The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-09-25

the odn FRANCISCO papers that
able seamen were wanted for a
whaling voyage. AS I had been
ashore several weeks, and conse-
quently had no money, l went to the
place named in the advertisement. and
after talk with the plausible agent 1
shipped with Captain Sherman of the
Orca.
All of us shipped on a lay. In fact
everybody on a whaling vessel, except
the engineers, ships on the same propo-
sition. Sometimes it is a paying plan,
but more often it is just the opposite.
In the articles signed by me each able
seaman was to receive one barrel of oil
out of two hundred and one pound of
bone from a similar number of pounds.
The oil was valued at 90 cents a gallon
and the bone at 81 so a pound, though
their market value varies.
My order for $40 advance was pay
able twenty-four hours after we left
port by the company to my order.
soon found, however, that I was ex
pected to make use of it only in buying
my outfit OF clothing. l was marched
off TO Shipping Agent Levy's in charge
of one of the Orca's officers, and was
never left to myself until l had spent
the last uOIldT TOT WHICH my OIueT
called. For flannel shirts which are
usually sold for so or 80 cents 1 was
compelled to pay IS, for SO oilskin l
gave up nearly IS and everything else
was in the same proportion.
Then l was escorted to the Orca,
which lay in the bay, and for the first
time in my sea experience / had an OPP
portunity to inspect a whaler at close
range. She was bark rugged, with aux
Hilary steam power, and measured about
500 tons, and although every foot of
her deck was incumbered with whaling
apparatus and supplies waiting to be
slowed below 1 could see only dirt and
CRIME from the forecastle to the taft
rail aft.
1t took US about three weeks to make
Unalaska and we were busy from the
time we lost sight of the California
coast astern Of us until we reached
Unalaska in preparing the whaling
tackle and getting our lines ready for
codfshing At the same time we
worked the ship watch and watch.
When we were within twenty miles OF
our first port we dropped anchor in or
der to catch a supply of fresh fish.
We put out three boats, each with
six men at the lines and at the end OF
four days we had caught nearly 1000
pounds of cod Some of these were
eaten Just as they came from the
water, but the bulk of them were salt
ed down for use later in the season.
Let me say right here that after the
first few days we never saw anything
but the heads of our fish. The latter
were made into stews and soups and
served to us in the forecastle, While the
bodies went to the cabin mess.
We Law around UnalaSka for several
DAYS. and then, toward the end of
April we started off for the Boring Sea
in search of whales. On the fourth day
out L was sleeping soundly in my bunk
when suddenly a grinding, humping
noise aroused me in a jiffy and sent me
scurrying to the deck. Just forward
of our bow 1 could see, as far as the
eve could reach, a vast field of broken
ice. into which the Orca was en-
deavoring to push her way
After an hour of this work Captain
Sherman decided to make no further
effort to get through. SO for the next
fortnight we drifted slowly with the
ice. We killed a number of young seals
while in the ice, and they made very
paIatable dish when boiled with dunn
pings.
Finally we got clear of the ice and
made for ST. Lawrence Island, and
traded with the natives for three or
four days They offered walrus tusks,
bone. and skin garments in exchange
for -four. tobacco, tinWare, calico and
guns. and an old whaleboat, worth al
most nothing to the ship, was readlly
exchanged for bone worth $1,000. Almost
every Whaler carries one or two OLD
and discarded boats on the trip to the
north. and the natives snap them up
at fabulous prices. This trading, l
should exDlain, is mostly carried on by
the captain and his officers. The sea-
men have no capital on Whlch 10 trade
except spare tobacco and an occasional
coat or under garment, but to the
ships officers the trading is an lhlpor-
tant feature of their lay.
After this we returned to the ice, and
here we killed our first whale. Al
though it was the smallest one taken
by US during the next few months ~
yielded 1000 pounds Of bone and 100
barrels of oil. A day or two later we
took our second whale, and then we
put in at Indian Point, on the RUSSIAN
side, where we traded for furS, deer
skins, bone and ivory for some time
When our trading stock was exhaust
ed we steamed to Port Clarence to take
on provisions and coal. The company
has a supply post at this point, and
at that time the Government reindeer
station was maintained there. lhen
we put to the northward again, his
time heading for Cape Smyth We
reached there about the 1st Of Septem-
Der.
All this time we were on the look
out for whales, meeting with success
ut times, and by the middle of Sep
TENDER our captain felt justified in
starting for Point Barrow, North
ern Alaska, point that would mark
the beginning of our journey home.
At Point Barrow we found the whaI-
ers Jessie H. Freeman, the schooner
Rosario, the Belvedere and the Alex
ander, and all Of these reported fair
catches We remained here twelve
days, amusing ourselves by gam
ming" or exchanging visits from ship
to ship, and then we spent three DAYS
in chopping, saving and blasting our
way through the ice to reach open
water. 1t was very hard work, and
we were we'll nigh worn out when we
got through. Then we found that we
had broken our rudder pintles In back
Ing into the ice, as we were forced to