220 THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN 



ledger was discouraging. Some of these charges were made 

 by the owners in the home port, while others originated with 

 the captain during the voyage. The owners' list was made up 

 of the sum advanced for the man's original outfit of clothing, 

 secured just before sailing^ interest on this sum; a charge of 

 five to ten dollars for loading the vessel, and a similar amount 

 for unloading j a contribution of one to three dollars for de- 

 fraying the expenses of a medicine-chest j and, in some in- 

 stances, special payments to a man's family or dependents. 



A second set of debits was derived from the captain's records. 

 The most significant of these deductions comprised the slop- 

 chest account, containing a notation of all the supplies which 

 any given man had purchased on credit from the ship's store, 

 or slop-chest 3 the amounts of cash which had been advanced to 

 him, mainly to provide spending-money while in portj and the 

 interest charges, calculated at generous if not exorbitant rates, 

 on the sums advanced. In addition there were frequent special 

 charges against individuals. If a deserter had been unfortu- 

 nate enough to be caught and returned to his vessel he was 

 made to bear the expenses of his recapture. Members of the 

 crew were held responsible for stolen or deliberately damaged 

 articles whenever the guilt could be fixed. And as a particular 

 favor a master occasionally honored an order which some man 

 in dire need of funds had drawn against his lay. 



Not all individual accounts contained this full list of sub- 

 tractions j but the exigencies of seafaring life were such that 

 virtually all whalemen were compelled to ask for advances 

 of cash and equipment and to patronize the slop-chest. These 

 twin necessities were responsible for well-nigh universal debit 

 items which quite overshadowed those arising from all other 

 causes, and constituted formidable deductions from the gross 

 lays. 



Except for some agricultural pursuits and certain branches 

 of the fishing industry, both past and present, the type of labor 

 contract represented by the lay is essentially without a parallel.^ 



2 Even the various forms of product-sharing practised in fishing and in agri- 

 culture bear a resemblance to the lay which is more apparent than real. For 

 whereas in principle these schemes are not unlike the lay system, in the neces- 

 sary modifications of circumstances the differences in degree become so great 

 that they are quite as significant as differences in kind. Thus the fishing and 



