THE WHALE FISHERY. 291 



THE WHALEMAN'S SHARE OR LAY. 



THE LAYS. As the financial matters of a whaling vessel are conducted on the mutual co-op- 

 erative system, none of the men receive wages, but are paid a certain proportion of the earnings 

 of the vesvsel, drawing in the mean time such supplies as they need, which are charged to them 

 and deducted from their profits at the end of the voyage when settlements are made. This system 

 originated with the Dutch, in the early part of the seventeenth century, when they reorganized 

 the Greenland fishery, in the interest of economy and fifficiency, and it has ever been the basis 

 upon which the settlements for whaling voyages have been adjusted in this country. The owners 

 of the vessel provide all the necessary outfit of apparatus and food supplies and bear all the 

 expenses of preparing the vessel for the voyage and of discharging the cargo on arrival home or 

 for its transshipment from foreign ports. The shares, universally termed " lays," are the propor- 

 tionate parts of the value of the cargo. " Short lays " are the perquisites of the officers, being 

 graded according to rank, and are the most profitable ; the ". long lays " are received by the crew. 

 The lays vary somewhat with the times, as well as at the different ports, and they also depend upon 

 the disposition of the owners or agents of the vessels, and upon the abundance or scarcity of whale- 

 men when the crew is shipped. The experience of a veteran whaling captain of New Bedford 

 illustrates the system of lays, as well as the grades of promotion peculiar to whaling vessels. He 

 says : " When I was a cabin boy in the old ship Messenger, a four-boater, I had the -^ lay ; the 

 next voyage, before the mast, in the bark John Dawson, a three-boater, I had the ^j lay ; the 

 next voyage, as boat-steerer in the same bark, I had the ^- ; the next voyage, as third mate of the 

 Awashonks, a four-boater, I had the -g lay; the next voyage, as second mate of the Stafford, a 

 three-boater, I had the /g lay; the next voyage, as mate of bark Atlantic, a four-boater, I had the 

 2^- lay ; the next voyage, as master of the A. R. Tucker, a three-boater, I had the -fa lay, and the 

 last voyage, in the same vessel, I had the -fa lay. The captain sometimes receives as high as the 

 8th, 10th, and 12th lay, depending upon his experience, especial fitness for certain branches of the 

 fishery, and the terms he can make with agents, and sometimes he gets a bonus besides." 



The crews of San Francisco receive the following lays : Captain, jV; mate, -fa; second mate, 

 -iV; third mate, 4^ ; fourth mate, ^ ; fifth mate and boat-steerer,-^; boat-steerers, ^ ; cooper, 

 jJj, ; cook, Y^; steward, yf^ ; blacksmith, -j-J^; foremast bands (whalemen),-^; and foremast 

 (green), yj ff . 



Until within five or six years the agents charged the crew $12 to $15 each for loading the 

 vessel and discharging the cargo, the work being done by outside labor. At the present time, 

 however, the agents pay all expenses of getting the vessel ready for sea and of discharging cargo 

 on her return. 



While the oil is on the ship it is at the risk of the crew, but when it leaves the ship the owners 

 of the vessel insure it for the benefit of the crew. Sometimes it is insured by the officers of the 

 ship who are often large owners. 



When a vessel is returning home with an amount of freight in addition to the regular cargo 

 the crew may receive wages besides their lay or share in the voyage. 



The following are the most common lays received by the New Bedford sperm whalemen : 



The green hands in a four-boater get from the 180th to the 190th ; in a three-boater frc::. the 

 170th to the 180th. Those who have made a voyage would get in a four-boater about from the 

 160th to the 195th. The seamen get from 140th to 160th. 



