Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1892-05-04
THE MAID OF THE PERIOD.
THERE SHE BL0WSr


md | read il with peculiar interest,
or il recalled incidents connected
With my youth that | can never for
yet," remarked silvcrhaired man
If this city yesterday.
"From it the general reader would
obtain a sort of an idea of what life
III board 'Blubber Hunter is, but
,nly enough to excite curiosity, and
possibly a yearning for more of the
iame kind Of information. His ex-
,erience was gained fifteen or twenty
years subsequent to mine, and poss-
bly, the practices and usages on
,hipboard were changed some
what during that period. Certain
il is that my experience differed
from his, and was not
such as to incline one to try second
voyage.
"When | made fool of myself
and went to sea (sec a whale and
other things too numerous to men
tion) the whaling business was at
It's best, and the system of bounties,
that he speaks about, were not in
vogue. Officers and men had GER
tain lay or share of the oil taken,
although it was the custom then to
offer to fit out men OH the strength,
or success, of the voyage. If 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 60 to
sea. What shall say to you is
spoken with desire to deter them
from taking such HI ill-advised step,
A sailors life, and especially sailors
life upon whaler, is one | should
never encourage any young man tt
follow. Not but the life and call
ing of u sailor is a noble one when
entered upon and pursued by any
one having a natural taste and in.
in that direction, coupled
with desire and determination IL
make it life business and to ac.
hicvc success in its pursuits. But
to 20 to sea, as thousands do, mere
ly to CRAFTY an idle curiosity Oh
whim, or to get away from the re-
straints of home, is the worst stel
any boy can take; and he finds il
out to his sorrow very quickly, but
alas! too late. lspeak from expert
ence, for ] have sailed many voyages
and the last one was on a whalcr
That cured me.
"In fitting out ii whaler, the mum
Der of men shipped depends dpo,
the number of boats carried, and this
in turn, depends upon the tonnage
of the ship. A small brig or bari
never carries more than three boats
and these are the class of vessel
that used to cruise in the South
Atlantic for sperm whales. LARGE
vessels, those that used to 90 aroun'
Cape Horn to cruise in the Pacific
never carried less than four boats
and were fitted out for sperm AM
and right whaling. These whalers
were fitted out for cruise of fou
or five years. the boats were twenty
eight feet in length, with oars from
fifteen TO seventeen feet long, am
each boat carried about $50 fathom
of line coiled in two tubs. Tn
South Atlantic whalcrs were fittet
out for shorter cruises.
"A boat screw comprised al office
(the captain or one of the mates }, VIII
was called the header, boatsteerer
who was also the harpoonecr, ant
four sailors--six in all. The boat
stecrer always pulled an oar unit
the boat was near the whale, when
he exchanged it for a harpoon ant
stood up ready to dart it into the
whale.
1T was usually the custom t
ship all the green hands possibl
for the reason that they could b
hired cheaper than experienced mer
and often ut the commencement O
voyage it was found that the ship i
rough and stormy weather was poor
ly provided with men capable ofmak
ing and taking in sail, or assisting i
properly caring for the safety of tn
vessel. The green hands were a
first sight almost useless, and unit
they had learned to steer, and hoy
to go up aloft in rough weather ant
handle themselves after they 60
there, the labor of working tho shil
fell upon few old sailors aud tn
boatsteercrs, even the officers sonc
times being forced to do mems duty
"As soon as the vessel was fairl.
out to sea, however, the green hand
were put through u course Of train
ing which quickly made them wisl
H.. LII okox.o1 "a bo,,a Tho,