228 THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN 



ficient and as careless as the relentless and arbitrary supervision 

 of the mates would allow him to be. 



But in spite of this lack of incentive, and the abuses, hard- 

 ships, and low earnings which were largely responsible for it, 

 the labor supply, considered from the quantitative standpoint, 

 was adequate to meet the demands of the industry. Hands, 

 such as they were, were not lacking: somehow the vessels were 

 manned. And this remained true despite a continuous and 

 kaleidoscopic change in the personnel of the crews. The steady 

 stream of men pouring into the forecastles proved sufficient to 

 counteract the continuous labor leakage caused by death, ill- 

 ness, incapacity, discharge, and desertion. For the majority 

 of whaling hands completed only a single voyage or a fraction 

 thereof, depending upon the generosity or niggardliness of 

 fortune in presenting a chance for early escape. 



Among the veterans who did sign for successive cruises, how- 

 ever, were to be found both the worst and the best elements in 

 the industry. The former included those weak-willed and dis- 

 sipated individuals who were reshipped as a result of the vicious 

 system of organized exploitation which kept returned seamen 

 intoxicated and in debt while ashore between voyages 5 while 

 the latter comprised those men, largely of New England birth, 

 whose ability and energy enabled them to secure a higher rank 

 and a shorter lay with each successive cruise. These men, ad- 

 vancing steadily through all the gradations of the whaling 

 hierarchy, regarded the pursuit of whales as a life-long means 

 of livelihood, endowed with all the essential attributes of a 

 regular trade. 



Nor was there any adequate reason for refusing to classify 

 whaling as a trade, although both the abuses and the romance 

 of the industry tended to obscure the more technical aspects of 

 shipboard life. The multifarious work to be performed aboard 

 both whalers and whaleboats was carefully defined into a num- 

 ber of well-recognized tasks ; and each one of these task-groups 

 was carried on through methods which had been definitely or- 

 ganized and standardized. The successful execution of the 

 work in each department, too, demanded skill, experience, 

 judgment, and strength, in addition to a knowledge of a code 

 of working rules and a familiarity with the various tools to 



