TEE AMERICAN WEALE - FISEEIiY. 071 



stars, or crescents ; or a large letter or number designated the ship to which tho}' 

 belonged. The diversity of colors, and the different tastes displayed in painting 

 the boats, added another pleasing feature : some were pure white, others black, 

 still others of a lead color; or fancifully striped with tri- colors, or with the bow 

 red, blue, or green, while the rest of the craft would be of a contrasting shade. 

 Sometimes a huge eye on either side of the stem, or a large circle, would be the 

 designating mark ; all these combined making up an extended group of dashing 

 water- craft, especially pertaining to the California coast and fishery. 



As the success of a whaling -voyage depends chiefly (when whales are plenti- 

 ful) upon the officers being good whalemen, there is frequently more or less con- 

 tention among captains and agents to obtain those of unquestionable skill ; so that 

 the "crack" men of the harpoon and lance have oflen dictated their owu terms as 

 to their lay and bonus ; and in former years the advance wages and extra pay 

 received by officers of great reputation as right -whalemen and devil -fishermen, 

 might be considered enormous. But it was not always that these "bonus men" 

 proved to be equal to the reputation which they perhaps had oljtained eitlier by 

 accident or purely good fortune. Ill luck sometimes roljbed a good whaleuian of 

 his prestige, and many a game man for a Pvight AYhale of the North- western Coast 

 found himself quite unequal to the task of '■turning up" a California Gray. We 

 recollect an instance which occurred ou board a Now Loudon ship, where the mate 

 returned on board after a hard chase and combat with an old cow and her calf in 

 one of the shallow estuaries. As this oCQcer approached his captain, to give an 

 account of his mishaps, he became greatly excited; but at last he said: "I didn't 

 know, sir, that the whale was within fifty fathoms of me, when up we went — and 

 there ain't enough left of the boat to kindle the cook's fire." On another occasion, 

 a famous New Bedford captain hew into a fit of passion at his "bonus mate," for 

 coming on board with a staved boat, instead of bringing alongside a dead whale. 

 Words ran high with the "old man;" but his chief officer seemed to take tilings 

 philosophically. He remained silent until his commander had vented his spleen, 

 when he replied as follows: "Look a- here, Cap'n Simmons, I don't ask no odds 

 of any living man that can pull an oar or dart an iron. I can catch as many 

 whales as the next one, ef ye'll give me a fair show. I don't say as I cud do any 

 more; but did'nt I bring as many whales to the ship, down to the Rosemerry 

 Islands, as all the rest of your boat- headers that was counted as bem' groat on a 

 Humpback? And what kind uv whales did they git, anyhow ? — calves, and old 

 cows that had been sucked down till they was too poor to skin— why, the 

 blubber on 'em wouldn't make coal-tar ef you biled it a week; and the most of 



