THE WHALEMAN ASHORE 93 



fense. Such agreements, however, were neither universal nor 

 easily enforced. Ordinarily it was necessary for shipping- 

 masters to keep their recruits in hand by means of cajolery, ex- 

 aggerated promises, liquor, prostitutes, intimidation, or forcible 

 detention. The many men who required little watching were 

 offset by some who were so troublesome that even a short jail 

 sentence was welcomed by their guardians. 



But in spite of the watchfulness of the shipping-masters 

 there were many hands who began but failed to complete the 

 journey which led into a whaling forecastle. These failures 

 rolled up financial losses which were divided between the ship- 

 pers and their agents in such a way that the latter bore the 

 heavier share of the burden. Two notations, jotted down in 

 a memorandum-book of a shipping firm, provided typical il- 

 lustrations of this unequal division of risk. On the first page 

 is the information that "J. E. Williams Letter on File of 

 May nth, 1863, ^^Y^ will furnish men for us for Passage and 

 $12.00 if they go and $4.00 if they don't go, and nothing if 

 they are not what we can use." And later on is this entry, 

 under date of June 15, 1865: "After this date we agree to 

 pay for all men from N. T. $15.75 if they go to sea and their 

 y2 Board if they don't and nothing more." ^ 



This same memorandum-book aflfords an insight, too, into 

 the relations existing between the shippers and their prospec- 

 tive hands. It contains the condensed record of some 2,000 

 men who were handled by one New Bedford firm between 

 1854 and 1872, — a number sufficient to offer an excellent 

 cross-section view of this phase of the industry. A detailed 

 analysis of this long list shows that 558 hands, or about twenty- 

 eight per cent of the total, were not placed. Of these, 248 

 deserted, or, in whaling parlance, "run"j 153 were turned off 

 because no vessels could be found for themj and 157 were not 

 shipped for other reasons. These "other reasons," in the 



* This manuscript booklet, worn with use, was found in the New Bedford 

 Public Library, catalogued under the title, "Mss. Memorandum Book of a New 

 Bedford Firm, Giving List of Men Shipped on Whaling Voyages 1854-1872." 

 Unfortunately the manuscript contains no trace of the name of its owner. But 

 from internal evidence, such as the names of vessels, boarding-houses, and other 

 agents, it is certain that the firm which used it operated from New Bedford 

 and that it placed its men on a score of well-known whalers during the years 

 indicated. 



