The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-12-05

flag at the mizzen could be seen by
Captain Meek, with whom Babcock had
an arrangement, would go out and
bring in the ship. If there were more
coming down the channel Signal No. .
would show it. Babcock would ride
back to Waialae. hoist his flag and
Meek would bring the vessels, one after
another, until the last one had been
safely locked or anchored in the
stream. One season of this settled Cap
tain Luce's stealing march on his
fellow pilots. So well pleased was Cap
| tain Babcock with Waialae that he re-
NAMED resident of the locality for
several years.
''The existing rivalry was increased
by this show of zeal and Pilot Babcock
put into execution scheme which was
worth two of it. The semaphore was
never fixed until after the name of the
vessel was read by the lookout but II
was my aim to get the first signal
Sail, ho!' and I called it, no matter
what the character of the vessel was
Few Deserters Then.
"Tn those days many of the men
shipped were from the Western Islands
or fom the Eastern seaports Of the Uni
ted States. Among the crews were
| eoopers, ship carpenters, blacksm1ths
and men of different trades. There was
none of the sweepings from the slums
of the Pacific Coast, as now. There
was not the same desire on the part of
the men to desert, desire that is kim
died in the breast of the average deep
water sailor at the first sight of green
grass. In those days the ships frequent
| " tied up at the docks and discharged
their bone and oil for shipment round
the Horn to New Bedford. The men
| were hired and paid by the lay, the
wages depending entirely upon the sue
cess of the catch. [ have known COM
mon sailors to get anywhere from one
hundred and fifty to five hundred dol
lars and the captains to get as high as
twenty thousand. The arrival of a
lucky ship meant plenty of money to be
spent by the boys. There were not SO
many saloons in those days and what
there were had a harvest all during the
season for the vessels would come at
intervals of a few Jays or weeks.
"After the men had had good time
and spent their money they were, as u
rule, ready to reship and the captains
were nearly always glad to get them
when men were scarce, the amount
varying from twenty to fifty dollars.
Just how much of this was the share
of the sailor and how much the ship
ping master no one knew. but you may
depend upon it the shipping master got
+, MS share.
Hard Times Sometimes.
There were seasons when these
same men would come in without gal
lon of oil or a pound of bone. The
good times were not altogether miss
ing even then for the men had credit
here They were known as square fell
lows by the merchants and they got
all of the stuff they wanted for cruise
to the far North and money to spend
while ashore. There are men living
here today who could tell you of the
confidence the public had in the whalers
of forty or fifty years ago. They could
tell you of the captains who had touch
ed them for two or three thousand dol
lars as a loan ON their next season IS
chances and men who had borrowed
three or four hunded on no better Sc
curity than their word.
Crimps to Blame Now.
''The character of the men, rather
than the spirit of the people of Honolu
/ In. has changed For the past twenty
years whaleships' crews have been re-
/ cruited from waterfront dives in San
Francisco. Men who did not know bow
from stern of ship are put aboard by
unpTincipled shipping masters and with
every cent of advance gobbled up by
the shipper. Naturally the sailor had
a crouch when he came out of his stu
por and found himself aboard a whale
/ snip without a cent and owing the cap
tain for an advance he never saw.
! Men have been shipped in San Fran
cisco for work in an Alaska cannery
/ only to find themselves, when outside
| .tae heads. bound for the far North.
These are the men who have brought
/ the whaling business into distav0r. The
( crimps and shipping masters are the
ones who put the men in a position to
/ bring disfavor to the trade.
/ u remember the time when the ar
rival of whaler brought activity to
the local butcher business remarked
! Mr.. Oat eve had two who were
energetic and particularly active in
reaching out for the whalers' trade.
/ One of them was corpulent and the
other lean and hungry looking. We had
! number of ships coming in one sea-
son and the competition among these
/ two butchers grew very keen. Directly
the signal was hoisted, and sometimes
! Immediately after had sung out Sail,
Fo!' these butchers would get into their
boats and pull off toward the ships. On
one occasion one of the whalers TO he
boarded was pretty well out of the
water and the fat butcher arrived on
deck by way of the rope ladder pretty
well winded The thin man was there
before him and the captain eyed them
! closely before learning their mission.
What are you after; what S your
busness7' he asked the thin fellow.
s. A butcher. sir. and I would like
your order for beef answered Cassius.
''And you7'' asked the captain of
the fat one who was Teuton.
''Me too he replied rubbing his
paunch. ''He eats his beef and [ eat
mine. -
The difference in weight was so no
ticeable that the captain was inclined
to believe the meat had something to
do with it and he gave his order for
supplies to the fat fellow and he held