whaler’s life

Miseries of the whaler’s life

The Adventures of Jack or a Life on the Wave. By Charles L.

Newhall. Edited by Kenneth R.

Martin. Published by Galleon Press, Fairfield, Washington, DC, USA, 1981. 92 pp. SUS 6.

Here is another new edition pre pared by Ken Martin, who, in recent years, has given us three others of the 19th-century whaling times in the Pacific. The Adventures of Jack tells the story of Charles Newhall, a young New Englander, who went off to sea aboard a whaler-fisherman at the age of 25. Seeking adven ture, he found the life harsh and had immediate second thoughts.

“I was sea-sick nearly three months, and oftentimes thought of home but this was only a commencement of my troubles’’ (pio).

A lot of young men went off aboard the whaleships in those days. They sought adventure, but more often found misery and disappointment. Most of them retired early after one or two voyages. Labor conditions dipp ed to perhaps their lowest ebb in the history of American labor aboard whalers. Fortunately, quite a few of the young men who sought these adventures were remarkably literate and pre tty well educated, (maybe that is why many of them dropped out!). They have given us ample, accurate, readable and exciting

literature which comes down as

important today in understanding

the period.

Dr Martin does us all a service

by rebringing them to light after

all these years. They are espe

cially good for assignments in

Pacific history classes in the Pacific. I should think that teachers and professors at Suva,

Port Moresby, Guam, Ponape,

Pago Pago, and elsewhere will welcome this volume. Since it is short, students can read it within a reasonable time. Being excit ing, it will keep their interest.

There are some vivid descrip tions of catching whales; We lowered three boats . . . after two hours hard rowing in the boats we succeeded in driving two har poons into him about two feet before he began to feel it much, and then he started off at full speed, first going down to about 200 fathoms and then rising again. At last he formed a perfect circle around the ship; and he went round three times, roaring like a lion, and spouting water, reddened with his blood, to the height of twenty feet in the air, sometimes drenching us with it. We expected every moment to be smashed to atoms by his tremendous tail. When he came up to blow we would pull him up and give him four or five feet of iron in his side, which would tickle him up good; and at last the lance was driven into the right spot, which caused him to turn “fin out”, (pi 2).

It is remarkable how interested present-day Island students are in

such descriptions. They are cer tainly exciting. But they also recall a past which leaves abso lutely no evidence in today’s Pacific. People don’t hunt whales here any more.

Professional historians and an thropologists will find useful da ta as well. In old Hawaii Newhall describes his visit to a native house: There was only one room in the house and neither cellar nor attic. In the center of the room was a fire kindled upon the ground, for there was no floor, and I laid myself down upon a mat beside the fire and dried my clothes. We all retired together on a mat made of coarse grass. I slept as soundly as I ever did on the softest feather-bed. (p 27).

Later on he tells of his witnes sing a poi- making session; They make a hole in the ground, put stones in it, then make a large fire upon the stones, and continue it until the stones are well-heated through.

Then the fire is taken off and those roots or taro are placed upon the stones, and covered with grass and leaves, where they remain two or three hours, when they are taken out, skinned and place on a board, and by means of a large heavy stick of wood they are kneaded, and moistened at the same time, so that it becomes a sort of paste similar to dough. After it is kneaded, it is put into a shell which is some (sic) like a gourd shell, and a little more water is added, where it remains until the next morning when it is fit for use. (pp3s-36).

Charles Newhall first publish ed this book in 1859, and at that time he figured that he was fin ished with his “life on the wave’’, and settled down as a printer in Massachusetts. How ever, when the American Civil War started he enlisted and serv ed aboard the USS Minnesota in the eventful blockade at Hamp ton Roads. He saw combat against the Confederate ironclad Merrimac, and also aboard his ship sustained a torpedo attack by another vessel.

We can be grateful to both Newhall for making his record ings in the 1850 s, and to Kenneth Martin for editing them in 1981.

There is a useful bibliography, careful notations, and an ade quate index which teachers will

especially appreciate. The book

has a rich maroon binding cover, and would make an excellent

gift.

Dirk Anthony

Ballendorf.