70 THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN 



could never be made an easy or pleasurable occupation. 

 Storms and wrecks, danger and monotony, hard work and 

 cramped quarters could not be abolished by the mere fiat of 

 man. But coincident with these fundamental factors were 

 other evils more or less amenable to human control, and which, 

 if honestly attacked and even slightly ameliorated, would 

 have removed many of the most vital grievances of the 

 crews. 



One of the most flagrant series of abuses was connected with 

 the hiring and outfitting of crews at the outset of a voyage. 

 This important function was gradually surrendered by the 

 whaling merchants to the outfitters, who were content to un- 

 dertake the work of assembling and equipping the hands in 

 exchange for the privilege of retaining the profits accruing 

 from the sale of the outfits. In consequence the owners were 

 relieved of a large amount of onerous and tedious detail j but 

 they also secured men who went to sea with grievances and re- 

 sentments which smouldered throughout the course of each 

 cruise. For the outfitters, being concerned with profits rather 

 than with the character and attitude of the crews, exploited 

 the necessities and inexperience of the seamen in every pos- 

 sible way; and a ramifying system of commercialized vice 

 not only fed upon dissipated appetites, but deliberately created 

 opportunities for the organized robbery of whalemen's purses. 

 Even the owners were often imposed upon by having worth- 

 less and incapable hands foisted upon them. 



Financial impositions, thus begun by the outfitters, were 

 continued by owners and agents. Earnings, reckoned on the 

 basis of a fraction of the net proceeds of an entire voyage, 

 were so low that it was not uncommon for a whaleman to find 

 himself actually in debt to the owners at the conclusion of a long 

 cruise. Nor were the relatively few bonanza voyages suffi- 

 cient to carry average wages above a point at once tragic and 

 ludicrous. And with low earnings went high charges. All 

 cash advances were made at generous rates of interest, although 

 no interest was allowed upon accumulated but unpaid earn- 

 ings; and most other advances were accompanied by Interest 

 charges. Every plausible pretext for exacting payments from 

 the foremast hands. Including even the provision of a medicine- 



