The officers and boat-steerers are ‘old hands,’ having made previous voyages, either to Hudson bay or to the western whaling. The crew are all landsmen without any knowledge of the sea, and are obtained for the voyage through the agency of crimps. Some were signed on under false statements and others put on board while drunk. In some cases the ship’s articles were signed after the vessel was at sea, and the majority of the men when they signed had not had the articles read to them. Advances made by the crimps at extravagant rates are paid by the owners without the knowledge or consent of the crew as soon as the vessel leaves port. No wages are paid, all being on shares; and the share of the crew is so small and the advance account and articles supplied from the ‘slop-chest’ so great that it is the usual thing for each man to find himself in debt to the owners on his return from no matter how successful a voyage. None of these practices are allowed on board the British vessel, and the crew are not only paid monthly wages, but participate in the profits of the voyage.
The Era’s crew was composed of a gunsmith, a clerk in a wholesale drug business, an iron moulder, a mechanic, an ex-soldier, a railway brakesman, an Armenian and several nondescripts ‘about town.’ Of the entire lot only one had ever been to sea before.
The treatment of the crew by the officers was as good as circumstances permitted, and was in strong contrast to their general treatment by the owners.
The methods of the American whalers differ considerably from those already described. When the ship arrives in the northwestern part of the bay, the Aivillik Eskimos are looked for somewhere in the vicinity of Whale point, and enough men, practically half of the tribe, are engaged for the time the ship remains in the bay. The ship’s crew are sufficient to man three whaleboats, and three others are manned by the natives. Four boats are brought on the ship every voyage, and only two are taken home, the other two, equipped for whaling, being left with the natives, and any whales caught during the ship’s absence are supposed to belong to the ship furnishing the boats.
The natives and their families and dogs are taken on board the schooner and conveyed to the harbour where it is proposed to spend the winter. About seventy persons of this tribe were at Fullerton during the winter of 1903-04, and twice a day received a meal of biscuit and coffee on the ship. These people were fed in the cabin after the officers, and two or three extra tables were required to accommodate all, so that the meal continued for nearly two hours, and the atmosphere of the cabin was anything but sweet. No regular wages are paid to the natives either during the winter when hunting, or when in the boats in the summer, but they are given such articles as the captain thinks they should have or deserve, everything being left to his judgment or caprice. On the whole they are fairly well treated, and although they only get a very small percentage of their catch, still the presence of the whaler ensures them from starvation, and provides them with boats, guns and ammunition, all of which would otherwise be difficult or impossible to obtain.
While with the ship the entire hunt of the natives is supposed to belong to the ship, and no definite payment is made for whales or fur taken during that period.
During past years a goodly number of boats have been left to the natives by the American whalers, and at the present time the Eskimos scattered from Chesterfield inlet to Repulse bay must have upwards of twenty serviceable boats. The Aivilliks have for so long become possessed of boats in this manner, that they have lost the art of building kyaks, and none of the younger men know anything about handling these craft.
Very little use is made of the ship in the catching of whales, and it usually only serves as a convenient base of supply, or as a means of transport from one locality to another.
Whaleboats on the Ice, in Roes Welcome.