288 THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN 



been obtained. And yet the log-book showed that 320 days 

 had been spent at anchor without a reasonable excuse on the 

 part of the master. In this case the owners had been guilty 

 of a double mistake: they had given the captain permission to 

 engage in trading for his personal gain, thus tempting him 

 to linger in port, to waste the ship's stores, and to neglect op- 

 portunities for the pursuit of whales j and they had chosen a 

 man who allowed himself to fall an easy prey to such tempta- 

 tions.^^ 



And even the apparently fortuitous process of filling a vessel 

 with oil and bone was by no means removed from the influence 

 of business ability. A single "full ship" might well repre- 

 sent the outcome of mere good fortune. But a succession of 

 "full ships," returning season after season to the same firm, in- 

 dicated a keen business sense in the selection of masters and 

 mates, in the formulation of shrewd and far-sighted policies, 

 and in the successful adaptation of means to ends. 



27 Enderby, Charles, "Proposal for Re-Establishing the British Southern Whale 

 Fishery," p. 53. See also Scamraon, C. M., "Marine Mammals of the North- 

 western Coast of North America," pp. 216 ff., for a good discussion of the 

 relative importance of business ability and luck in making for long-time whal- 

 ing success. 



