Early Days on Nantucket 63 



it. Many a Nantucket capitalist began his in- 

 vestments in whaling ships by buying a five-dollar 

 or a ten-dollar share. And this fact seems worth 

 the consideration of those who would like to see 

 the American high-seas fleet increased. 



Although the whaler's opportunity for acquiring 

 wealth has been considered first of all among the 

 incentives which drew him into his career afloat, 

 it is by no means certain that the call of greed was 

 stronger on Nantucket than that of pride and 

 ambition. John Paul Jones was not the only 

 man of the eighteenth century who spelled rank 

 with a capital R. In the slavers and freighters 

 the ambitious youngsters saw above them at most 

 four posts of honor, the berths of boatswain, 

 second mate, first mate, and captain. By good 

 work they could, in time, reach the highest rank, 

 and the boy whose blood was not stirred at the 

 thought of pacing a quarterdeck as captain of a 

 ship was a "poor stick" indeed. So exalted did 

 the position of captain seem that in their deter- 

 mination to reach it boys were known to wade 

 barefooted through the snow from the farm to the 

 wharf, where they might ship as foremast hands. 



