WHALING 267 
ing. The crew are all landsmen without any knowledge of the 
sea, and are obtained for the voyage through the agency of 
crimps. Some were signed on under false statements and others 
put on board while drunk. In some cases the ship's articles 
were signed after the vessel was at sea, and the majority of the 
men when they signed had not had the articles read to them. 
Advances made by the crimps at extravagant rates are paid by 
the owners without the knowledge or consent of the crew as 
soon as the vessel leaves port. No wages are paid, all being on 
shares; and the share of the crew is so small and the advance 
account and articles supplied from the ' slop-chest ' so great that 
it is the usual thing for each man to find himself in debt to the 
owners on his return from no matter how successful a voyage. 
None of these practices are allowed on board the British vessel, 
and the crew are not only paid monthly wages, but participate 
in the profits of the voyage. 
The era's crew was composed of a gunsmith, a clerk in a 
wholesale drug business, an iron moulder, a mechanic, an ex- 
soldier, a railway brakesman, an Armenian and several non- 
descripts ' about town.' Of the entire lot only one had ever 
been to sea before. 
The treatment of the crew by the officers was as good as cir- 
cumstances permitted, and was in strong contrast to their 
general treatment by the owners. 
The methods of the American Whalers differ considerably 
from those already described. When the ship arrives in the 
northwestern part of the bay, the Aivillik Eskimos are looked 
for somewhere in the vicinity of Whale point, and enough men, 
practically half of the tribe, are engaged for the time the ship 
remains in the bay. The ship's crew are sufficient to man three 
whaleboats, and three others are manned by the natives. Four 
boats are brought on the ship every voyage, and only two are 
taken home, the other two, equipped for whaling, being left with 
