FISHERMAN'S LUCK 153 



brought to America a Scottish damask weaver named William 

 Carnegie, his wife, and his small sons Thomas and Andrew. 



One who searches through the old chronicles of whaling finds 

 curious points of contact with the history of wars and politics. 

 Gentleman adventurers, condemned criminals, slavers, ancient 

 pirates of the northern seas and 18th and 19th Century pirates 

 of the southern seas, all appear in the stories of the whalemen. 

 And many times such a vessel as the Wiscasset, which had 

 played a worthy part in the whaling fleet, came indirectly into 

 touch with business enterprises and international projects of 

 far-reaching importance. Twelve-year-old Andrew Carnegie, 

 who learned the ropes on board the Wiscasset and shared the 

 forecastle plum duff on Sundays, never forgot the old whale- 

 ship or the sailor Robert Barryman, who bought for him, 

 after they landed in New York, a memorable glass of sarsa- 

 parilla. 



It is an example of the confidence in whaling, which prevailed 

 throughout New England when the industry was beginning to 

 grow more rapidly than ever before in history, that Gloucester, 

 so long the great American fishing port, was tempted to abandon 

 her codlines for iron and lance. ''In years past," the editor of 

 the Gloucester Telegraph wrote in January, 1833, "we have 

 urged upon our fellow citizens the importance of introducing 

 the whaling business into our town ; that the catching of small- 

 fry might not always be prosperous — that we ought in self- 

 defence to launch into deeper water, and cast our lines in 

 hope of catching something having more substance than 

 mackerel or tomy-cods. We have endeavoured to throw 

 much light upon the subject, and told what our neighbours were 

 doing in the business; how they were growing in wealth, building 

 ships and houses; enlarging towns, and increasing their popula- 

 tion. The project has been several times agitated here, but 

 some chicken-heart has as often thrown cold water upon it, 

 which has checked its progress. We have now the pleasure of 

 saying that two ships are lying in our harbour which will sail 

 in a few days, not to 'bob for sprats,' but to catch whales. 

 Their crews are obtained, though it was predicted that men 



