Chapter X: Crews and Captains

In the last chapter we have been able to see from Captain Joy’s journal something of the anxieties of an American whaler’s skipper in the South Seas. There is an old American whaling chantey which contains the following among its verses, and hints at the way the crew considered their duties aboard these ships:

They send you to New Bedford, that famous whaling port,
And give you to some land-sharks to board and fit you out.

In the boarding house full of the usual thieves and liars the future whaling crews were to listen to all sorts of yarns concerning the famous ships of the day. Men were embroidering incidents, and interested parties were telling of the fortunes to be made whaling:

They tell you of the clipper-ships a-going in and out,
And say you’ll take five hundred sperm before you’re six months out.

It’s now we’re out to sea, my boys, the wind comes on to blow;
One half the watch is sick on deck, the other half below.

And then of course comes a reference to the captain as in so many chanteys:

The Skipper’s on the quarter-deck a-squinting at the sails,
When up aloft the lookout sights a school of whales.

“Now clear away the boats, my boys, and after him we’ll travel,
But if you get too near his fluke, he’ll kick you to the devil.”[1]

[1] Given in J. C. Colcord’s _Roll and Go_.

There is no question that the whalers had their own chanteys, just like the other merchant sailormen. There were, for instance, “The Boston Come-All-Ye,” “There She Blows,” “Blow Ye Winds” (from which the above extracts are taken), “Coast of Peru,” “Rolling Down to Old Maui” and “A Dead Whale Or A Stove Boat.” As to the latter, Melville shows that in the eighteen-forties this was still the custom in the whaling service. Many readers will remember the following passage out of _Moby Dick_:

“‘What do ye when ye see a whale, men?’

“‘Sing out for him!’ was the impulsive rejoinder from a score of clubbed voices.

“‘Good!’ cried Ahab, with a wild approval in his tones; observing the hearty animation into which his unexpected question had so magnetically thrown them.

“‘And what do ye next, men?’

“‘Lower away, and after them.’

“‘And what tune is it ye pull to, men?’

“‘A dead whale or a stove boat.’”

But we are able to get a little knowledge of the life aboard a British South Sea whaler from no less an authority than the journal of Captain John Balleny in the season 1830-9, when he was working the New Zealand waters whilst commanding Messrs. Enderby’s whaling and sealing schooner _Eliza Scott_. Unfortunately the records of British whaling are far less complete than in the case of the American ships. Therefore every scrap of information that can be found is of the utmost value to us. So let us see how matters appeared to this English skipper.

From the first we cannot but admire his sensible treatment of his crew. They needed shore leave and he granted it. “December 9th. This day is fine. Gave the men 4 muskets and let them go into the woods to shoot and stretch their legs. Having no means of obtaing [_sic_] fresh provisions but by the hook and gun Capt Freeman [of the _Sabrina_] and myself have generally endeavoured to provide for part of the crew, and I think a run on shore will do the men good, in point of fact the whole crew seem so disappointed in not being able to run as they expected that they are in a state little short of downright mutiny. Therefore I have allowed them to go and ramble in the woods but have always refused the boats unless with an officer.”

But none the less Captain Balleny was always anxious lest his men would desert at the first opportunity. “In the afternoon saw a whale boat sailing up the harbour for which I was extremely sorry as it will afford an opportunity for the men to run.” And sure enough two days later, when Balleny awoke and went on deck he found that five of his men had stolen a boat and made off. “This is a serious loss but as the rest of the crew seem perfectly content and willing to try their luck I still do not despair, indeed the remaining crew seem glad these people have gone and they all say they will now be comfortable. Two of these men were certainly two of the greatest blackguards I ever had on board a ship and I had a great deal of trouble with them on the passage out; more mutinous rascals could not be, & they have, I think, seduced two of the others from their duty. As for the 3rd. he had been much in Sydney and perhaps was the ringleader of the whole. I deplore now more than ever my long passage out, as I might perchance have saved them altho’ I am aware it was their intention to run when they shipped, but I could not carry sail on the schooner and on unstowing the vessel here I found a sufficient reason.” For the lowest tier of casks ought to have been filled with water ballast, but were now found “perfectly empty and it becomes no longer a matter of wonder the ship would not bear her canvass, but a matter of wonder she got here at all.”

On Christmas Day Captain Balleny dined aboard another vessel, and the latter’s mates were allowed to dine aboard the _Eliza Scott_. “I told Mr. Moore, my chief mate, that I laid no embargo on his grog drinking on this day only to remember and keep within bounds of moderation. At 10 I returned on board and the only one sober was my 2nd. mate Mr. McNab. About 2 o’clock it blew so hard that both vessels drove & had to let go the 2nd. anchor. The mate still that stupid that I could not get him out of his bed.” And on Boxing Day the much-worried skipper writes, whilst it was still raining heavily and blowing a gale of wind: “The mate appears not to have gotten the better of his intemperance and has been exceeding impertinent so much so that I am inclined to turn him forward. This is not the first time or act of intemperance and impudence. It is now become almost time to put an end to it. From his conduct I am more than ever convinced he was accessory to the departure of the men and boat & is, I think, endeavourg to sow the seeds of dissension amongst the people.”

But things were no happier aboard the other ship, for on the fourth day of January, Balleny saw signals of distress flying, so “went on board & found 3 men had deserted.” But fortunately we have also the _Eliza Scott’s_ log, presumably kept by the Chief Mate, and we see the other side of the case. First with regard to the men: he writes under date of that same December 11th, “The Cooper in a most Mutinous Manner declared he had not sufficient to eat and with respect to Grog he said he considered it as much his as mine and that everyone in the ship had a right to an equal share.” And on the next day, “This Morng Smith the Yarmouth fisherman as he calls himself brought up the Bread Barge so heaped up as to run the risk of scattering the Contents and on my simply requesting him to be careful he was exceedingly Insolent and when he went forward the Carpenter exclaimed in loud voice that he was saucy and Independant and did not care a damn. It appears to me that the whole Crew are in a state of Mutiny or at least are endeavouring to make a Disturbance....” But the Chief Mate’s own account of that drink incident of Boxing Day is as brief as it is personal: “Strong Gales, at daylight let go the Second Anchor--Employed variously about the Rigging &c. N.B. at 3 the Captn struck the Mate before all hands on the Quarter deck for nothing.”

Thus, what with troublesome mates and drunken crews and the ever-present possibility of losing several hands by desertion as long as the ship was at anchor, every whaling or sealing skipper had a merry old time. But friction was caused between shipmasters in consequence of the deserters joining up in another whaler. McNab instances the following letter which was sent by Captain Francis Neil, of the American whaler _Navy_, to Captain Bateman, of the British whaler _Cheviot_, who had been compelled to find some of his crew enticed away and had retaliated by seizing some of the _Navy’s_ boats. The letter at least shows that the American had a keen sense of justice, or rather of retribution.

“_Ship ‘Navy,’ Oct. 7, 1836._
+Manna.+[1]

“+Dear Sir+,

“I received your letter of the 6th instant, and as you request my
opinion in writing, tending the loss you sustained by part of your
crew deserting you and joining a shore party employed by ---- of
Sydney, I am well aware that your men were taken from Cloudy Bay in
the barque and to my certain knowledge distressed your ship much.
It is my opinion had not these men been enticed from your vessel
you would have had double the quantity of oil you now have, your
crew being much reduced; but as Captain ---- told me there was ‘no
law in New Zealand’ I commend you for having taken the boat as part
payment for the injury sustained.

“I remains dear Sir
“Yours
“+Francis Neil+.”

[1] The name of an island.

Off the New Zealand coast the whaling was done principally by vessels from the United Kingdom and America, but others came from Sydney and Hobart Town. It was because the whale had been hunted from the trade routes that vessels from London and New Bedford had been forced to come so far south, and this in turn suggested the industry to the two colonial towns mentioned, which enjoyed the advantage of being much nearer to these new whaling grounds. This meant, obviously, that the Australian whalers could spend a much longer period of their cruise in the actual localities where the cetacean was found: and a quicker return was made for the capital expended.

But the decadence which had set in with regard to English whaling and whaler skill prevented the Americans from having a serious rival down south during the period of the eighteen-thirties. In the year 1838 the merchants and shipowners whose vessels were not doing too well in the waters of Greenland and the Davis Straits petitioned the Treasury Lords that an investigation be made in the conditions of the South Pacific whaling trade; for they alleged that for a considerable time whalebone had reached London which pretended to have been British caught yet was American or foreign. But, owing to it having a British certificate, it came into England without paying the duty of £94 a ton. It was suggested that British ships were meeting American whalers on the high seas, buying the whalebone, incorporating it in their own cargo and thus arriving with it in a port of the United Kingdom. And this complaint embraced the ships from Sydney and Hobart Town. There is undisputable evidence that American ships did actually sell whalebone to English ships, for such trafficking is recorded in at least one American whaler’s log.

But all these jealousies and disputes between individuals and between the whalers of both nations were almost inevitable. The whale belonged definitely to no particular sea and to no particular nation or ship. The initiative was entirely to the cetacean, and wherever he chose to wander, thither the fleets had to follow irrespective of what flag they wore. Skippers naturally tried their best to keep secret the locality of their pet grounds: but just as to-day the trawlermen cannot preserve for long the secrecy of their newly found areas, so it was with the whalers. After a season or two there would be a squadron of ships where there had been one: and in the year following would come an entire fleet to pick up the wealth from the sea.