THE WHALE FISHERY. 231 



but generally the officers and boat-steevers make the sails themselves. Meantime the carpenter is 

 busily engaged in fitting the boat- masts, and the cooper makes or overhauls the line-tubs, boat- 

 buckets, lantern-kegs and other like utensils. ' 



The green hands are allowed a certain time to become familiar with their duties. At the expira- 

 tion of the given time those who have failed to improve their opportunities lose their watch below 

 during the day until they learn more thoroughly. There is always plenty of work on an outward- 

 bound whaler, and it is of a varied character, and any one disposed to learn may soon become 

 master of the situation. 



PASTIMES. When not at work the men amnse themselves during week days according to 

 their several dispositions, by patching and mending their clothes, playing cards or back-gammon, 

 spinning yarns, smoking, reading, and manufacturing various articles of utility and fancy. As 

 a rule the captains do not allow card playing ; but some of the crew usually provide themselves 

 with cards and manage to have games in the forecastle, the only available "stake" being tobacco. 

 The owners of the vessel usually furnish the men with illustrated papers, magazines, and books, 

 and many of these, like the playing cards, become so well worn and greasy from excessive mani- 

 pulation that scarcely a trace of legibility is left by which they may be identified. But the greatest 

 delight of the whaleman was on the Sabbath day, when in olden times it was his custom to over- 

 haul his chest of clothing and trim his ditty box.* This wascalled the "sailor's pleasure." All of the 

 " sea clothes" were taken out, unfolded, shaken, examined for holes or rents, carefully folded again 

 and put away in their accustomed places; the "home clothes," or " long togs," were also taken 

 out and viewed with a feeling of peculiar delight; the photographs of friends and relations were 

 brought to light, and old letters were read again and again. Every Sunday was alike in this 

 respect. On the Sabbath day also the whaling captains of the old school, after certain routine 

 work had been performed in the forenoon, distributed Bibles, tracts, or other religious publications, 

 among the men ; some of whom, in good weather, in the southern fishery, congregated about the 

 deck in little knots, and digested the contents of the books and papers, while others, not so dis- 

 posed, showed their outward and invisible sign by gentlemanly demeanor and polite conduct, in 

 letting those who wished to do so, read in comfort. 



One of the most fruitful sources of amusement to a whale-fisherman, and one which often so 

 engrosses bis time and attention as to cause him to neglect his duties, is known as "scrimshawing.' ; t 

 Scrimshawing, which, by the way, is the more acceptable form of the term, is the art, if art it be, 

 of manufacturing useful and ornamental articles at sea; and its chief aim is to fight oft' the dull 

 monotony, which, at times, environs the life of the whaleman. Many of the objects produced in 

 this manner, however, prove valuable to the makers as souvenirs, or trophies, of their exploits 

 and adventures, or useful to themselves and families in the economy of the domestic household; 

 and also possess a certain degree of interest, as well as intrinsic value, to curiosity -seekers, besides 

 forming interesting acquisitions to museums. One of its most prominent features is the develop 

 ment of the ingenuity and artistic tastes of the whalemen ; and some of them attain a high degree 

 of skill in the production of numerous articles of this kind. Some of these have an appreciable 



* A small wooden box for needles, buttons, thread, pieces of cloth for patches, bits of wax, an old brass or steel 

 thimble, and a pair of scissors. In addition to these necessary domestic utensils and material, ihe ditty box contains 

 the most varied collection of pieces of old iron or wood, shells, probably an old pack of cards, or may be a New Testa- 

 ment, small stones or minerals, foreign nuts, and curios obtained from the natives of the islands in the Southern 

 Pacific. 



t This word appears to be of doubtful orthography, being variously written " akrimshoning," " ecrimshorniug," 

 " skrimschonting," and "skriiushander," and has, liku many of the idioms that form the very pith and essence of the 

 whaleman's language, gained currency at the leading whaling centers, though seldom heard in the interior of the 

 country. As to its etymology, I can only say that I have traced its antecedents to the ishuid of Nantucket, and 

 although I am unable to substantiate my theory, I am of the opinion that it is a corrupt form of an Indian_word. 



