98 THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN 



The detailed administration o£ the affairs of a whaler was 

 usually entrusted to a firm which was also part owner of the 

 vessels which it operated. When such an agent wished to 

 ship a crew it was customary to place an order with one or more 

 outfitters for the number and type of men wanted. The green 

 hands were then secured through the network of shipping- 

 agents, while the experienced seamen were commonly found 

 in the boarding-houses, brothels, or grog-shops. After re- 

 cruiting a crew from these sources, and after watching the in- 

 dividual members vigilantly for several days or weeks, the out- 

 fitter hailed the vessel's sailing date with a sigh of relief. At 

 some time during the last twenty-four hours before weighing 

 anchor the future shipmates were corralled, provided with 

 their outfits, and dumped into the forecastle. 



When the whaler was well out to sea the outfitter made out 

 a bill against each man whom he had furnished and presented 

 it to the agent. The overshadowing item in this bill was al- 

 ways the price of the outfit j but there might be other charges 

 as well. If the various items were satisfactory, the agent gave 

 the outfitter his note, payable from one to six months after 

 date, for the amount in full. The agent, in turn, charged the 

 amount of this note, with interest, against the seaman's ac- 

 count; and, together with numerous other entries, it was sub- 

 tracted from the lay at the end of the voyage, several years 

 later. By this circuitous and complicated method each man 

 shipped, even though he had not a single penny, was made to 

 pay for the outlay involved in placing him in a whaler's fore- 

 castle. 



The outfitters' bills varied in amount accordmg to the needs 

 and desires of the individual hands. Seldom, however, were 

 they less than $60 or more than $100. The one figure most 

 often mentioned by contemporary writers was $75; and an 

 analysis of hundreds of accounts showed that a majority of the 

 men were charged with amounts ranging from $70 to $90. 

 The ship Maria, starting out on a whaling voyage in April, 

 1836, carried twenty-six men for whose outfits the owner, 

 Charles W. Morgan, had signed six-months' notes amounting 



fitters' Association was compelled to resort to fines in order to prevent its 

 members from referring to themselves as landsharks in their own meetings ! 



