In Massachusetts did all of the whaling sailors, ships, and capitains belong to a company? Like a company that maybe owned the ship in which the men would set out in and then the company might recieve some of the profit or something?
Massachusetts Whaling
- Thread starter Belle_91
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Now, don't take all this as gospel--because I know very little about it myself.
But in Moby Dick, it worked like this: The expedition was funded by a few wealthy men who came on the ship while it was at dock and arranged things, for instance making sure the provisions and supplies were all there. They even went out of the harbor with the ship, then took a boat back. The men--sailors like Ishmael--went to these men looking for work. The investors decided to take them on. I'm not sure the relationship between investor and captain, but I think they would roughly be partners.
The sailors would have gotten a share, sometimes very small. I can't remember the actual amount, but Ishmael's take was something like 1/200 of the profit from the voyagel.
So, yeah. That's all I have. And I got it from Moby Dick, lol. Herman Melville DID go whaling, though, so he knew what he was talking about.
But in Moby Dick, it worked like this: The expedition was funded by a few wealthy men who came on the ship while it was at dock and arranged things, for instance making sure the provisions and supplies were all there. They even went out of the harbor with the ship, then took a boat back. The men--sailors like Ishmael--went to these men looking for work. The investors decided to take them on. I'm not sure the relationship between investor and captain, but I think they would roughly be partners.
The sailors would have gotten a share, sometimes very small. I can't remember the actual amount, but Ishmael's take was something like 1/200 of the profit from the voyagel.
So, yeah. That's all I have. And I got it from Moby Dick, lol. Herman Melville DID go whaling, though, so he knew what he was talking about.
This is exactly the sort of information which any Maritime Museum in the Cape Cod area will be happy to point you towards; there are almost certainly books dealing with the great whaling dynasties and the ships associated with them; there certainly is a wealth of published material dealing with the equivalent for Dundee.
