314 The Story of the New England Whalers 



Walker thought she would last for one more 

 cruise. He was willing to "take a chance," at 

 any rate. And when he offered to take her, it 

 was not in the nature of any owner to refuse to fit 

 her out. 



All told, including the ship, the expense of a 

 few repairs, and the outfit of food and whaling 

 apparatus, the Envoy cost just $8000, when ready 

 for sea. Application was then made for "a good 

 fat lump of insurance, to cover the risk on the 

 way," but the underwriters without exception 

 asked to be excused. This refusal of the insur- 

 ance companies to risk a dollar at any premium 

 shows to a seafaring man better than anything 

 else the condition of the old hulk, and it was the 

 entire willingness of Captain Walker to sail on a 

 ship as rotten as she was that makes him the 

 chief counting-house hero of the fishery. 



There is, of course, another point of view. He 

 was risking not only his own life but the lives of 

 his crew, and it is certain that not one of the 

 forecastle men had any idea of the risk he was 

 taking when he signed for the voyage. To ship 

 a crew in a rotten ship was never considered 



