XIV 



TALES OF WHALERS IN THE CIVIL WAR 



WHEN one asks the people of New Bed- 

 ford for the name of the best-remem- 

 bered whaler hero of the Civil War, 

 they reply promptly that it was Commander 

 William P. Randall. Randall, as the story is 

 told, first gained fame locally as the second mate 

 of a Pacific whaler. 



The third and fourth mates of the ship were 

 relatives of the captain, and, as sometimes hap- 

 pened in the whale fishery, the skill and success 

 of the second officer did not prove wholly accept- 

 able to the captain, for the reason that the other 

 mates were thereby thrown somewhat into the 

 shade. While laboring under such a disadvan- 

 tage as these circumstances imposed, Randall, 

 and the other mates as well, lowered for a whale. 

 The captain ordered Randall to play loose boat, 

 - lie off, allow the others to strike the whale, 



365 



