessed 183 vessels, of 13,820 tons. – The war nearly destroyed the fishery, but the fishers had higher duties to perform during its continuance, and our early naval triumphs conferred laurels upon whalemen.

      While American enterprise was kept in abeyance by the war, the English

sought to obtain the mastery by granting bounties to successful fishers. Five prizes, rising from 100 to £500, rewarded as many degrees of success, and the stimulus thus imparted caused a number of new enterprises to be projected. France also strove for the prize; and the private purse of Louis XVI. furnished forth six ships from Dunkirk in 1784, manned by Nantucket seamen. The example was followed; and in 1790 France sent out 40 whalemen. – This branch of French industry was destroyed by the war; but the return of peace brought to the United States a renewal of enterprise, and American whalers again swarmed upon the ocean. The scene of their labors was, however, confined to the Atlantic. The English government in a spirit of rivalry, raised the bounties to 300 and £700. At length, in 1788, a London merchant fitted out an expedition to the Pacific Ocean, and it proved eminently successful – bringing home 139 tons of sperm oil. His ship was speedily followed by those of all nations, and the vast Pacific was thenceforth to be the chief resort for sperm whale-fishers. Thirty years later the same gentleman sent a ship to the Japan coast with equal success. She returned to London in two years and eight months with 346 tons of sperm oil, and two great fisheries were opened to the world. – In the progress of events, however, as it ever must he the case where American enterprise meets on equal terms with that of other nations, the whalers of the United States have nearly monopolised the business. As we have stated, the English government pursued the system of bounties, and used every art to encourage the whaling trade; but where natural advantages do not favor that nation, no government regulations can sustain them against the undoubted superiority of the Americans. The progress of the British fishery, showing the number of vessels and their tonnage employed, with the amount of bounties paid in each year, was as follows:

      In the twelve years, from 1814 to 1825, when the bounties ceased, Great Britain paid £541,571, or near £2,700,000 in bounties to vessels employed in the trade, mostly to the Greenland fisheries. The whole amount spent in bounties was £2,500,000, or $12,000,000. She also levied prohibitory duties on the product of foreign fisheries; and in 1820, under the impulse given to the business by the discovery of the new grounds, it reached its maximum. It has now declined, until the whole proceeds are scarcely £300,000 per annum, a miserable though usual result to the bounty system. In 1830, of 87 ships sent to Davis’ Straits, 24 returned clean, 20 were totally lost, and of the remainder, none had full cargoes. In 1834, but 70 ships went thither. For the 20 years, ending with 1834, an average of 115 ships, of 37,013 tons, per annum, sailed; of these, 5 were lost, and the remainder took 1,024 whales, yielding 11,313 tons of oil. The whale-fishery of both England and continental Europe is on the decline, while that of the United States presents very different results.

      M’Culloch has ascribed the decline of the English whale-trade to the competition of Americans, who, he states, erroneously we think, enjoy "peculiar advantages" for carrying it on. What these advantages are he does not point out. A vessel fitted out from Nantucket, spends her two or three years in the Pacific Ocean without intercourse of any kind with her native soil, encountering not only the hostility of savages, but the sinister friendship of English colonists – struggles through all hardships, and returns successful, while the Englishman, under the same circumstances, fails. The advantages of the American are superior sagacity, energy and daring.

      It was early the policy of the American government to encourage the fisheries, partly, perhaps, out of gratitude for the eminent services of the seamen in the war of independence, and partly from the erroneous notion that a losing business could be made profitable by a government interference. The United States fisheries are of two kinds – the cod and mackerel, and the whale-fishery. The former, up to this day, has received annually the direct bounty of the government, while the latter has been burdened with many

indirect taxes. The result has been, that the bounty-fed fishery has declined, while whaling has risen to vast importance. As an index of the progress of the trade, the following table of the quantity of tonnage employed in each of a series of years, may be taken from the treasury reports:

      The increase in the whale-trade is apparent and large; but as we have stated, the cod and mackerel fishery has declined, notwithstanding the bounties paid by the government. The history of these bounties is singular. By the act of 1789, Congress, while imposing taxes to meet necessary expenditures and provide for the debt created by the war, exercised its privilege of laying taxes upon imported goods, and on salt, among others. With a view not to oppress the foreign trade, a drawback or bounty was allowed upon the export of cured fish and salted provisions equal to the duty paid on the salt used in their preparation. Although the farmers were taxed upon the salt they used, a drawback was allowed upon that portion used in salting provisions, and the fisheries were, in like manner, encouraged by the drawback on fish. In 1790, the cod-fishery interest petitioned Congress to the effect that the salt duties were not the only burden imposed upon them – that duties on iron, hemp, and other materials bore heavily upon their interest, and amounted, on a vessel of 65 tons and 11 hands, to $5.25 each hand. They therefore petitioned to have the drawback of the salt allowed to the owners of vessels instead of the shippers of fish. Accordingly, a law was passed, Feb., 1792, making an allowance upon fishing vessels, instead of a drawback upon fish exported. These allowances were increased from time to time, until 1807, when, according to a report of Mr. Jefferson, showing the injustice of an onerous tax upon a necessary of life, the salt tax, and all bounties and allowances growing out of it, were abolished. From 1807 to 1813 there was no salt tax, although an attempt, made in 1811, to impose one as a "protection," was rejected without comment. In 1813, as a war tax, 20 cts. per bush. of 56 lbs. was laid upon salt, and the allowances renewed. The following has been the progress of the tax:

      The allowances to fishing vessels were meant but as an equivalent to the drawback on salt, until 1830, when the duty was diminished, and the allowance remained the same, acting as a direct bounty to fishers at the expense of farmers. This continued down to the law of 1846, which provides that a drawback, equal to the imported salt used in curing fish, actually exported, shall be paid instead of the former bounties. The amount of allowances to fishing vessels, from 1821 to 1845 inclusive, was $6,049,056, and the whole amount, from 1790 to 1845, $9,527,774, a sum equal to more than double the value of the whole present fishing fleet, which is 91,238 tons, or equal to a present of $1000 to every man engaged in the business. Or equal, in the aggregate, to five times the wages paid per annum to all the seamen in the navy. Notwithstanding this liberal system, the trade has declined, as we see. On the other hand, the whaling interest not only received no drawbacks or bounties, but has been taxed most onerously. The arti-

cles used in the construction of a ship of 317 tons, paid $1,752 duties, or $5.25 per ton, which, on the above fleet of 190,695 tons, amounts to a tax of $1,000,000, and a large sum annually in duties upon outfits. Notwithstanding this unjust proceeding towards the most important branch of fisheries, whaling has risen to a great magnitude. The fleet is now estimated at 650 ships of 200,000 tons, and manned by some 17 to 18,000 American seamen. The value of the vessels and outfit is estimated at $25,000,000, and they produce annually $5,000,000 of oil and bone.

      The whaling business seems to be divided into two branches – the sperm whalers and right whalers, so called from the animal, which it is the chief object of each to take. These animals are very distinct in iheir habits and formation. The first has teeth, and feeds upon a species of fish called squid. It is found mostly in the low latitudes, and never on soundings. It affords the most profitable fishery. It is pursued the year round by following the known haunts of the whales – from the coast of Peru to the Marquesas islands, to the coast of Japan, thence north-westerly to California, and return to the Sandwich Islands to recruit. The right whale, instead of teeth, is furnished with the laminae, known as whalebone, and feeds on small fish. It is found in high latitudes, on coasts and in bays. The whales in high latitudes are larger and more numerous, but on account of the weather, the difficulty of catching them is greater. The annual destruction of whales is estimated at about 5000, necessary to supply the quantity of oil imported, as it requires 50 whales to fill a ship. So great and long continued a mortality would be likely to cause a diminution in the numbers of the whales, and this has generally been supposed to be the case; but Lieut. Wilkes, in his account of the Exploring Expedition, gives a most valuable chapter upon whaling, dissenting from this position. It is, however, the case, that whales have become more vigilant, or "more scary," and are, in consequence, less easy of capture than formerly; and in this fact the cause of the superior success of the Americans may perhaps be found.

      The number of ships actually employed in the trade cannot be ascertained with certainty. The following, however, is a comparison of the last estimate, in 1834, as given in Pitkin’s Statistics, with those of the Hon. Jas. Grinnell, of New-Bedford, in 1844.

      This represents the value of the vessels and their outfits. If the estimates approach correctness, it would seem that the sperm whale-fishery has declined, while that of the right whales has greatly increased. This, however, does not agree with the arrivals of sperm whale oil, as reported in the New-Bedford whalemen’s shipping list, which gives the sperm oil, in 1838, at 132,356 bbls., and at 157,917 bbls. in 1845, while the import of whale was 226,552 bbls. in 1838, and 272,730 bbls. in 1845, with 3,167,142 lbs. of bone, being estimates of cargoes made up from Guager’s reports.

      The consumption of oil throughout the world is greatly on the increase, and Great Britain has so far acknowledged American superiority as to abandon all duties on the foreign article after 1846.

      Having thus far given a general sketch of the condition of the whale trade, we may recur to the manner of its prosecution, and the individual condition of the individuals through whose enterprise such great things have been accomplished. The details of the fishery are laid before us in a very interesting and instructive, as well as amusing form, in the book named at the head of this article. Mr. Browne informs us, that in 1841, then in his 19th year, he left his home, in Kentucky, to become a Congressional reporter at Washington, where experience produced its usual influence upon youthful anticipations. An acquaintance formed with a young man of similar enterprising

views, resulted in a contract at a shipping office, in New-York, to make a whaling voyage from New-Bedford, and they set out for their place of embarkation with high hopes and brilliant anticipations. The stern realities of life are, however, when actually encountered, ever far less romantic than when "distance lends enchantment to the view." The hardships of the forecastle, the brutalities of the captain, added to the monotony of the sea, soon dispelled the poetry of the adventure, and resulted in the madness of Mr. Browne’s companion, who was sunstruck in the performance of his duty aloft. The business of whale-hunting is, however, not without its attractions, as may be gathered from the following description of a chase:

      "October 13th. – 'There she blows!' was sung out from the mast-head.

      "'Where away?' demanded the captain.

      "'Three points off the lee-bow sir.'

      "'Raise up your wheel. Steady!'

      "'Steady, sir.'

      "'Mast-head ahoy! Do you see that whale now?'

      "'Ay, ay, sir! A school of sperm whales! There she blows! There she breaches!'

      "'Sing out! Sing out every time!'

      "'Ay, ay, sir! There she blows There – there –thar' she blows – bowes – bo-o-o-s!'

      "'How far off?'

      "'Two miles and a half!"

      "'Thunder and lightning! So near! Call all hands! Clew up the fore-t'gallant-sail – there! Belay! Hard down your wheel! Haul aback the main yard! Get your tubs in your boats! Bear a hand! Clear your falls! Stand by all to lower! All ready?'

      "'All ready, sir!'

      "'Lower away!'

      "Down went the boats with a splash. Each boat's crew sprang over the rail and in an instant the larboard, starboard, and waist-boats were manned. Tbere was great rivalry in getting the start. The waist-boat got off in pretty good time; and away went all three, dashing the water high over their bows. Nothing could be more exciting than the chase. The larboard boat, commanded by the mate, and the waist-boat, by the second mate, were head and head.

      "'Give way, my lads, give way!' shouted P---- our headsman; "we gain on them; give way! A long, steady stroke! That's the way to tell it!'

      "'Ay, ay!' cried Tabor, our boat-steerer. 'What d'ye say, boys? Shall we lick 'em?'

      "'Pull! pull like vengeance!' echoed the crew; and we danced over the waves, scarcely seeming to touch them.

      "The chase was now truly soul-stirring. Sometimes the larboard, then the starboard, then the waist-boat took the lead. It was a severe trial of skill and muscle. After we had run two miles at this rate, the whales turned flukes, going dead to windward.

      "'Now for it, my lads!' cried P---- 'We'll have them the next rising. Now pile it on! a long, steady pull! That's it! that's the way! Those whales belong to us. Don't give out! Half an hour more, and they're our whales!'

      "The other boats had veered off at either side of us, and continued the chase with renewed ardor. In about half an hour we lay on our oars to look round for the whales.

      "'There she blows! right ahead!' shouted Tabor, fairly dancing with delight.

      "'There she blows! There she blows!'

      "'Oh, Lord, boys, spring!' cried P____

      'Spring it is! What d'ye say, now, chummies? Shall we take those whales?'

      "To this general appeal every man replied by putting his weight on his oar, and exerting his utmost strength. The boat flew through the water with incredible swiftness, scarcely rising to the waves. A large bull whale lay about a quarter of a mile ahead of us, lazily rolling in the trough of the sea. The larboard and starboard boats were far to leeward of us, tugging hard to get a chance at the other whales, which were now blowing in every direction.

      "'Give way! give way, my hearties!' cried P----, putting his weight against the aft oar. 'Do you love gin? A bottle of gin to the best man! Oh, pile it on while you have breath! pile it on!'

      "'On with the beef; chummies! Smash every oar! double 'em up, or break'em!'

      "'Every devil's imp of you, pull! No talking; lay back to it; now or never!'

      "On dashed the boat, cleaving its way through the rough sea, as if the briny element were blue smoke. The whale, however, turned flukes before we could reach him. When he appeared again above the surface of the water, it was evident that he had milled while down, by which manoeuvre he gained on us nearly a mile. The chase was now almost hopeless, as he was making to windward rapidly. A heavy, black cloud was on the horizon, portending an approaching squall, and the barque was fast fading from sight. Still we

were not to be baffled by discouraging circumstances of this kind, and we braced our sinews for a grand and final effort.

      "'Never give up, my lads!' said the headsman, in a cheering voice. 'Mark my words, we'll have that whale yet. Onlythink he's ours, and there's no mistake about it, hewill be ours. Now for a hard, steady pull! Give way!'

      "'Give way,sir! Give way, all!'

      "'There she blows! Oh, pull, my lively lads! Only a mile off! There she blows!'

      "The wind had by this time increased almost to a gale, and the heavy black clouds were scattering over us far and wide. Part of the squall had passed off to leeward, and entirely concealed the barque. Our situation was rather unpleasant; in a rough sea, the other boats out of sight, and each moment the wind increasing.

      "We continued to strain every muscle till we were hard upon the whale. Tabor sprang to the bow, and stood by with the harpoon.

      "'Softly, softly, my lads,' said the headsman.

      "'Ay, ay, sir!'

      "'Hush-h-h! softly. Now's your time, Tabor!'

      "Tabor let fly the harpoon, and buried the iron.

      "'Give him another!'

      "'Ay, ay! Stern all!'

      "'Stern all!' thundered P----.

      "'Stern all!'

      "And, as we rapidly backed from the whale, he flung his tremendous flukes high in the air, covering us with a cloud of spray. He then sounded, making the line whiz as it passed through the chocks. When he rose to the surface again, we hauled up, and the second mate stood ready in the bow to dispatch him with lances.

      "'Spouting blood!' said Tabor. 'He's a dead whale! He won't need much lancing' It was true enough; for, before the officer could get within dart of him, he commenced his dying struggles. The sea was crimsoned with his blood. By the time we had reached him, he was belly up. We lay upon our oars a moment to witness his last throes; and, when he had turned his head toward the sun, a loud, simultaneous cheer burst from every lip.

      "A low, rumbling sound, like the roar of a distant waterfall, now reached our ears. Each moment it grew louder. The whole expansive arch of the heavens became dark with clouds tossing, flying, swelling, and whirling over and over, like the surges of an angry sea. A white cloud, gleaming against the black mass behind it, came sweeping toward us, stretching forth its long, white arms, as if to grasp us in its fatal embrace. Louder and still louder it growled, yet the air was still and heavy around us. Now the white cloud spread, whirled over, and lost its hoary head; now it wore the mane and fore-feet of a lion; now the heads of a dragon, with their tremendous jaws extended. Writhing, hissing, roaring, it swept toward us. The demon of wrath could not have assumed a more frightful form. The whole face of the ocean was hidden in utter darkness, save within the circle of a few hundred yards. Our little boat floated on a sea almost unruffled by a breath of wind. The heavy swell rolled lazily past us; yet a death like calmness reigned in the air. Beyond the circle all was strife; within, all peace. We gazed anxiously in each other's faces; but not a word was spoken. Even the veteran harpooner looked upon the clouds with a face of unusual solemnity, as we lay upon our oars, awed to silence by the sublimity of the scene. The ominous stillness of everything within the circle became painful. For many long minutes the surface of the water remained nearly smooth. We dreaded, but longed for a change. This state of suspense was growing intolerable. I could hear the deep, long-drawn respirations of those around me; I saw the quick, anxious glances they turned to windward; and I almost fancied I could read every thought that passed within their breasts. Suddenly a white streak of foam appeared within a hundred yards. Scarcely had we unshipped our oars, when the squall burst upon us with a stunning violence. The weather side of the boat was raised high out of the water, and the rushing foam dashed over the gunwale in torrents. We soon trimmed her, however, and, by hard bailing, got her clear of water. It is utterly impossible to conceive the violence of the wind. Small as the surface exposed to the squall was, we flew through the foaming seas, dragging the dead body of the whale after us with incredible velocity. Thus situated, entirely at the mercy of the wind and sea, we continued every moment to increase our distance from the barque. When the squall abated, we came to under the lee of the whale, and looked to leeward for the barque. Not a speck could be seen on the horizon! Night was rapidly approaching, and we were alone upon the broad, angry ocean!

      "'Ship your oars,' said the headsman; 'we'll not part company with old Blubber yet. If we can't make the barque, we can make land somewhere.'

      "'Ay, ay,' said Tabor, with a sly leer; 'and live on roast-beef and turkey while we're making it.'

      "With heavy hearts and many misgiv-

ings we shipped our oars, heartily wishing the whale in the devil's try-pots: for we thought it rather hard that our lives should he risked for a few barrels of oil. For two hours we pulled a long, lazy, dogged stroke, without a sign of relief. At last Tabor stood up on the bow to look out, and we lay on our oars.

      "'Well, Tabor, what d'ye see?' was the general inquiry.

      "'Why,' said Tabor, coolly rolling the quid from his weather to his lee cheek, 'I see a cussed old barque, that looks like Granny Howland's wash-tub, with a few broom-sticks rigged up in the middle of it.'

      "'Pull, you devils!' cried P____; 'there's duff in the cook's coppers.'

      "'Yes! I think I smell it,' said Tabor.

      "It was near dark when we arrived alongside of the barque with our prize; but what was our surprise to find that the starboard and larboard boats had killedfive whales between them! They were all of a small size, and did not average more than fifteen barrels each." * * *

      "When the whale has been towed alongside by the boats, it is firmly secured by a large rope attached to the 'small' by a running noose. There is not a little ingenuity in the manner in which the fluke rope is first passed under the body of the whale. A smell line, to which a lead is fastened, with a block of wood at the extremity, several fathoms from the lead, is thrown over between the whale and the ship's side. From the impetus given to the lead, it sinks in a diagonal direction, drawing the block down after it. One end of the lead line is fastened to the end of the fluke rope on board, and the block attached to the other rises at the off side of the whale. It is then hauled on board by means of a wire hook fastened to a long pole, and, in hauling it in, the fluke-rope passes round under the body of the whale, till the end arrives on board, when it is passed through the loop in the other extremity, and thus a running noose is formed, which is easily slipped down to the small. The fluke-rope is then made fast on the forecastle, and the flukes are hauled up to the bow, or as near as they will reach, leaving the head pointed aft. Of course, the size of the vessel and the length of the whale make a great difference; but in general the head reaches to the quarter. To prevent concussion, the whale is always on the weather side. The progress of the vessel, which is usually under easy sail during the time of cutting in, keeps the whale from drifting out at right angles from the side; though, in most cases, the head is kept in its appropriate position by a small rope made fast aft.

      "The cutting-tackle is attached to a powerful strap, or pendant, passing round the mast in the main-top by two large blocks. There are in fact, two tackles, the falls of which pass round the windlass. To each of these tackles is attached a large blubber-hook, which, upon being made fast to the blubber, are hauled up by the windlass, one only being in operation at a time, so that when the first strip of blubber, or 'blanket-piece,' reaches the stationary block on the pendant, the other can be made fast by a strap and bolt of wood, to a hole cut below the point at which that blanket-piece is to be cut off. I have endeavored to give some idea of this part of the process in the frontispiece accompanying the work. The blanket-pieces are stripped off in a spiral direction, running down toward the flukes; the whale turning, at every heave of the windlass, till the whole covering of blubber is stripped off to the flukes, which are hoisted on board, and those parts containing oil cut away, and the remainder thrown overboard. The head having, in the first place, been cut off and secured to the stern, is now hauled up, with the nose down, if too large to be taken on board, and hoisted so far out of the water as may be found convenient, and the oil or liquid spermaceti bailed out with a vessel attached to a long pole, and thus taken in and saved. As there is no little risk attending this mode of getting the spermaceti, and a great deal of waste, the head is always taken on board, when not too large or heavy.

      "The 'case,' which is the name given by whalers to the head, sometimes contains from ten to fifteen barrels of oil and spermaceti. A single 'blanket-piece,' not unfrequently weighs a ton or upward. In hauling it up by the tackles, it careens the vessel over frequently to an angle of fifteen or twenty degrees, owing to its own great weight, combined with that of the whale, the upper surface of which it raises several feet out of the water. When the blnnket-piece has reached the stationary block in the top, it is cut off by a boatsteerer, who stands by with a boarding-knife, having first, however, been secured below by the other blubber-hook, which is hauled taught, to prevent it from breaking away by too sudden a jerk. The upper piece then swings in, and, when it ceases its pendulating motion, is dropped down into the hold or blubber-room, where it is cut up into blocks of a foot and a half or two feet in length, and eight or ten inches in width. These blocks are called 'horse-pieces.' The white, hard blocks, containing but litle oil, and which are found near the small, and at the flukes, are called 'white horse.' The carcass of the whale, when stripped of its blubber, is cast loose, and soon sinks from the want

of its buoyant covering. I have seen it float astern, however, some distance without sinking." * * * *

      "The blubber varies from four to ten inches in thickness. It is cut from the whale in layers about three feet wide, which run from the head to the flukes in a spiral form. After the blubber and flukes are hoisted on board, with a large tackle attached to a pendant in the main-top, the boat-steerers cut them in sizes sufficiently small to fit snugly in the blubber-room, an apartment in the main hold. The tryworks are then cleaned out, and got in readiness for boiling. Two or three hands are stationed in the blubber-room with short spades, whose duty it is to cut up the large pieces of blubber, called blanket-pieces, into blocks or pieces about a foot and a half long and six inches wide. The blubber is then minced into thin slices, and cast into the boilers; a fire started, and the first batch of oil obtained; the crisped pieces of blubber are used for fuel. The hot oil is strained into a large copper cooler, where it is permitted to settle till the boilers are again ready to be emptied. It is then strained into casks, and kept on deck till quite cool, when it is stowed down in the casks in the hold by means a hose.

      "A 'trying out' scene is the most stirring part of the whaling business, and certainly the most disagreeable. The tryworks are usually situated between the fore-mast and the main hatch. In small vessels they contain two or three large pots, imbedded in brick. A few barrels of oil from the whale's case, or head, are bailed into the pots before commencing upon the blubber. Two men are standing by the mincing-horse, one slicing up the blubber, and the other passing horse pieces from a tub, into which they are thrown by a third hand, who receives them from the hold. One of the boat steerers stands in front of the lee-pot, pitching the minced blubber into the pots with a fork. Another is stirring up the oil, and throwing the scraps into a wooden strainer. We will now imagine the works in full operation at night. Dense clouds of lurid smoke are curling up to the tops, shrouding the rigging from the view. The oil is hissing in the try- pots. Half-a-dozen of the crew are sitting on the windlass, their rough, weather-beaten faces shining in the red glare of the fires, all clothed in greasy duck, and forming about as savage a looking group as ever was sketched by the pencil of Salvator Rosa. The cooper and one of the mates are raking up the fires with long bars of wood or iron. The decks, bulwarks, railing, try-works, and windlass, are covered with oil and slime of black-skin, glistening with the red glare from the try-works. Slowly and doggedly the vessel is pitching her way through the rough seas, looking as if enveloped in flame.

      "'More horse-pieces!' cries the mincer's attendant.

      "'Horse pieces!' echoes the man in the waist.

      "'Scraps!' growls a boat-steerer.

      "By-and-by the captain comes up from the cabin to see how things are progressing. He peeps into the pots, and observes, in a discontented tone, 'Why don't you keep that 'ere oil stirred? It's all getting black.' Then he takes a look into the mincer's tub: 'That won't do! Make Bible leaves of 'em.' Then he looks at the men on the windlass: 'Hey! all idle! Give these fellows something to do. We can't have idlers about now.'

      "Having delivered himself of these sentiments, he goes back to his sung nest in the cabin. The idlers resume their places, and entertain themselves spinning yarns, singing songs, &c., and calculating the time by the moon. About the middle of the watch they get up the bread kid, and after dipping a few biscuit in salt water, heave them into a strainer, and boil them in the oil. It is difficult to form any idea of the luxury of this delicious mode of cooking on a long night-watch. Sometimes, when on friendly terms with the steward, they make fritters of the brains of the whale mixed with flour, and cook them in the oil. These are considered a most sumptuous delicacy. Certain portions of the whale's flesh are also eaten with relish, though, to my thinking, not a very great luxury, being coarse and strong. Mixed with potatoes, however, like 'porpoise-balls,' they answer very well for variety. A good appetite makes almost any kind of food palatable. I have eaten whale-flesh at sea with as much relish as I ever ate roast-beef ashore. A trying-out scene has something peculiarly wild and savage in it; a kind of indescribable uncouthness, which renders it difficult to describe with anything like accuracy. There is a murderous appearance about the blood-stained decks, and the huge masses of flesh and blubber lying here and there, and a ferocity in the looks of the men, heightened by the red, fierce glare of the fires, which inspire in the mind of the novice feelings of mingled disgust and awe. But one soon becomes accustomed to such scenes, and regards them with the indifference of a veteran in the field of battle. I know of nothing to which this part of the whaling business can be more appropriately compared than to Dante's pictures of the infernal regions. It requires but little stretch of the imagination to suppose the smoke, the hissing boilers, the savage-looking crew, and the waves of flame that burst now and then

from the flues of the furnace, part of the paraphernalia of a scene in the lower regions. Our 'down-easter,' who always had something characteristic to say of everything that fell under his observation, very sagely remarked on one occasion, when nearly suffocated with smoke, that 'if this warn't h__l on a small scale, he didn't know what to call it.'"

      These are the perils and the sufferings that necessarily attend the daily occupations of 20,000 American seamen, who spend their lives upon the trackless ocean, in procuring oil for the use of those who live in comfort on the shore. This business, as a great whole, has not only been neglected by the government in its duty of throwing the protection of the law over the whole, but of providing for the maintenance of the rights of the hardy individuals who form the crews of the fleet. When we consider that the trade has grown up entirely independent of the government, until it not only constantly occupies 10,000 American seamen in the Pacific Ocean, but, by the trade they create at the Sandwich islands, have caused those otherwise insignificant spots on the ocean to become places of great importance, it becomes self-evident that whalers, at least, can live without protection. This, however, does not excuse the culpable neglect of the federal government, which, for 30 years, allowed the Oregon territory, with its only harbor, the mouth of the Columbia, to remain in the occupation of the English, when that was the only spot on a surface of 20,000,000 of square miles, where whalers could touch the soil of their country. It is true, under British protection, there sprung up on the banks of the Columbia a farming interest, which supplied the Sandwich islands with the produce necessary to the support of the American seamen, who resort thither to recruit. It was, however, in spite of the neglect of the government. The harbor of San Francisco, in California, is now in the hands of the United States, and it is theonly good harbor on the Pacific coast. It must be the future home of the American whaling interests, communicating through the newly discovered "south pass" with the valleys of the Arkansas and Rio Grande. The presence of a navy is also necessary, not only to over-awe the islanders and natives, where whalemen resort, but to chastise the lawless aggressions of British freebooters. Lieut. Wilkes, in his account, gives an instance of the not unfrequent acts of piracy committed by the English, in places under British authority; acts which, unnoticed by the British government, require the action of the United States. It is not alone, however, in the general protection of the whaling interest from foreign aggression, that the federal government is called upon by circumstances to act. It is required, also, that the arm of the law should be interposed between owners and captains, and the 20,000 laboring seamen who, in embarking in their perilous enterprise of whaling, seem to be thrown without the protection of the law, and to be abandoned to a species of tyranny revolting to humanity under any circumstances.

      The manner of fitting out ships for a voyage is, in the last degree, oppressive to those who are to go. A law passed in 1837, fixes the quantity of rations to he allowed, but the quality is not specified. Penurious and unscrupulous owners put on board provisions totally unfit for human consumption, and the seaman, who can have no prior knowledge of the food he is to eat, finds, when at sea, that he is embarked for two years, or more, provided with provisions that human beings cannot eat for a length of time and retain their health. The consequence is frequently the most frightful mortality from scurvy, a disease very prevalent among those unfortunate beings; and if they survive, there is no redress. They have no remedy against those who have sacrificed the lives of some, and the health of all, from, the most sordid motives. The seamen are usually shipped, not on monthly wages, but for a certain proportion of the oil obtained on the voyage. It, however, is seldom the case that a seaman returns home not in debt to the ship. The practice is to issue slops to the seamen, instead of money; and the profits on these are the master's perquisites, whose charge is at least 100 per cent. profits. Lieut. Wilkes states, that these profits will amount, on a crew of 30 men, to $1800, and sometimes $3000. This is done, not by what the seaman himself wears, but when at the Sandwich islands, or elsewhere, he can get no money to pro-

cure necessaries on shore, he must take slops from the captain, and dispose of them probably at one-fourth the amount with which he is charged for them. – Thus, whatever may be the quantity of oil taken, the seamen get nothing but the trifles they obtain from the natives for the slops they are compelled to barter away. To the starvation and robbery thus too frequently practised, is super-added the remorseless tyranny of a ferocious captain, in whose hands the law has committed the power to flog human beings as if they were brutes. In regard to this latter, we may take a chapter from Mr. Browne:

      "'Now,' said the captain, 'you've been fighting, and I'll flog you both. Mr. D____, seize those men up!'

      "Jacks wrists were lashed to a ratlin on the starboard side, and Bully's to a ratlin on the larboard The captain then provided himself with a piece of tarred ratlin, and, striding up to Bully, bared the man's back.

      "'Remember, now, this is for fighting.'

      "'Oh, for God's sake, don't flog me, captain!' said Bully, sensible of the degradation of the punishment about to be inflicted on him.

      'Not a word!' said the captain, whose blood was boiling with passion. 'Take that! and that! and that! Do you feel it? Will you fight again?'

      "Poor Bully groaned and writhed with agony. Each stripe of the ratlin raised a blood-red mark on his back.

      'I'll show you how to fight!' roared the captain, swinging the ratlin over his shoulder, and raising the stripes with every blow. 'I'll make an example of you! Take warning, all of you. You see what you get for fighting. If that ain't enough, I'll lay it on heavier next time. I'll skin your back worse than that! Cut him down now! See if he'll behave himself!'

      "Jack's turn came next. At the first stroke he yelled with all his might.

      'Oh Lord, captain! Oh, for God's sake! Oh, don't flog me! I'll never fight again.'

      "'I'll take care you won't. If you do, I'll lay you up for a month. Your back's been itching for a flogging. Now take it! Take that! take that! Yes, you feel it, don't you? Cut him down, Mr. D____-.'

      "The mate having cut both the men down, gave them a hint to go forward, which they did, limping along the decks, scarcely able to walk.

      "'That's what you'll all get,' said the captain, addressing the crew, 'if there's any more quarrelling. I told you so in the beginning. Any of you that fight,I'll flog. Go forward now, where you belong'

      "I was much astonished, upon going forward, after being relieved at the helm, to find Jack sitting on the windlass eating his breakfast with the utmost good humor.

      "'Well B____,' said he, looking up and laughing, 'I've got a licking, butI'm used to it. I don't care a tinker's d__n about lickin's now. I served my apprenticeship to 'em in a man-o'-war.'

      "Not so with Bully, who for several days was gloomy and silent. The Portuguese, with a heartlessness and want of delicacy, so unlike the generous regard which the true American sailor has for another's feelings under such circumstances, continually ridiculed and taunted him, mocking his groans, and crying out every time he went below to his meals, 'Oh, capitan, for God's sake, no flog so hard!' Jack took their ridicule with perfect indifference; but it cut Bully to the quick. There was something diabolical and fiendish in this conduct of the Portuguese. Bully was so completely crest-fallen that he could not retort upon them; from the day he received the flogging his spirit was broken."

      This, it will be remembered, was not only an American, but a New-England ship. The man Jack was an English "man-of-war's man," the other a New-Yorker. These starved, cheated, flogged and ill-used seamen have no redress at home, and to save their lives, they sometimes desert a ship, with the United States flag flying, to seek protection from an American captain's brutality, at the hands of the savages of the islands. This was the case with a shipmate of Mr. Browne, a young man from Maine. He was, however, overtaken and confined seven months in the "run" of the vessel, and kept alive with bread and water. The run is a small, submerged locker, under the floor of the cabin, and no man can sit upright therein. This man, on his arrival, lodged a complaint against the captain, who was held to bail in $800, on a charge of cruel and unusual treatment. Mr. Browne gives numerous instances of the barbarities exercised upon these poor seamen with impunity by the captains. Mr. Wilkes says, in the course of his inquiries –

      "While visiting the ports for the purpose of recruiting, the crews of whale ships are often found in a state of lax dis-

cipline; both captains and crew take this opportunity to lay their complaints before the consuls, who are much troubled with them, and frequently at a loss to understand and pass upon the merits of the case. The crews usually complain of bad provisions, short allowance, and bad usage; in some cases, I have heard them assert that they felt their lives in danger from the outrageous conduct of the captain; and in one instance even the officers joined in the complaint. The captain, on the other hand, believed that there was a conspiracy on foot to poison him.

      "Many Americans are found on the different islands, who have been turned ashore from whale ships, or left because they have broken their liberty a single time, near the end of the voyage. Such treatment leaves too much ground to believe they are purposely left, in order to increase the profits of the shipmasters or owners. Several of these men were received, in a perfectly destitute condition, on board the Vincennes; others were taken out of prison, and all related many of the difficulties and troubles they had to encounter on board the ships to which they were attached; although I am not generally disposed to place much reliance on their statements, yet it cannot but happen that out of so many cases there must be some in which the seamen are in the right."

      It is to be supposed that there are some generous owners, and many gentlemanly and urbane captains, but the rule appears to be the other way. It is no doubt alleged on their side with some degree of truth, that the seamen in the whaling business are for the most part of a worthless character. This appears from the testimony of Mr. Browne; but is it not the case that the bad character of the seamen is the result of a long course of dishonesty and barbarity on the part of the owners and captains? With the treatment that it is admitted on all sides these unfortunate seamen experience, will any one go twice? Surely not; and this fact leads to the practising of those arts to entrap landsmen into the voyage so well described by our author. In fact, when on their way to embark, the young gentlemen were cautioned by all unprejudiced persons of the error they were about to commit, anexperienced whaleman told them that "If they had any regard for themselves, they should turn their backs upon New Bedford, for it was a sink hole of iniquity ; that the fitters were all blood-suckers, the owners cheats, and the captains tyrants." This warning long dwelt in their minds and recurred to them afterwards amid cruel sufferings at sea. Nor are the seamen alone the victims of knavish captains. The poor natives of the islands are also robbed when occasion offers. Mr. Browne, on this head, after describing the Island of Johanna and its chief in the following humorous strain, gives us the following anecdote:

      "The chief; after carefully examining me, to ascertain if I had any tobacco, put his hand in my pocket and drew out my flute, which I joined together. He attempted to play on it, but was unable to produce a sound. Nettled at his failure, he handed it to me rather impatiently, and by a motion expressed his desire to hear me play. I did so, and had the good fortune to throw him into a very good humor, he enjoyed the music as well as I could wish; and, when I had done playing, expressed his satisfaction by clapping his hands three times. I thought this was intended for applause; but I soon discovered that the applause was of a more substantial nature. A slave quickly made his appearance. – The chief spoke a few words to him, and he went back into the house. Presently he returned, bearing in his hands a round table with pewter plates upon it, containing oranges, bananas, dates, mangoes and other tropical delicacies; also, glasses containing sherbet and lemonade. I ate and drank heartily of what was set before me; but the Arabs would not join me. However, I cared little about that; the refreshments tasted quite as well as if they had assisted me. I played several more tunes before I left; laughed, talked and danced for the amusement of the chief, and, altogether, made myself quite at home. On parting, I shook hands with the crowd all round. Jezzarine pinched me several times when he thought I was going a-head rather too unceremoniously; but I paid no attention to his hints. After we had turned a corner, and when entirely out of the hearing of the chief and his followers. Jezzarine stopped, and, with horror and consternation depicted in his looks, whispered,

      "'You savey who dat?'

      "'No,' said I; 'who is it?'

      "'What!' he exclaimed, in utter amazement, 'you no savey who you play for?'

      "'No, I never saw him before.'

      "'Oh, you do bad ting; you play, you dance, you laugh all de samehe me! He berry mad. Suppose ship no here, he kill you!'

      "'But who is he?'

      "'Who? What for you no savey His

highness Syed Mohammed, Grand Big Sultan,?'"

      "Rajapoot, a native, who had agreed to furnish us with wood, brought a large canoe alongside in the evening, containing about a whale-boat load, which was what he contracted to furnish. After we got it on board, the captain refused to pay the sum agreed upon. Rajapoot argued that he had fulfilled his contract, and was entitled to be honestly paid for his wood; but if the captain wished he would take it back again, he would do so, The captain would neither give it up, nor pay for it. Rajapoot went off in high dudgeon, swearing he would raise men enough ashore to take the vessel. As soon as he was gone, we were set to work clearing away the casks in the blubber-room, and stowing away the wood under hatches, it being the design to pay all dues 'with the fore-top-sail.' We were ordered to go to work very silently, in order that we might not alarm the natives with any symptoms of preparation to put to sea. That they might suspect nothing unusual, I was told to go out on the jib-boom and 'blaze away' on my flute. I thought it rather a hard case to be obliged to participate in cheating poor Rajapoot, light as the duty assigned me was; but this was not a matter of taste. The American portion of the crew all grumbled at the meanness of this trickery; and the mate said, 'if he could raise three dollars, he'd pay for the wood himself, sooner than such an act of low, stealthy, contemptible meanness should be attributed to a vessel hearing the flag of the United States.' We held a private consultation about raising a subscription to pay the bill; but, upon examining our effects, we were not able to scrape up even two dollars' worth of property; all our clothing, consisting of a few miserable rags, for which we felt much indebted to the outfitter.

      "It is treatment like this that renders the natives treacherous and hostile. There has been more done to destroy the friendly feelings of the inhabitants of the islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, toward Americans, by the meanness and rascality of whaling captains, than all the missionaries and embassies from the United States can ever atone for.

      "'Pay them with the fore-top-sail!' is a mode of cheating the natives, as common in practice as in theory. Such examples will invariably be followed; for where the vices of civilized life are sown, there they will grow."

      The consequence of these villanies are attacks upon whaling vessels when occasion offers, resulting not unfrequently in the murder of the whole crew. The cold-blooded ruffian that can so deliberately rouse the hostility of natives against innocent and defenceless crews that may come after him, deserves the greatest punishment. It is an act which results in war rightfully on the part of those poor savages as far as their means will permit them to carry it on against their aggressors. The Journal of the Exploring Expedition states:

      "A knowledge among the whaling fleet that their interests were watched over, even if they made no calls for aid, would give security and protect them from impositions, as well as prevent them from practising fraud, or committing aggressions on the natives of the islands they visit. Such aggressions invariably lead to retaliations on the part of the chiefs, which they inflict upon the first unsuspecting vessel that anchors in their ports. The capture of vessels and the massacre of their whole crews, have been frequently owing to this cause."

      These are national evils, that require the prompt interposition of Congress. The masters of vessels should be made rigidly responsible for the abuse of his power. The ancient idea, that flogging and ill-usage is necessary to preserve discipline, is nearly obsolete. If men are well used at sea, knowing their own rights to be protected by, and their responsibilities to, the law, they will be as easily governed as our journeymen on land. But they must have rights recognised by law, in order that they may duly appreciate their own responsibilities. The owners of vessels, in the short-sighted parsimony that leads them to cheat the sailors of their food and raiment, and to employ an ignorant, brutal and tyrannical man as captain, because he is as servile and cringing in the presence of his employers as he is domineering at sea, and because he will sail cheap, do more to injure their own interests than they suppose. The incompetency of the captain is a bar to success, and the time spent by him in port, wrangling and cheating his men, to compensate for want of oil, appear to be the usual causes of a "clean ship," after a long cruise.

Source

"Whale-Fisheries",
      The United States Democratic Review.,
Volume 19, Issue 102, December 1846, pp. 453-464.

Anthology  Source  Whalesite