10 THE CRUISE OF TEE ''CACHALOT:' 



the way they feed their crews, but the whalers are a 

 notable exception to that good rule. The food was really 

 worse than that on board any English ship I have ever 

 sailed in, so scanty also in quantity that it kept all the 

 foremast hands at starvation point. But grumbling was 

 dangerous, so I gulped down the dirty mixture mis-named 

 coffee, ate a few fragments of biscuit, and filled up(?) 

 with a smoke, as many better men are doing this morn- 

 ing. As the bell struck I hurried on deck — not one 

 moment too soon — for as I stepped out of the scuttle I saw 

 the third mate coming forward with a glitter in his eye 

 that boded no good to laggards. 



Before going any farther I must apologize for using 

 so many capital I's, but up till the present I had 

 been the only available white member of the crew 

 forrard. 



The decks were scrubbed spotlessly clean, and every- 

 thing was neat and tidy as on board a man-of-war, con- 

 trary to all usual notions of the condition of a whaler. 

 The mate was in a state of high activity, so I soon found 

 myself very busily engaged in getting up whale-lines, 

 harpo'^ns, and all the varied equipment for the pursuit of 

 whales. ' The number of officers carried would have been 

 a good crew for the ship, the complete afterguard com- 

 prising captain, four mates, four harpooners or boat- 

 steerers, carpenter, cooper, steward and cook. All these 

 worthies were on deck and working with might and main 

 at the preparations, so that the incompetence of the 

 crowd forrard was little hindrance. I was pounced 

 upon by " Mistah " Jones, the fourth mate, whom I heard 

 addressed familiarly as "Goliath" and "Anak" by his 

 brother officers, and ordered to assist him in rigging the 

 "crow's-nest" at the main royal-mast head. It was a 



