THE WHALEMAN ASHORE 89 



sipation, showed that the participants were in an abnormally 

 uncritical and irresponsible frame of mind. 



Such an attitude, based on certain elementary principles of 

 psychology, went far towards explaining many phases of the 

 average whaleman's situation, conduct, and treatment while on 

 land; and it was particularly illuminating in clarifying the 

 ramifications of the system through which the entire shore 

 life of the foremast hand was controlled. For in a different 

 state of mind it is unlikely that this individual would have al- 

 lowed himself to become completely enmeshed in the toils 

 of that system, in spite of his penniless economic dependence 

 and consequent lack of bargaining power. Nor can it be ob- 

 jected that the inclusion of the green hand in the same toils 

 invalidates such a conclusion; for his ignorance and credulity 

 rendered him a mere pawn in the landsharks' game as fully as 

 the abandoned irresponsibility of his more experienced com- 

 rade the foremast hand. 



The organization through which men were secured for the 

 whaling crews and through which they were catered to when- 

 ever they returned to port consisted of three major elements, 

 or groups of persons: viz., the shipping-agents, the boarding- 

 house keepers, and the combined outfitters and infitters. 

 These groups maintained connections, in turn, with an array of 

 allies, satellites, and hirelings which included the keepers of 

 grog-shops and brothels, pimps, prostitutes, runners, and non- 

 descript hangers-on. Frequently one person or firm combined 

 two or more of these activities, and performed the functions, 

 for instance, of both an outfitter and a shipping-agent. Prin- 

 cipals and subordinates alike were known collectively to the 

 seamen by the unlovely but suggestive term, "landsharks." 

 And so descriptive was this epithet that the record of the aver- 

 age whaleman's life in his home port can be written largely 

 in terms of his exploitation by the various functionaries so 

 denominated. The first to be encountered was usually the 

 shipping-agent. 



Throughout the second and third quarters of the nineteenth 

 century a steady, organized effort was made to attract young 

 and inexperienced men from the farms, workshops, and offices 

 into the whaling forecastles. The printed advertising in- 



