266 THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN 



for every one hundred barrels of oil secured from whales re- 

 ported by any member of the crewj and the accounts show 

 that thirteen men shared in the total bounty, securing sums 

 ranging from fifty cents to $15.38 each. 



In some instances the owners authorized their captains to 

 offer bounties, and regarded the slight additional outlay as a 

 part of the operating expense of their vessels. At other times 

 masters and mates subscribed to purses later presented to those 

 who had qualified under the terms of the awards. An un- 

 usually generous purse of fifty dollars was so raised by the 

 four officers of the ship William C. Nye during her first whal- 

 ing voyage, 1 851—1854. Evidently the officers were eager 

 to make a striking success of the vessel's maiden cruise. One 

 hopes, therefore, that they proved to be more successful with 

 lance and harpoon than they were with the pen! The agree- 

 ment is reproduced in full: 



Dec. 2nd 1853 



the undersigned do agree to pay to any one man that raises the 

 most oil taken the remainder of the voyage the some of Fifty Dollars 

 on the arival of the ship which the agent of the Wm. C. Nye will 

 please pay when these wrigtings ar presented and Charge each of the 

 undersigned with his respective share as folows 



Charles H. Adams $20 



James M. Riley 15 



Charles A. Evarts 10 



Wm. H. Wilson 5 



$50 

 Manuel Laurence is entitled to this bounty. 



C. H. Adams 



But whether the rewards were offered by the owners or by 

 the officers, payment was seldom made until the end of the 

 cruise 5 and even so, the slowly cumulative credits of any given 

 whaleman were always small. The individual who earned 

 fifteen to twenty dollars as bounty money during a single 

 voyage was fortunate above the average. Many cruises, in 

 fact, were no more lucrative than that of the bark Mars from 

 1857 to 1859, when the bounties earned by the entire crew 

 amounted to only $24.25. 



A third credit entry, appearing timidly in a few accounts, 



