Four years aboard the whaleship / Embracing cruises in the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Antarctic oceans, in the years 1855, '6, '7, '8, '9

by William B. Whitecar

The German sailors were the merriest of any nation whom I saw on liberty—gathering in little knots, and singing the songs of their fatherland with the utmost good-fellowship, and not without melody. They were very exclusive in their associations, and mixed with none but their own circle of shipmates.

The markets of Mauritius were filled with fruit of the various kinds to be found in tropical climates—the pine-apple, cocoa-nut, banana, oranges, lemons, and limes, all being found here in abundance. The favorite condiment of the blacks is the sugar-cane, which they suck in pieces as long as themselves; and two youngsters may be seen, each supporting and sucking away at either end of a piece of green sugar-cane a fathom in length.

This city differs very much from Hobartown in two of its striking features. In the latter city, at every corner is to be seen a mendicant; in Port Louis I did not see a single person soliciting charity. The other feature that I refer to is the absence of all itinerant hawkers, except the cake venders, who are the only class of petty tradesmen who make a depot of the streets for the sale of their goods; whilst in the capital of Van Diemen’s Land, as I have remarked elsewhere in my notice on it, at every step one is beset by these pertinacious leeches, anxious to make a sale.

But in another point there is a perfect resemblance between both cities—that is the presence of a regiment of British infantry; a provision that Great Britain never neglects in any of her colonies, governing her subjects by appealing to their fears of the bayonet, wielded by a hireling and remorseless soldiery. This regiment is about leaving its station here for the seat of war in India. I conversed freely with several of its members, and although they displayed no symptoms of fear at the prospect of being engaged with an enemy, still there was a total lack of enthusiasm or patriotism. From the atrocities so glaringly held before the public by the English journals, as committed by the Sikhs on British residents in India, I had expected to find an eagerness on the part of the gentlemen with the red coats, to avenge their countrymen and countrywomen so barbarously maltreated; but so wags the world, one half caring not or feeling not for the miseries or misfortunes of the other half.

How I shall change the subject from a consideration of the biped portion of the population to an analysis of the condition and quality of the quadrupeds. On account of the trouble and expense attending the procreation of the horse, he is here quite a dignified animal, and is only used by the aristocratic portion of the population for the lightest draughting. His high price, too, ensures his careful treatment; and all who can afford to keep a carriage, whose business requires its use all day, change the animal and put a fresh one in the traces at noon. The reason why the horse commands so high a price here is, that the Government interdicts the introduction of mares into the island; whether the climate is prejudicial to the breed of the animal, or Great Britain, in her forethought, vetoes their importation, for the purpose of securing a market for the surplus stock of her Australian colonies, is a point which, in the absence of any authority, I am unable to decide.

The vehicles are of English construction, and are moderately light; the rattan body, which is so conducive to ventilation and comfort in warm weather, being in general use. Their harness, too, is of European manufacture—made light, to conform with the oppressiveness of the climate.

And now that we have pretty thoroughly reviewed the town and its purlieus, we will return to our proper element, and give an account of what transpired in the harbor during our stay. First we will notice the whaling barque, Belle of Warren, which came in to post letters; of the boat’s crew who went ashore for this purpose, one did not return, having taken leg bail for security. I saw him ashore several times afterward, and he was wandering about without a discharge and without a home, looking destitute and woebegone. The Belle remained but a few days; meantime the whaleship Martha made her appearance, for the purpose of landing her third mate, who goes to the hospital to be treated for a pulmonary affection. The Martha reports that the portion of the whaling fleet which went to the northward humpbacking, were as unsuccessful as ourselves; seeing nothing, and, consequently, doing nothing. This goes to strengthen our theory of the absence of whale feed on the coast during the preceding season. The Martha made as short a stay as the Belle—both vessels having, like us, seen sperm whales near the Island of Rodrique, and both intending to return there. Hence their haste to leave port.

The next whaler that made her appearance was the barque Columbus, of New Bedford: she, like the Martha, had accomplished nothing humpbacking, but on her passage from New Holland to this port, had captured three hundred and fifty barrels of sperm oil, in the vicinity of the Island of Rodrique. Like us, the Columbus came in for provisions, and to give her crew liberty. Her crew comprised, for the most part, men who had been shipped in Hobartown; and they had scarcely set foot ashore when they were squabbling.

Soon after the Columbus’s arrival, the barque Mechanic, of Newport, came in. She was seventeen days from Angiers, and, although there was no sickness on board, was compelled, by a law of the port, to go into quarantine until the expiration of twenty-one days from the time of her leaving Angiers, that being the time set by the law. After performing the quarantine she was hauled into the inner harbor to undergo repairs.

And now, for the time being, we have done with American whalers, and come to one sailing under the flag of England—the brig Elizabeth and Jane, of Hobartown. She was fitted out as a tender for some larger vessel, and sent to Desolation for the capture of whales, sea-elephants, and seals, indiscriminately; she had a Yankee mate, and was intended by the Hobartown merchants to be the pioneer of a fleet to compete with the Yankees in the procuring of oil, which trade has, for many years, been a prolific source of wealth to those engaged in it; the bleak shores of Kerguleus land being a favorite resort for those creatures so eagerly sought for by the whaleman. Scarcely had the brig arrived at the scene of her anticipated operations before she commenced leaking so badly, that the crew were kept continually pumping, day and night; necessitating her being carried into port, and either being thoroughly repaired or condemned as unseaworthy. On bringing her into Mauritius, the captain preferred a complaint to the authorities against his men, charging them with mutiny and threatening his life. Before the authorities had time to act upon his information, about one half of the crew took one of the boats, went ashore, and got drunk. A fight followed as a matter of course, and in this condition they were easily captured by the police. Those who were left aboard were brought ashore in irons; but they did not seem to mind the manacles, all of them being convicts, who, no doubt, had been accustomed to such bracelets before. After landing, they were conveyed to the jail, where their companions were already lodged. The following morning they were brought before the magistrate, who, after hearing both sides of the case, dismissed the charge as unfounded and frivolous, at the same time adding some wholesome advice to the master of the vessel for the future government of those under his command. A few days after the brig was condemned as unseaworthy.