AT SEA: ON THE WHALING GROUNDS 153 



III — WORKING conditions: sperm whaling 



The ordinary routine aboard a vessel on the whaling grounds 

 was quite different from that observed on the passage thither. 

 At night boat's crew watches, consisting of the four men and 

 a boatsteerer assigned to each boat, divided the time between 

 6 P.M. and 6 a.m. into four short periods of three hours eachj 

 or, if there were only three boats' crews, into three periods of 

 four hours each. Each watch was commanded by a boat- 

 steerer, thus allowing the captain and mates the luxury of an 

 uninterrupted night's sleep j while even the foremast hands 

 were on deck for the space of only three or four hours, in- 

 stead of the customary alternating four-hour periods of the 

 watch-and-watch system. Soon after daylight all hands were 

 called to reinforce the watch on deck. Sails were set, the 

 mast-head lookouts posted, the decks scrubbed, and breakfast 

 eaten. During the remainder of the day the members of the 

 crew held themselves in readiness to lower the boats for 

 whales at the first opportunity. All work of every sort was 

 minimized J for now the all-consuming aim of life, calling for 

 the rigid subordination of every other consideration, was the 

 sighting and capture of the prey. 



Consequently, if no whales were sighted, there was little 

 for any given individual to do except to take his regular two- 

 hour turn at the helm and at the mast-head, answer an occa- 

 sional call to tack ship or to shorten sail in rough weather, eat 

 dinner and supper, take in sail at sundown, and make all snug 

 for the night. This comparatively light schedule was a wel- 

 come and necessary change from the long days and nights of 

 severe, steady labor caused by the capture of one or more 

 animals. 



In most cases the whalemen made a systematic survey of 

 the vaguely bounded space of water known as a whaling 

 ground, leaving as little of its area unscanned as possible. 

 With this end in view a vessel stood along under easy sail, 

 keeping the same course for days at a time until the ground 

 had been completely traversed from one side to the other. 



Mammals of the North-Western Coast of North America," p. 214; and Holmes, 

 L,, "The Arctic Whaleman," pp. 267 f. 



