The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1859-01-27
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
THURSDAY. JANUARY q.

hSO JANUARY u.
FoR several years past our California friends
have been fishing for the whaling trade, but
beyond an occasional nibble of feeble sort, they
appear to meet with no more success than did the
fisherman of old, of whom we read that he
~B aited his hook with a dragons tail
And sat on a rock and bodied for a whale"
This want of success in their efforts to at
tract the whaling trade 70 San Francisco has con-
siderably puzzled the journalists of that city, and
from time to time they utter a pathetic lament
that after all the efforts which have been made by
the Legislature of California, to induce whalers
to make San Francisco their rendezvous they still
refuse to be coaxed, and bestow the advantages of
ssthis immense interest" on the Sandwich Islands.
The Ala California in a recent article on this
subject says:
"The cause of this is to be found rather in the
defective nature of the maritime laws of the United
States, and the advantages taken of these defects by a
species of petti-fogging lawyers, who infest all seaport
towns, hunt up the sailors in their clearinghouse,
make them believe, whether they will or not, that they
have been cruelty and s~hamefully treated during the
voyage, and that by u resort to legal proceedings large
sums in the way of damages might be recovered. 1t
Is for this reason that the masters of the whalers
cruising in the North Pacific avoid this port, from
the dread of being detained here by v~exatious litiga-
ton, or losing their crews altogether. In the foreign
ports which they now frequent they are exempted
from all such anoyances. If a sailor should desert,
the Captain has only ,, make application to the Con-
sui to insure his immediate arrest and prompt Ieliv-
cry on board. If the laws OF the United States could
be modified so rs to give that protection to the Amer
lean captain which he enjoys in foreign ports, San
Francisco would become the depot of the whaling
trade of the North Pacific"
1.-The Legislature is now in session D., and if proper
action were taken in the premises al once, there are
some grounds for indulging in the hope that something
might be done in the matter by Congress, though
this is the short term, and expires by law on the 4th
March next"
California has received many and substantial
Acknowledgements of the golden harvest which she
has poured into the lap of the United States, in
the shape of the Notifications, lighthouses, a
navy yard, a mint, etc., but it would seem to be
asking rather too much in the way of special
favors, that the Marine Laws of the Union should
be altered for her sole benefit, especially when it
is more than predetermined whether the 9. i'm
mense interest" itself would be benefited thereby.
Under the United States Maritime Laws at
present, u seaman who ships for a foreign voyage,
may, on the return of the vessel to any port of
the United States, demand his discharge, and 50
long as this is the case no such port can become
a rendezvous and place of refreshment for the
American whaling fleet. 1t is true that a civil
action may be brought by the master or agent
for a breach of contract, but whaling masters are
just the last class of men who wish to be annoyed
with lawsuits. Besides, what would be gained
by sueing a penniless sailor, in the absence of a
law of Imprisonment for debt? Governor Weller,
in his annual message to the Legislature, remarks
as follows upon this subject:
The apprehension that sailors may desert is now
more imaginary than real. 1t is a notorious fact,
that in the port Of San Francisco sufficient numbers
OF seamen can be obtained for any voyage. Within
the past few years, no vessel has experienced serious
difficulty on leaving that harbor, for want of a suf6-
cient crew. 1t is quite probable that heretofore diff
hculties have been thrown in the way of shipmasters,
anu temptation presented to seamen to desert, but
these causes have been partially removed, and by the
creation of q tribunal similar to that existing in New
York, may be wholly obviated."
We remember hearing a shipmaster relate his
adventures in San Francisco a year or two since,
in which there did not appear to he much of ina
gination. He anchored at Saucelito and, with
out stopping to furl the sails, two-thirds of the
entire crew put their chests into the shore-boats
which crowded alongside and coolIy babe the
Captain good morning. His subsequent endea-.
vors to regain his men were utterly ~fruitless, and
after being sorely annoyed and feeced by lawyers
the men actually sueing for their share of the
va v ooaru-the SapGaih was gao 10 get away
and come to Honolulu shorthanded. The Coy
ernor says " it is a notorious fact that in the port
of San Francisco sufficient numbers of seamen can
be obtained for any voyage" True, but they are
old merchant sailors and man-ofwars-men, and
altogether the wrong sort to make whalemen of.
Besides, the charges for shipment and advance
wages are extremely high in San Francisco, and
for q whaling voyage would be utterly out of the
question.