TEN DOLLARS REWARD
In some ships, when whales were scarce, and weeks—even months—elapsed without a kill it was the custom for the captain to have a five or ten dollar gold piece nailed to the mainmast to be claimed by the first man who sighted a “blow.”
GRUB
“What’s this—the cook’s pocketbook?”
Jack always ate his meals on deck except in inclement weather. Salt beef or pork, cooked in a sadly unvarying fashion, was served in small wooden tubs called “kids,” and the sailor’s treasured privilege, no matter what the quality of the fare might be, was to make uncomplimentary remarks about the cook and all his ancestors.
“FRESH FISH FOR THE COOK TO SPOIL”
In the warmer latitudes there were always fish playing about the ship’s bows: bonita, barracouta, dolphins and porpoises——
To vary the weary round of salt “horse” it was no trick at all for one of the boatsteerers to take himself into the martingale stays and bring up a fish that would arouse the envy of any landlubber angler.