114 "THE WHALE HUNTERS 



he felt himself deeply moved by the thought of this great- 

 great-grandfather of his who had been the founder of the 

 Oakley family of whalemen and shipowners. It was not 

 until twilight covered the sea that he returned to his cabin. 



There he took from a locker a thick log-book and open- 

 ing it at the first page wrote: 'The diary of Thomas 

 Oakley, at the time of commencement third mate of the 

 whaling barque Meribah of Nantucket.' 



His pen moved slowly over the ruled lines for this 

 Thomas Oakley was not the scholar that Jonathan had 

 been. Generations of Oakleys separated the two and a 

 century of whaling had toughened the breed. Yet in the 

 blue eyes of this stalwart young man you might have seen 

 at times something of the dreamer that had been so marked 

 in Jonathan. 



When he put down his pen after half an hour of steady 

 writing in which he told of the Meribah^ s departure from 

 Nantucket, he became, with the quickness that was so 

 typical of him, the man of action once more. 



He looked at the large timepiece he carried in the pocket 

 of his reefer. It was time for the night watch to take over 

 and his turn to make a report to the Old Man. 



He passed through the cabin in which thrice daily 

 meals were served in two sittings, first to the captain and 

 his mates and then to the harpooners who in rank were 

 somewhat equivalent to petty officers. From here he 

 climbed the ladder to the after deck where Hodge the 

 burly first mate had just taken over the watch. He 

 wondered why Hodge always scowled at him in that 

 manner. 



Barefooted and with legs slightly astride to meet the 

 movement of the ship he walked forward under the great 

 billowing sails and between the whaleboats that hung 

 from their massive wooden cranes of davits. He paused 

 when he reached the try-works which lay between the 

 foremast and the mainmast. This construction of bricks 



