40 WHALING 



her crew consisted of between sixty and seventy men. . . . Our 

 ship was abundantly suppHed with good beef, pork, bacon, flour, 

 oat-meal, biscuit, peas, potatoes, cheese, butter, molasses, pre- 

 served fruit, fowls, eggs, dried fish, strong ale, small beer, 

 English brandy, tea, coffee, sugar, tobacco, besides plenty of 

 foreign spirits an'd wi»ne for the use of the cabin. Neither was 

 there an*y cost spared in laying in an ample supply of proper 

 medicinfes for the sick." Very evidently the young surgeon ate 

 in the cabin. This does not sound like any of the various 

 accounts written by forecastle hands, on either side of the 

 Atlantic, at that time or any other. 



His entry for May day, too, has an encouraging touch of 

 humanness: ''In the morning about twelve or one o'clock, the 

 Garland w^ put upon the main topgallant stay by the last 

 married man, as is usual among the Greenland ships. It is 

 formed by the crossing of three small hoops in the form of a 

 globe, and is covered with ribbons, etc. The crew on this 

 occasion blacken their faces with a mixture of grease and soot, 

 and dance round the decks, their only musical instruments being 

 frying-pans, mess-kettles, fire-irons, etc. This rough mode of 

 festivity they continued till the Captain ordered them a plentiful 

 allowance of grog." 



Evidently English and American gear was much the same. 

 ''In every boat there is a line, 720 fathoms long, to the end of 

 which is fixed a harpoon about eight feet five inches long; the 

 iron part is better than two feet long, and is extremely sharp. 

 On each side of the point is placed a barb, or wither, diverging 

 from the harpoon at an angle of nearly forty degrees, to prevent 

 the instrument from flinching and losing its hold. There are 

 also several lances, or spears, about six feet long, the points of 

 which are about two inches broad: by these the whales are 

 killed after being struck with the harpoons. 



"A boat's crew consists of a harpooner, a boat-steerer, a line- 

 manager, and three or four men, more or less, according to the 

 size of the boat." 



While the Hull fisheries were prospering, those of the Dutch 

 were failing correspondingly. There was lively competition 



