THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. S3 



safe, was my old pet and mistress ; for I came to love her in 

 my long life of safety aboard her. 



Our ship, bark-rigged, and registered 400 tons, could stow 

 300, equivalent to 2400 barrels of oil. We carried four 

 boats on the cranes, and three spare boats on the spars above 

 the quarter-deck. To each of the four boats was assigned a 

 crew of six men — ^viz., a boat-header, a harpooner, and foui- 

 oarsmen. Besides the twenty -four men assigned to the 

 boats, we had' a carpenter, a cooper, a cook, a steward, a 

 cabin-boy, and three spare men, or thirty-two all told. The 

 captain, cook, steward, and cabin-boy did not stand regular 

 watches; they aided as ship-keepers when the boats were 

 off. This gave the starboard and larboard watches each 

 fourteen men, sufficient to handle sails in nearly every emer- 

 gency. 



The crew was composed of a captain ; a mate, who head- 

 ed the larboard watch ; a second mate, who, with the third 

 mate, headed the starboard watch ; four harpooners, and the 

 trades mentioned before, with greenhorns and old salts, who 

 were known to be, and shipped as, able seamen. The strong 

 force on board a whale-ship and the duties in the boats give 

 an importance to the under officers unknown in the iner- 

 chant service. With us the second mate was the officer of 

 the deck during his watch, and he never left it to furl or 

 reef : he exacted as respectful an "Ay, ay, sir," in answer 

 to his orders as did the captain himself. The harpooners 

 were divided, two in each watch, save when we -were on 

 cruising grounds. Then we reefed down every night, and 

 each boat-steerer headed his own boat's crew's watch during 

 the night, and became officer of the deck. 



Our outfit consisted of extra sails and rigging, spare spars, 

 and a store of tar, paint, etc., for repairs to ship ; cedar 

 boards and light timbers for the boats ; a large quantity of 

 admirably made whale line; a store of harpoons made of 



