26o THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN 



hand the owners perforce bore any net losses shown by the ac- 

 counts j and on the other they were entitled to confiscate not 

 only the deserters' shipboard effects, but also their net earnings, 

 if any. 



Now and again a foremast hand would be debited with the 

 sum for which he had purchased certain articles at a ship's auc- 

 tion. On whalers, as on merchant vessels, the captain or mate 

 customarily sold at auction the effects of men who died at sea. 

 If the deceased member of the crew had been popular, or if 

 there were a desire to help his family, there was often a deal 

 of generous rivalry in bidding for his effects. Usually, how- 

 ever, the successful bidders had to postpone payment until the 

 end of the voyage. At that time the various amounts realized 

 at auction would be collected and given to the dead man's fam- 

 ily, if known. If no members of his family were forthcoming 

 (and in the polyglot whaling crews of the later days this was 

 often the case) the appropriate sum, according to law, was to be 

 delivered to a consul or to the courts. 



Whenever the responsibility for stolen property could be 

 fixed, the amount of such loss was also charged against the ac- 

 count of the offending seaman. The captain arbitrarily de- 

 termined the value of the lost or damaged goods j and, as was 

 expected, his estimates were generous. A striking illustration 

 of this occurred in January, 1854, while the ship James Maury 

 was anchored in Margaretta Bay. Strangely enough, four 

 members of the crew succeeded not only in deserting, but also 

 in stealing a whaleboat. The master must have been sorely 

 vexed; for the accounts show that, instead of proportioning 

 the loss amongst the four deserters, each one of them was 

 charged with the full price of a new whaleboat. 



Still other debit items, occasionally appearing in individual 

 accounts, included the cost of medical attention received in for- 

 eign ports; stray board bills which had been paid by the captain 

 for some man fortunate enough to spend several consecutive 

 days or weeks ashore; various consular fees; payments in- 

 volved in the process of hiring new men and of discharging old 

 ones; and a series of fines, police fees, jail costs, and other ex- 

 penses incurred on behalf of men who were arrested by police 

 or by port authorities. The following entries, taken from the 



