290 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



active and energetic. They are usually aware of the approach of the vessel before any one else 

 knows of it ; they can tell her name with greater ease and at a greater distance than any one else, 

 and they always have the " smartest" and best-sailing sloop or schooner in the harbor. During 

 the fall of 1882 I watched these maneuvers with a peculiar interest, and being myself a participant 

 iu the exciting scene in search of news and "curios" I was sometimes thrown rather too intimately 

 in contact with them. It was to their interest financially to board every incoming whaler; it was 

 to my interest as an investigator to be also among the first. Oftentimes I accompanied Capt. James 

 V. Cox, the custom-house official, and again one of the reporters of the New Bedford papers, 

 and sometimes I engaged a small boat with a Portuguese as a motive power. All of the boarding 

 is done between Clark's Point and the dock. When the "sharks" stipulate for a vessel, they agree 

 to pay a certain amount pro rata, and watching their opportunity their little vessel shoots rapidly 

 alongside the swiftly incoming whaler, as the noisy little tug hurries it along; and without stop- 

 ping, but upon the point of osculation, the "sharks " spring from the deck of their little craft to that 

 of the whaler, and the boat that landed them, circling gracefully around like a bird upon the wing, 

 makes a complete detour of the returning vessel, and shoots alongside her warf. The whalemen, 

 many of whom are strangers to us and our customs, are idle spectators of the busy bustle of 

 numerous little boats about them, their vessel being under snug sail and in care of the tug. The 

 old hands know what to expect, but they cannot avoid it ; and the new ones know not what to 

 expect and have something to learn. All of them have packed their chests and tied their super- 

 fluous clothing in bags made of cotton duck, and both chests and bags are securely fastened with 

 frequent turns of pieces of lance warp or whale-line. The men, leaning upon the bulwarks or main 

 rail, gaze listlessly upon the little boats darting hither and thither ; but the scene changes when the 

 "sharks" swoop down upon them. One "shark" fastens upon a whaleman, another upon his chest 

 of clothing, and a third upon his bundle; some exact promises for trade and others for board. 

 The boarding-house keeper having induced a whaleman to sojourn at his house, marks its number 

 and name of street upon the chest with a piece of chalk. Now the cartman comes in for his profit, 

 which is 25 cents for every chest or bundle he conveys to the hotel, the sum being paid on the 

 delivery of goods by the boarding-house keeper and ;i fter wards collected from the boarder, for be it 

 remembered that the whaleman under all circumstances foots the bills. The head cartman, there 

 fore, who may be engaged by the "sharks,'' or a part of them, takes under bis charge every package 

 marked by the boarding-house keeper for whom he is working, all agreements having been previ- 

 ously made. A lively scuffle sometimes ensues; the "sharks" may show their teeth and snap at one 

 another ; sometimes there is a rough-and-tumble fight or a bitter war of words when plying their 

 vocation, and even afterwards, for the defeated " sharks" generally evince their displeasure by abus- 

 ing the more fortunate ones. At times a school of garrulous " sharks" may surround a pilgrim who 

 has no knowledge of English nor of the manner of conducting matters upon the arrival of a whaler 

 in an American port, but, amazed and confused by the surrounding incidents, in answer to perhaps 

 a dozen calls upon him at once, not knowing what to say, he may nod assent to all, which the 

 nearest "shark" takes in affirmative, and while "shark" No. 1 i? searching for the chest, "shark" 

 No. 2 may also approach the unfortunate and also receive a pantomimic answer signifying an uncon- 

 ditional surrender. Consequently, when number one returns with a writ of habeas corpus in the 

 shape of a clothes chest, number two enters a nolle prosequi with a clothes bag, and the result will 

 be a lively passage at arms. But to the victor does not always belong the spoils, for a third " shark " 

 steps in, while the other two are fighting, and carries off the boarder and his baggage. During 

 these exciting times I usually pre-empted a convenient spot where I could see and hear, and, as 

 soon as the battle of the -'sharks" was over, and sundry piles of baggage and plunder lay about 

 the field, I interviewed the crew for news and "curios'". 



