In An Easy Chair.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13846, 6 March 1909, Page 3 (Supplement)

In An Easy Chair.

<• THERE SHE BLOWS " I J. E. Patterson tlius reviews <: The story of ?the New England ..Whalers," by Jolniß., Spears:—, It seems to' lie oiie of the unwritten laws of things that the great shall, for a while, atsleast, go short of their heritage. Exceptions do but emphasise the , truth of the matter. And even when they -begin to get their due, or appear to be getting it, how often is it no more than a mess of . pottage, in place of the venison that should be theirs! We'sec this, all - down the ages as regards the great; amongst men and women; and ■■■ tjie. great in other things often share . the"; same fate. But let a little jim- • crack thing pop up suddenly, as your ■ m -Tack-in-the-box usually does; a dwarf hiding himself under a giant's robe, which lie holds up with a long stick : and so hoodwinks the gating crowd; a child with a man's lungs, or what ever other >simile you like —and, lo! what , a fanfare of tnimphets,'what a waving of flags and what a hullaballo of 'serious nonsense greets his coming. . Here, for instance, is one of the ■rreat in maritime subjects;, yet how long it lias had tn wait for a chronicler! " —at least, a hobby in collecting sea- _ faring literature has not brought . 111 c aiiv other history of the New England whalers. And' now that it lias come, admirable as it: is within its . 41S pp., instead of being the Tine fullrigger that it' might have been, it is, comparative--lv onlv a topsail schooner. 'To do Mr Spears bare justice, be ~ could not- well have packed " 10 ™ ter into his pages, not have put it before us 7 in a more lucid manner, true he does at times wander too much from - Islanders waxed rich .and iat m t.ne West African slave trade; when . : . . foru^von,nwjjoesv r - Sfc *r-f? .teresting, and * For those back'to the true coiQ - noted for same thrifty their ability to "» al f nla a s g.° Thna it from, a gallon ° •" v e .and slaves was froßi riirn Xhat^oivl. to .vrhalii*» . <»n mo Nw . of the of tll <, past, land's . greatest ind .. h di e S t,-man-Ldwithit one 1 4^- y et. withal Hest,;,if ; at; tim men that . tue seas. God-fearing body oi who . satlg and have ever known, whaie or a ever acted up to a uea 'fS.'X'tti ot tfc i » d "» tr! '' Mr Spears informs us - tl)p islan ders It: was m w9U tench them iiid IchaW« S, y ears the arts of th V t . t heir first ■ sloop, to later they bo "? b t Lt H ussey killed his 1712. the y° w v^' a five . sloops, v were first sperm wtale, h Tn . o . VMrR l a ter owned in the 'J an in p rease d to ; nine- ol the ' number * deep-water whale which six were rnthe- 1710 secured fcbery. 11,0001b. of-bone 600 -barrels of oil £IOOO .. ln : 1. 30 which were s ° ld ,^ lt *l five wliulers ui Nantucket- bad brought home oil the deepbuilt and fitted- out a had . little or ' bnHhe u eoa B t by n.en nf 110 cash capital Thev bt^an strength and olue £P n ® f tllP ' sliw ltest with fishmg smncksof tho iron, sails, ropes etc., needed in bii.lcl ing larger ■ vessels. _ . , own The timber they got at tneu backdoors, so to syoak. j s Then In Whaling 'as a Business Eaiteb>nse that is, in the middle o . if.. SDears does •iU)t brmfe bovr the Envoy" on her; ftrsr muse, ■■-paid for cost; of ship and aiu left 'a large sum as clear -profit- lfi dition.' Whilst she .was? st*U^eaworthy cleared well up dols., or, sav 12,000 dols. a ,year during lai -' Fniirteen vears, 011 an original investment of perhaps 35,000 dols. all told. ■'And'when'llo' underwriter would issue ;r polic-v on her she went to sea a wain, after being sold for 8,U00.<1015., as a- " knacker " for a " nautical bonevard " and made 138,400d015. But against such cases as this one has to remember that there were linprolitab e " seasons," and that many a line cral went out, full of promise, never to .re-

turn. - r. Amongst other things, Mr Spears gives us some illuminating pages on how the owners underfed and underpaid - the men; how the Confederate Shenandoah cruiser destroyed the Northern whaling fleet; and he rounds oil his inteuseh- interesting book with that old chantv," which he says is purely a whaling song, yet which I have heard sung without any reference to "New Bedford town " : We're homeward bound to New Bedford town; ~ Good-bye, fare you well; good-bye, fare you well. ' We'll spend our money- free when " we're on s'hore; Good-bye, fare you- well; good-bye, fare vou well; And when it's all gone we'll to sea no more; Hurrah, my boys! we're homeward bound! Which has its protype in that old English sea-song, never seen in anthologies nowadays:— Now I've spent all my tin With the girls" a-drinking gin. So that on the briny ocean I'must wander again.