The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-04-04
THERE SHE BLOWSw
An Old Sailors Story of Life on
Board a Whaler.
Not All That Fancy Paints It-His Advice
to Young Men Going a-Whal-
ing Is Embraced in the
Word Don't.

Zone of the Detroit dailies recently
contained an interview with gentle
man who once made two-years' cruise
in whaling vessel, and | read it with
peculiar interest. for it recalled Incl
dents connected with my youth that
can never forget" remarked a silver
haired resident of this city yesterday.
''From it the general reader would OBJ
tain sort of an idea of what life on
board 'Blubber Hunter is. but only
enough to excite curiosity, and possibly
a yearning for more of the same kind of
information. His experience was gained
fifteen or twenty years subsequent to
mine, and possibly the practices and
usages on shipboard We're changed some
what during that period. Certain it is
that my experience differed materially
from his, and was not such as to incline
one to try second voyage
when | made fool of myself and
went to sea (see a whale and other
things too numerous to mention) the
whaling business was Tits best, and the
system of bounties, that he speaks about.
were not in vogue. Officers and men
had certain lay or share of the oil
taken, although it was the custom then
to offer to fit out men on the strength
or success of the voyage 1.-THE VOYAGE
turned out badly, and the men were in
debt to the ship at its close, that was the
owners loss.
There may be some young men who
read the Free Press who have become
fired with desire to 90 to sea. WhatI
shall say to you is spoken with desire
to deter them from taking such an i'll
advised step. A sailors life, and es-
if;;e3eii.;:iil sailors life on a whaler, is
one | should never encourage any Young
man to follow. Not but the life and
ealing of sailor is noble one when
entered upon and pursued by anyone
having natural taste and inclination
in that direction, coupled with desire
and determination to make it life bust
ness and to achieve success in its pur-
suit. But to 90 to sea, as thousands do,
merely to crafty an idle curiosity or
whim, or to get away from the restraints
OF home, is the worst step any boy can
take; and he finds it out to his sorrow
very quickly, but, alas! too late speak
from experience, for | have sailed many
voyages, and the last one was on a
whaler. That cured me-
In fitting out a whaler, the number
of men shipped depends upon the num-
Der of boats carried, and this, in turn.
depends upon the tonnage of the ship.
A small brig or bark never carries more
than three boats, and these are the class
of vessels that used to cruise in the South
Atlantic for sperm whales. Larger YES
sells, those that used to 90 around Cape
Horn to cruise in the Pacific, never car
ried less than four boats, and were fitted
out for sperm and right whaling. These
whalerS were fitted out for cruise of
four or five years, the boats were TWEEN
ty-siX to twenty-eight feetin length, with
oars from fifteen to seventeen feet long,
and each boat carried about $50 fathoms
of line coiled in two tubs The South
Atlantic whalers were fitted out for
shorter cruises.
"a boats crew comprised an officer
Che Captain or one of the mates), who
was called the header; a boat steerer
who was also the harpooner and four
sailors, six in ALL The boatsteerer al
ways pulled an oar until the boat was
near the whale, when he exchanged it
for harpoon and stood ready to dart it
into the whale.
at was usually the custom to ship all
the green hands possible for the reason
that they could be hired cheaper than
experienced men, and often at the COM
mencement of voyage it was found
that the ship in rough and stormy
weather was poorly provided with men
capable of making and taking in sail, or
assisting in properly caring for the safety
of the vessel. The green hands were at
first almost useless, and until they had
learned to steer, and how to get up aloft
in rough weather and handle themselves
after they got there the labor of work.
ing the ship fell upon few old sailors
and the boatsteerers, even the officers
sometimes being forced to do mems
duty.
las soon as the vessel was fairly out
TO sea, however, the green hands were
put through a course of training which
quickly made them wish they had stayed
at home. They were sent aloft to look
out for whales, and as soon as a school
of blacklish were sighted, all the boats
were lowered, the green men manned
the oars, and away went the boats in a
race to see which would strike the first
fish. OF course this would blister the
mems hands, but they learned how to
handle an oar, and themselves in a boat,
so that by the time they reached the
whaling grounds, they were able to do
good service, and knew what was ex-