106 WHALING 



fork at his back, harpoon-wise. And once Daggoo, seized with 

 a sudden humour, assisted Dough-Boy's memory by snatching 

 him up bodily, and thrusting his head into a great empty wooden 

 trencher, while Tashtego, knife in hand, began laying out the 

 circle preliminary to scalping him. He was naturally a very 

 nervous, shuddering sort of little fellow, this bread-faced stew- 

 ard; the progeny of a bankrupt baker and a hospital nurse. 

 And what with the standing spectacle of the black terrific Ahab, 

 and the periodical tumultuous visitations of these three sav- 

 ages, Dough-Boy's whole life was one continual lip-quiver. 

 Commonly, after seeing the harpooneers furnished with all 

 things they demanded, he would escape from their clutches 

 into his little pantry adjoining, and fearfully peep out at them 

 through the blinds of its door, till all was over." 



The exigencies of the whaler's trade made necessary a cooper 

 and a carpenter. Sprung casks must be repaired and new casks 

 must be built, and no amateur workmanship would do, when 

 leakage meant loss; and as for the carpenter, of what avail were 

 two or three spare boats, except to serve while a skilful workman 

 was restoring to their former strength and soundness, those stove 

 by whales? A blacksmith often sailed in the whaler, for old 

 irons and lances were to be straightened, and new ones forged. 

 Always there was a cook, often a steward, and very likely a 

 cabin boy or two. Thus the quota of "idlers" was filled. 

 Then came the sailors, four or five for each boat, able seamen 

 and green hands together, whose broad backs carried the in- 

 dustry forward from the primitive earliest whaling to the mag- 

 nitude and wealth of its golden age. 



It is of the sailors that one thinks first and last. They came 

 from the whaling ports and from up-country farms. Some were 

 eager to learn the business and to captain ships; others, espe- 

 cially in later years, were lured by the specious advertisements 

 posted the country over, and were sent on their way by glib 

 shipping agents. A few of them persisted and rose to com- 

 mands; many became convinced that it was better to steal a 

 horse and go to jail, as a saying of the day had it, than to go 



