Part 13

Some English and Scottish whalers carried surgeons, but it was not the custom in Yankee ships. Whatever casualties befell his men, the captain attended to as best he could.

Heroic tales are related of bone settings and amputations without anesthetics aboard whaleships that pay high tribute to the fortitude of that vanished race of hardy seamen.

BOAT SURGERY

While the captain repaired his men--“Chips” repaired his boats.

Ships’ carpenters received their training as boat builders, and were prepared, not only to mend them, but had “knocked down” parts stowed below for the construction of new ones.

Whaleboats were very lightly built and subjected to extremely rough handling. Seldom did a whaleship start a voyage with anything but new craft on her davits.

ASHORE FOR WATER

As the casks were filled with oil, the fresh water supply diminished, so shore parties were sent off with empty casks to be filled and towed back to the ship.

HAVING IT OUT

Fighting aboard ship was not tolerated by the captain, and grudges were carefully nursed until some shore duty afforded the belligerents an opportunity to settle their affair on the beach.

RECRUITING ON THE BEACH

Disillusioned by hard work, indifferent food, and miserable conditions of living in general, men were constantly deserting the whaleships, especially in the South Seas--where the islands presented a seemingly idyllic existence to the hard driven sailor man.

Whaling captains did their best to repair these losses by recruiting among the beachcombers and deserters from other ships, but the inducements held out were no different to those with which they were only too well acquainted, and met with little success, except in cases where idleness and monotony gave way to a desire to get home again.

Many of these runaways, however, were so steeped in the soft living in the islands that they deserted again at the first opportunity.

A “GAM”

The tedium of a protracted whale hunt and association with the same companions for months on end was relieved when two ships met at sea. If they hailed from the same port so much the better.

The sails were laid aback, and the captains, mates, and crews exchanged visits. Old friends met, and letters passed--along with newspapers and home gossip. Work ceased--the cook threw a few more raisins in the plum duff--and a general holiday was declared.

A gam might last a day or a week, and if whales appeared there was friendly competition between the boats of one ship and the other, the oil taken during this period of “mating” being shared equally.

SONG AND DANCE

With a Negro or two in the crew, the foc’s’le could always be assured of entertainment in the dog watches or during a gam.

BUMBOATS

When ships touched at ports in the Cape Verde Islands, the Azores, or other such rendezvous they were surrounded by peddlers of fresh fruit and vegetables, a very welcome variant after months of salt junk and hardtack.

ARCTIC WHALING

Compared to the dramatic action of Sperm whaling, the taking of Right whales was a tame business, but the chase of Bowhead or Arctic whales took men among icebergs and floes where their work was complicated by discomfort and the danger of ships being crushed or wrecked.

Many individual whalers have been thus lost, and in 1871 a fleet of thirty-four was crushed and abandoned in the Arctic ice.

WHALEBONE

Whalebone, which once brought a higher price than the oil of the bone whales, has little or no commercial value now.

The sketch shows the upper part of the head of a Bowhead whale, with the whalebone attached.