334 The Story of the New England Whalers 



est officer on the ship became something scarcely 

 worth seeking ; for in the latter part of the Golden 

 Era (1854), when ships were bringing in on an 

 average $16,000 a year each, the captains were 

 paid on an average an eighteenth, or about $900 

 a year. The matter is worth recalling because 

 the custom of robbing seamen was common 

 throughout the merchant service, and had its in- 

 fluence upon the loss of American prestige upon 

 the high seas. 



In every work upon the American whale fishery 

 much stress is laid upon the effect of the Civil 

 War in destroying the industry. It is noted that 

 many ships were burned by Confederate cruisers 

 fitted out in England, and that forty ships were 

 purchased by the government and sunk in the 

 channel at Charleston. As the government paid 

 a large price (too large, in some cases) for each 

 of the forty, and as the British government event- 

 ually paid something for the ships which the 

 Confederates destroyed, it is not proved that 

 the fishery was ruined to any extent by either 

 the Confederate cruisers or the Stone Fleet. At 

 worst, the owners as a class were as well able to 



