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[31] chapter 5 The Agreement and the Law To whom could we apply for redress? We had left both law and equity on the other side of the Cape. —Typee, Chapter 4 The ten articles of the Whalemen’s Shipping Paper that Herman Melville and twenty-five other members of the original ship’s company of the Acushnet had signed on December 30, 1840, constitute an important document in the study of Melville’s whaling career.It provides the only legal evidence of the contract for the voyage and differs in at least two respects from the usual shipping paper of a merchant vessel: it indicates the nature of payment to the men for their duty during the voyage and it is very particular in detailing punishable misdemeanors and vices. It makes emphatically clear the sovereignty of the whaling master,at whose whim a boatsteerer might be turned before the mast or a forecastle man reduced in rating.The Shipping Paper reads: 1st.IT IS AGREED between the Owner[s],Master,Seamen and Mariners, of the Ship Acushnet Valentine Pease Master now bound from the Port of Newbedford & Fairhaven to the Pacific Ocean or any other Bays or oceans or Sounds the Master may direct—THAT in consideration of the share against each respective Seaman or Mariner’s name hereunder set,they severally shall and will perform the above-mentioned voyage; and the said Owner[s] and Master, do hereby agree with, and hire the said Seamen or Mariners for the said voyage, as such shares of the net proceeds, or of the actual products of the voyage,to be paid pursuant to this agreement,and the custom and usage in the port of Fairhaven & Newbedford 2d. And they, the said Seamen and Mariners, do severally hereby promise and oblige themselves to do their duty, and obey the lawful commands of the Officers on board said Ship or the boats thereunto belonging,as become good and faithful Seamen or Mariners, while cruising for whales, and at all places where the said Ship shall put in, or anchor at, during the said voyage; to use their best endeavours to obtain a cargo of oil;—and for the preservation of the said vessel and cargo;—and not to neglect or refuse doing their duty by day or night; and that they shall not go out of said Ship on board any other vessel, or be on shore, under any pretense whatsoever, until the [32]   Herman Melville’s Whaling Years aforesaid voyage be ended,and the vessel discharged of her loading,without leave first obtained of the Captain or Commanding Officer on board; that in default thereof, he or they shall be liable to all the penalties and forfeitures mentioned in the Marine Law,enacted for the Government and Regulation of Seamen in the Merchant’s Service: it being understood that said forfeiture shall be estimated according to his or their respective Shares of the net proceeds of the voyage, and the length of the same conjointly. 3d. AND IT IS FURTHER AGREED by all the parties to this contract, that such regulations as a just regard to the good order,effectual government, health and moral habits of the Officers and Men shall be established and observed on board the said vessel. And to ensure proper attention to this important object, it shall be the duty of the Officer having the care of the Log Book, to note therein daily all flagrant breaches of the same. It shall especially be his duty to record all instances of drunkeness [sic], all cases of absence from the said Ship by any Officer or Seaman with or without permission after sunset,or beyond the time prescribed for their absence,—every instance of absence, by any officer or Seaman through the night, whether on shore or on board of any other vessel,—every instance of the introduction of any woman or women into the Ship for licentious purposes,—every instance of disability for the performance of Ship’s duty, which may occur, with the cause of it,—if occasioned by sickness or infirmity, the nature and origin of the same, if known, to be particularly stated, especially if it be the consequence of their own misconduct. And in case of the Officer who may usually have charge of the Log Book being implicated in any of the misdemeanors or disabilities herein mentioned, it shall be the duty of the Master to make, or cause to be made...

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