WHALE FISHERY OF NEW ENGLAND 



17 



a man until he had "struck his whale." The well-known Nantucket 

 novel "Miriam Coffin" tells of a girl who made to her two lovers a 

 condition of marriage that they must first of all undertake a whaling 

 voyage, and that she would wed the more successful of the two. It 

 happened that one was a Minister, and the other was no better adapted 

 to the whale fishery; nevertheless, both set out to sea. The former 



A whaler circling Cape Horn. 



was killed by a whale, and the latter returned after an absence of several 

 years, but instead of claiming his bride, he tells her that before going 

 he had already made up his mind that a girl who made such foolish 

 propositions was no girl for him; and so the story ends. 



Many a Nantucket bride stepped from her home to her husband's 

 whaleship for a three-year voyage round Cape Horn, which probably 

 suggested these verses: 



"I asked a maiden by my side, 



Who sighed and looked at me forlorn, 

 * Where is your heart?' She quick replied, 

 * Round Cape Horn.' 



"I said, Til let your fathers know,' 



To boys in mischief on the lawn; 

 They all replied, 'Then you must go 

 Round Cape Horn.' 



"In fact, I asked a little boy 



If he could tell where he was born; 

 He answered, with a mark of joy, 

 'Round Cape Horn.'" 



