EXPEDIENCY OP MORAL INDULGENCE. 205 



his parents have failed, while he was surrounded by 

 the influences of home,) when separated lifteen 

 thousand miles from his native country, and after 

 two years of forecastle life, during which, being con- 

 tinually in the society of sailors, boys grow to be 

 men in opinion and ideas, and expect to be treated 

 as such when ashore. As to the expediency of some- 

 what relaxing the rigid rules of moral discipline, we 

 may be satisfied by a mere contrast of the position 

 of our own with the crew of the James Allen at the 

 same moment. On board the latter, the men had 

 been hectored and thwarted, and consequently more 

 than one-half had deserted — leaving the void to be 

 filled up with green hands, — and those who remained 

 were sullen, dissatisfied, and discontented; whilst our 

 own crew were all aboard their ship, both cheer}' and 

 ready to go to sea. The fact of all the hands that 

 were brought into this port again going out in the 

 ship, of their own accord, is unprecedented in the 

 annals of the arrival and departure of American 

 wdialers ; for, commonly, such vessels lose a half or 

 two-thirds of their crews. A few months aero, the 

 ship Hunter, of New Bedford, touched here, and lost 

 a number of her men — several of whom are now 

 acting as policemen. Our non-success in capturing 

 wdiales gave good cause for apprehending that we 

 should meet with a like loss, and our not doing: 

 so may be attributed to the general good treat- 

 ment which characterized our ship throughout her 

 voyage. Although not a paradise, still she was as 

 good as the best of whalers. ISTo overt act of cruelty 

 or brutality had been exercised on any one of our 

 18 



