1 6 THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN 



means ignored by outfitters and by many merchants and mas- 

 ters. If a voyage had been unusually successful, the foremast 

 hands often received appreciable amounts in cashj but after 

 ordinary or poor cruises the gross lays, none too large at 

 best, were greatly depleted by a series of heavy debit charges. 

 In general, the average earnings of foremast hands as a whole 

 were decidedly lower than the average wages paid in the mer- 

 chant marine and in unskilled occupations on shore. 



Other compensations were few and inadequate. Now and 

 again a veteran whaleman, with a sentiment of his own, was 

 wont to regard the actual pursuit of the game as a royal form 

 of sport, providing thrills and a savage joy of the chase be- 

 side which other modes of hunting seemed colorless and in- 

 sipid. Such a feeling, however, could hardly apply even to 

 the bravest foremast hand, who rowed with his back to the 

 game and blindly obeyed the orders of the mate without 

 being able to see the course of the action. Scrimshawing, even 

 though it be regarded as a fine art, furnished but a makeshift 

 relief from the tedium of long months at sea in a vessel so 

 small and bare as to make it seem more like a prison than a 

 home. 



Nor was there more than negative consolation in the long 

 hours of inactivity that often accompanied periods of poor 

 luck on the whaling grounds. Aside from the fact that such 

 inactivity only prolonged the length of the entire voyage, there 

 was woefully little with which to occupy the spare time which 

 did accrue. Sleeping, mending, reading, scrimshawing, "sky- 

 larking," and spinning years, interminably repeated, practically 

 exhausted the possibilities of amusement or recreation. 



Only when a "gam" took place was there a welcome break 

 in the monotonous round of life between sea and sky. For 

 a chance meeting with another whaler was usually made the 

 occasion for an exchange of visits which consumed several 

 hours, or perhaps an entire day. If the other vessel was 

 homeward bound, mail was despatched by herj or, better still, 

 if outward bound, she might have letters to deliver. Aside 

 from shore leave, a "gam" was perhaps the whaleman's great- 

 est joy. 



For the rest, however, the life of the American whaleman 



