EARNINGS AND THE LAY 235 



the extortionate prices of "slops" and outfit and by the over- 

 generous rates of interest charged upon advances. 



Against this background of fluctuating fortunes and of capri- 

 cious phenomena the whaleman's earnings finally emerged as 

 the result of the Interaction of four major variables, — the 

 fractional lay, the size of the cargo, the length of the voyage, 

 and the prices of oil and bone. As such it was diflicult, but 

 not Impossible, to Isolate the effect of a change In the fractional 

 lay alone. If the drop in the lay had been accompanied only 

 by an Increase In the average size of the cargo, there would 

 have been no necessary reason to Interpret It as a fall In earn- 

 ings.^ But since there was a simultaneous increase in the aver- 

 age length of voyage which was fully comparable to the growtl 

 In the size of the vessels. It became apparent that there was ar 

 actual fall in money wages when reckoned on a monthly c , 

 yearly basis. For even if the smaller shares had been fuL 

 and uniformly offset by larger vessels, the result would have 

 been only the maintenance of the same earnings per voyage j 

 and the receipt of the same sum for a forty-months' cruise 

 which had formerly been forthcoming at the end of a thirty- 

 months' voyage obviously marked a sharp decline In monthly 

 wages. 



This was true, In varying degrees, of all ranks aboard a 

 whaler except those of captain and first and second mates. 

 That the fractional lays of these three highest grades escaped 

 the general lowering process and remained practically stationary 

 meant that their earnings increased both absolutely and rela- 

 tively — a fact which Is to be attributed to the necessity of 



• At any given time, for instance, the fractional lay tended to vary inversely 

 with the size of the vessel. This relationship appears clearly in the following 

 table, which shows the lays which prevailed in New Bedford and in Province- 

 town about 1880. The figures were taken from Brown, J. T., in "Fisheries and 

 Fishery Industries," Vol. VII, p. 292. 



New Bedford Provincetown 



./\.-boat Bark ^-b oat Bark ■^-boat Schooner z-boat Schooner 



Captain M2 toVn Mo to^ie Mo Mo 



ist Mate %o to Ms Ms to M3 Me M2 



2nd Mate Mo to Mo Ms to Ms Ml 



Boatsteerer Ms to Mo Ms to Ms %3 to Ms Mo to M2 



Seaman M40 to Meo M40toM60 M25toM40 Ms to Moo 



Greea Hand MsotoMso MTOtoMso Meo M20 



