WHALING LIFE. 246 



vainly tried to desert from his vessel, having been 

 several times retaken when making the attempt, 

 deliberately laid his left wrist on a chopping 

 block and cut off the hand, exclai%ming as he did 

 so, " Now you'll have to let me go." 



There is but little done by the officers to make 

 the life of the crew of a whaleship pleasant. OQ 

 the cruising ground there is nothing to do. This 

 adds another misery to the already sufficiently 

 wretched existence of the whalemen, and thus 

 makes it entirely unbearable. To be cruising 

 about, far at sea, is monotonous enough, even if, 

 as in the merchant vessel, the daily routine of labor 

 is so arranged as to keep both hands and minds of 

 the seamen employed. But when, as in the whale- 

 ship, no attempt is made to relieve the tedium of 

 the voyage, no expedient devised for making the 

 time pass more lightly and pleasantly, a single 

 cruise of six or eight months generally infuses 

 into the new hands a strong desire to make their 

 escape from the vessel. Thus it was with our 

 crew. 



