THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 23 



safe, was my old pet and mistress ; for I came to love her in 

 my long life of safety aboard her. 



Our ship, bark-rigged, and registered 400 tons, could stow 

 300, equivalent to 2400 barrels of oil. We carried four 

 boats on the cranes, and three spare boats on the spars above 

 the quarter-deck. To each of the four boats was assigned a 

 crew of six men viz., a boat-header, a harpooner, and four 

 oarsmen. Besides the twenty -four men assigned to the 

 boats, we had a carpenter, a cooper, a cook, a steward, a 

 cabin-boy, and three spare men, or thirty-two all told. The 

 captain, cook, steward, and cabin-boy did not stand regular 

 watches; they aided as ship-keepers when the boats were 

 off. This gave the starboard and larboard watches each 

 fourteen men, sufficient to handle sails in nearly every emer- 

 gency. 



The crew was composed of a captain ; a mate, who head- 

 ed the larboard watch ; a second mate, who, with the third 

 mate, headed the starboard watch ; four harpooners, and the 

 trades mentioned before, with greenhorns and old salts, who 

 were known to be, and shipped as, able seamen. The strong 

 force on board a whale-ship and the duties in the boats give 

 an importance to the tinder officers unknown in the mer- 

 chant service. With us the second mate was the officer of 

 the deck during his watch, and he never left it to furl or 

 reef: he exacted as respectful an "Ay, ay, sir," in answer 

 to his orders as did the captain himself. The harpooners 

 were divided, two in each watch, save when we were on 

 cruising grounds. Then we reefed down every night, and 

 each boat-steerer headed his own boat's crew's watch during 

 the night, and became officer of the deck. 



Our outfit consisted of extra sails and rigging, spare spars, 

 and a store of tar, paint, etc., for repairs to ship ; cedar 

 boards and light timbers for the boats ; a large quantity of 

 admirably made whale line; a store of harpoons made of 



