e on
the "look-out," a tiny platform between the "knight heads," just where
the bowsprit joins the ship. Gladly I obeyed him, and perched up there
looking over the wide sea, the time passed quickly away until eight
bells (four o'clock) terminated my watch. I must pass rapidly over the
condition of things in the fo'lk'sle, where all the greenies that were
allowed below, were groaning in misery from the stifling atmosphere
which made their sickness so much worse, while even that dreadful
place was preferable to what awaited them on deck. There was a
rainbow-coloured halo round the flame of the lamp, showing how very bad
the air was; but in spite of that I turned in and slept soundly till
seven bells (7.20 a.m.) roused us to breakfast.

American ships generally have an excellent name for the way they feed
their crews, but the whalers are a notable exception to that good rule.
The food was really worse than that on board any English ship I have
ever sailed in, so scanty also in quantity that it kept all the foremast
hands at starvation point. But grumbling was dangerous, so I gulped down
the dirty mixture mis-named coffee, ate a few fragments of biscuit, and
filled up (?) with a smoke, as many better men are doing this morning.
As the bell struck I hurried on deck--not one moment too soon--for as
I stepped out of the scuttle I saw the third mate coming forward with a
glitter in his eye that boded no good to laggards.

Before going any farther I must apologize for using so many capital I's,
but up till the present I had been the only available white member of
the crew forrard.

The decks were scrubbed spotlessly clean, and everything was neat and
tidy as on board a man-of-war, contrary to all usual notions of the
condition of a whaler. The mate was in a state of high activity, so
I soon found myself very busily engaged in getting up whale-lines,
harpoons, and all the varied equipment for the pursuit of whales. The
number of officers carried would have been a good crew for the ship, the
complete afterguard comprising captain, four mates, four harpooners or
boat-steerers, carpenter, cooper, steward and cook. All these worthies
were on deck and working with might and main at the preparations, so
that the incompetence of the crowd forrard was little hindrance. I was
pounced upon by "Mistah" Jones, the fourth mate, whom I heard addressed
familiarly as "Goliath" and "Anak" by his brother officers, and ordered
to assist him in r