DEBITS AND CREDITS 253 



were provided with definite price-lists and their gains restricted 

 to a given percentage of the income accruing from the opera- 

 tion of the slop-chest. 



Individual slop-chest accounts ranged from one dollar to 

 well over $125, with a tendency to congregate in the region 

 between $50 and $75. An analysis of the figures of two voy- 

 ages will present a picture typical of hundreds of other cruises. 

 Of twenty-six men shipped by the William C. Nye on her first 

 whaling voyage, 1 851-1854, twenty-two made purchases of 

 more than $25, leaving only four who succeeded in remaining 

 below that figure. Of those owing more than $25, twenty 

 accounts were for more than $50^ seventeen, for more than 

 $75 J eleven, for more than $iooj and seven, for more than 

 $125. On the other hand, the accounts of the last voyage of 

 the ship Fabius, 18 62-1 8 65, showed that twenty-two men 

 bought less than $25 worth of slops, while twenty-six hands 

 exceeded that sum. Of the latter group, twenty-one owed 

 more than $505 fourteen, more than $753 thirteen, more 

 than $100 J and five, more than $125. The individual debts 

 ranged from $156.54 down to only $1.00. On the William 

 C. Nye, however, the smallest bill called for $3.12 and the 

 greatest one for $171.12, with one abnormally heavy debt of 

 $310.46.' 



But the articles purchased were surprisingly lacking in va- 

 riety. The range of choice of the average slop-chest was 

 limited, and even within this restricted sphere certain articles 

 ruled as prime favorites. Tobacco and various articles of 

 clothing formed the staple commodities of slop-chest com- 

 merce j and, except for occasional investments in knives, cloth, 

 thread, or eating utensils, the average foremast hand bought 

 largely of these staples. This fact appears clearly in two 

 itemized accounts, both taken from a voyage of the bark Mar- 

 cella, 1 854-1 856. The first is characteristic of the larger ac- 

 counts which were made up of a rather long list of purchases j 

 while the second represents the smaller bills belonging to men 

 who were unusually thrifty, who had been on board for only a 

 short time, or who were fortunate enough to begin the voyage 



^ These figures were secured by analyzing the original account-books, now in 

 the New Bedford Public Library. 



