262 THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN 



were unable to furnish for themselves, the outfitter gradually 

 added other functions which placed him at the very center of 

 an entangling web of commercialized exploitation. The hap- 

 less occupant of the forecastle was deceived, cheated, and 

 robbed at every turn. And nowhere more than in paying for 

 the outfit which was placed in his hands just before sailing. 



Soon after the vessel bearing any given seaman and his 

 outfit had put to sea, the outfitter presented his bill to the ship's 

 agent and received payment in full, usually in the form of 

 a note payable in thirty days to six months. The agent, in 

 turn, entered the amount of the bill on the debit side of the 

 man's account, where it remained until the end of the voyage. 

 During the many intervening months, however, the original 

 sum (seldom less than $6o and commonly not exceeding $ioo) 

 grew materially through interest charges. As in the case of 

 cash advances by the master, the rate was often as high as 25% 

 per voyage. But even a lower rate was quite sufficient to swell 

 the amount to be eventually collected. A seaman who shipped 

 on the Samuel Robertson for a voyage during the late fifties, 

 for instance, paid $75.82 in settling for an outfitter's bill of 

 $65.93. The difference, or $9.89, represented 15% interest 

 for a cruise of fifteen months. 



An outfitting bill might be supplemented, too, by an in- 

 fitting bill, often presented by the same firm. Returning 

 whalers were boarded by competing agents, or runners, seeking 

 to entice the forecastle-weary hands into their respective estab- 

 lishments for a rough-and-ready cleansing and rejuvenation. 

 After securing a bath, a shave, and a haircut, donning an outfit 

 of cheap, but clean, "shore togs," and accepting a small sum of 

 cash for immediate spending-money, the transformed whale- 

 man was pronounced ready to sally forth to seek the delights of 

 port society. But these attentions were carefully confined to 

 those men whose accounts indicated a clear credit balance for 

 the settlement which was to come several days later. If a sea- 

 man were so unfortunate as to possess only a debit balance, it 

 was often impossible for him to secure these infitting services 

 without agreeing beforehand to ship for another voyage at the 

 first opportunity. Such an "opportunity" usually appeared 

 from three days to three weeks later j and it meant, for the 



