232 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



artistic merit ; while others, for example, implements made at sea for use iu whaling, for the ship's 

 use, aud for the use of the men during the voyage, are generally improvised under stress of cir- 

 cumstances; therefore, many of them are exceedingly rough and ungainly in appearance. 



Scrimshawing has been principally confined to the southern fleet, mainly the sperm whale- 

 men, as the voyages were longer aud the men had more leisure time.; but it is also indulged iu, to 

 a certain extent, by the men iu the Arctic fishery. In the first-named fishery, a vessel may often 

 cruise for weeks, and even months, without "raising a whale." and, iu fact, without encountering 

 anything to break the monotonous routiue of life at sea. 



It would appear that the officers have much better opportunities and facilities for promoting 

 the art of scrimshawing than the foremast hands, since the latter are not allowed, except on duty, 

 in the after part of the ship, where the material available for this or other like purposes is kept; 

 they are therefore compelled to rely upon their own fertile imagination and fruitful genius for the 

 ways and ineaus of carrying out any cherished plan, aud to make the best of what may accidentally 

 fall in their way. Some of the common seameu, however, excel in this worJi.* 



2. THE WHALING VESSELS AND THEIR OUTFIT. 



The American whaling fleet in 1880 numbered one hundred and seventy one vessels, measur- 

 ing 38,633.38 tons, and valued with outfits at $2,891,G50.f Iu the fleet there were one hun- 

 dred and seven barks averaging 264.10 tons each, seven ships averaging 358.88 tons, nine brigs 

 averaging 138.11 tons, forty-six schooners averaging 9808 tons, and two steam barks averaging 

 430.06 tons. The average size vessel in the entire fleet was 225.93 tons. The largest vessel was 

 the steam bark Belvedere, measuring 440.12 tons,$ and the smallest employed in ocean whaling was 



* Let us examine some of the scrimshaw work. We find handsome writing desks, toilet boxes, and work boxes 

 made of foreign woods, inlaid with hundreds of other pieces of precious woods of various shapes and shades; crib- 

 bage boards and chess boards, inlaid with rare wood or mother-of-pearl ; work tables for ladies, or center tables i',>r 

 the whaleman's parlor at home, veneered with mahogany and finished in the most approved manner; wall brackets 

 and pockets made of satin wood, walnut, or mahogany ; picture frames made of ivory of the sperm whale teeth or 

 wal rns tusks ; photograph frames, made of the same material, suspended upon two or three finely finished and highly 

 decorated walrus tusks, ready for the photographs of the maker, await the wife or sweetheart when the vessel returns 

 to her home port; canes made of baleen wrapped spirally with highly polished cords and strips of the same, sur- 

 uiouuted by fanciful or grotesque designs, carved from the tooth of the sperm whale or a section of walrus tusk ; canes 

 made full length from the ivory of the " pan" of the sperm whale, turned aud polished, with a hand-piece of the. 

 same material, and a ferrule of copper or perhaps silver; canes made of the tusk of thenarwal, or from the backbone 

 of the shark the vertebra? being strung on an iron rod aud turned in a lathe, or from a piece of wood of some favorite 

 ship, the handle inlaid with ivory or pearl; folding aud expanding reels, or "swifts," for winding yarn, elegantly 

 made of strips of ivory, and decorated with bits of gay-colored ribbon ; whips made from the long elastic and grace- 

 fully tapering slabs of baleen ; useful articles for the writing desk, rulers, pen holders, paper cutters, as well as butter 

 knives, jagging knives, chopping knives, finger rings, collar and sleeve buttons, bodkins, watch stands, jewelry caskets, 

 charms for watch chains, masonic emblems, small blocks and pulleys, man-rope stanchions, splicing fids, and small 

 toggles, made of ivory and bone, and various other implements whoso mention would form too long a list. 



+ Messrs. Swift & Allen, commission merchants and ship owners of New Bedford, tell me that the whaling vessels 

 of that port are seldom wholly owned by their agents; but the agent is usually the largest owner, and conducts the 

 business affairs of the vessel on commission without the aid of the other owners. At present, 1863, the only incor- 

 porated whaling company that they know of is in San Francisco ; it has six steam whalers and one sailing vessel. 

 They think all the other whalers are owned by individuals, seldom less than five, and often ten in number, and each 

 owner, however small his share may be, is responsible for any deficiency on the part of the other owners in the pay- 

 ment of the ship's bills or drafts during (ho voyage. They also say they know of an instance where two owners 

 who held only one-sixteenth each had to make up for the deficiencies of the- others. At Provincetown, the vessels are 

 owned for the most part, by private parties. Perhaps fifteen or sixteen stockholders have as ina'.y shares or "pieces," 

 as they are called, in one vessel. When the vessel is at, her home port the captain is her agent : but on a voyage one 

 of the resident owners, called the "shore agent," on whom the captain may draw in foreign ports for money or neces- 

 sary supplies, is appointed, whose duty it is to transact all business connected with the vessel. The, whaling vessels 

 at San Francisco are also owned each by several parties who hold shares, and each vessel has its own agent. 



t Some larger steam vessels have since been added to the fleet. One of these, the steam-bark Bowhead, 533 tons, 

 was lost in the Arctic in 1884. 



