314 WHALING 



Before the chief officer could answer, a sound caught the 

 captain's attention. He turned and found at his side a Negro 

 from the galley, an old man who did the most menial work, a 

 potato-peeler and dish-washer. 



"Well," said the captain, "what do you want?" 



"Excuse me, sir," said the old Negro, "but them boys will 

 never get that man. They don't know how to look for him. 

 You let me have a boat and a boat's crew; Fll get him." 



"What in thunder do you know about it?" the captain de- 

 manded. 



"Please, sir, I used to sail boat-steerer in a whaler." 



For a moment the captain looked the old darky in the eye, 

 then he quietly said, "You take a boat and go." 



The Negro went, and fifteen minutes later he brought back 

 the man. 



A few years ago I went to New Bedford to see the barque 

 Wanderer fitting out. She is not much more than forty years 

 old now, but when she first slid down the ways she joined some 

 of the very ships that lay in port when hesitating Ishmael of 

 "Moby Dick" first passed "The Crossed Harpoons" and the 

 "Swordfish Inn." 



All was clutter and bustle on board her. Overhead were 

 spare whaleboats, and beside them irons and lances, each with 

 its little wooden sheath. Aloft, the riggers, now straddling on 

 the footropes as they rove bunt lines and clew lines, now calling 

 back and forth in sharp, well-clipped phrases of the sea, were 

 hard at work bending on sails. Bags of potatoes and onions 

 and boxes and crates of every description crowded her decks, 

 and wagons loaded with all manner of goods crowded the wharf 

 beside her. There was talk of whaling grounds and of barrels of 

 oil. The officers and petty officers were to take her across to 

 the Cape de Verde Islands, where she would ship her crew. 

 She was chunky and capacious and comfortable, and she had 

 the big white davits, the whaleboats, and the try-works that 

 have marked the whaler for many more than a hundred 

 years. 



If you had passed her captain on the street, you would have 



