"A Bold and Hardy Race of Men": The Lives and Literature of American Whalemen

4. The Whaling Industry and its Chains of Command

105 4 The Whaling Industry and Its Chains of Command The Essex’s first mate, owen chase, describes whalers as upwardly mobile workers, all of whom have the potential to become successful self-made men: “They have an ambition and pride among them which seeks after distinguishment and promotion. almost all of them enter the service with views of a future command; and submit cheerfully to the hardships and drudgery of the intermediate stations, until they become thoroughly acquainted with their business.”1 Writing just thirty-three years later, Jacob a. hazen offers a markedly different view of what it was like to work in the new england whaling industry. furnishing his readers with a litany of complaints and employing a tone that is anything but “cheerful,” hazen depicts these same men as exploited laborers, trapped in an oppressive capitalist hierarchy: “such incessant labor,accompanied with loss of sleep, and indifferent food, was enough to wear down both the spirits and body of the most buoyant and muscular man; and when was added to these the constant hurrying shouts,threats and curses of the officers; the grease, filth, storms, upsetting and stoving of boats, as well as other daily casualties and disasters, was it strange that i should have regarded my situation as intolerable?”2 Perhaps because he was an officer, chase maintains that all a man has to do is dedicate himself to his labors and he will rise up the ranks of the whaling industry. according to him, “Two voyages are generally considered sufficient to qualify an active and intelligent young man for command.”3 hazen despairs of making enough 106 Chapter Four money to support himself: “as to a fortune, think nothing about it, for you will never make one by going to sea before the mast in a whaler.”4 he never considers that he might advance to the rank of harpooner, mate, or captain; instead, he leads the Hudson’s crew to victory in a carefully planned work stoppage. This small success does not satisfy him, and he deserts the voyage in Brazil. Because of their marked differences, these passages raise questions about the new england whale fishery and how it treated its workers. evidence from whaling narratives and histories indicates that hazen’s assessment of the fishery and its labor practices is more accurate than chase’s.5 Truth claims aside, what this difference of opinion reveals is how compelling ideologies of self-made manhood were to nineteenthcentury americans. Throughout the era, a variety of writers, including ones as disparate as henry clay and frederick douglass, praised certain individuals whom they called “self-made men.” in clay’s and douglass’s estimation, these men were admirable americans because they achieved prosperity,material and otherwise,by devoting themselves to their mental and manual labors.6 many of the authors who promoted nineteenth-century new england whalemen as national heroes saw them as independent and resourceful self-made men. J. hector st. John de crèvecoeur, Joseph c. hart, William m. davis, and William fish Williams, for example, described whalers, especially those in the upper echelons of the industry ’s capitalist hierarchy, as men who fashioned themselves into wealthy purveyors of the world’s supply of whale oil.7 To these writers, all of the mariners in the lower ranks of the industry were on the proverbial ladder of success, poised to climb higher in accordance with their investment in themselves and their labors. however unrealistic they might seem, these beliefs had some foundation. Throughout the nineteenth century, the american whaling industry monopolized the international market for whale oil,and many of its ship captains—edward Penniman,nelson cole haley,Thomas Williams,charles henry robbins—began their careers as lowly cabin boys or foremast hands.8 The american whaling industry also had detractors, who condemned its failings and sympathized with its laborers. francis allyn olmsted, an upper-class, Yale-educated passenger aboard the North America, describes some of the travails of whalemen at sea in Incidents of a Whaling Voyage. nathaniel W. Taylor, the medical officer aboard the Julius 107 The Whaling Industry and Its Chains of Command Caesar, does much the same in Life on a Whaler.9 J. ross Browne, Benezra stiles ely,William Whitecar Jr.,charles nordhoff,charles newhall, and daniel Weston hall, like Jacob a. hazen, published narratives that depict with stark realism the many hardships the fishery’s foremast...