The men on the whaling ships were gone from home for years at a time.  When there were no whales in sight, they had to find ways of amusing themselves.  Many of them carried sharp pocket knives, and passed their time in whittling.  By long practice they became very skillful with their knives.  Some of them carved pretty figures in wood, and made pieces of furniture.  Others carved shells into beautiful shapes.  After years at sea, they would bring these things home with them, to give to their wives or sweethearts.  Such work done on shipboard is called scrimshaw work.

Some of the whaleships met with very curious accidents.  In 1807 a ship named “The Union” was sailing along very quietly.  All at once she struck something which jarred her from end to end.  It was found that she had run right on a whale.  Casks of water were thrown out of the ship to make her lighter, but the bottom of the ship was badly injured.  The men on board had to get out the boats at once.  They took food and water with them, and compasses to sail by.  Soon after the boats got clear of the ship she filled with water, and upset.

The men now found themselves in open boats in the ocean.  The land nearest to them was Newfoundland, but, as the wind was blowing straight from that land at that season of the year, they knew that they could not reach it.  So they set out in the direction toward which the wind blew, sailing for the islands called the Azores.  These were hundreds of miles away.  They made a sail for each boat.

One day they saw a schooner, but they could not make the schooner see them.  The next day they had fine sailing, but at night a fearful wind arose.  There were violent squalls and bursts of thunder.  The boats were obliged to lie still with their bows to the wind.  At last the waves broke into the captain’s boat, and it was all they could do to get the water out again.

They now had to throw overboard most of their fresh water, so that they suffered much with thirst from this time on.  They had only three quarts of water a day to be divided among sixteen men.  That is about a small teacupful apiece.  After sailing eight days, they came in sight of the beautiful islands of the Azores.  Here they found a ship to bring them back to their own country again.

A still stranger accident happened to the ship “Essex” in 1820.  She was far away in the Pacific Ocean.  Three of the boats of the ship went out after a whale.  The mate’s boat, having been injured, went back to the ship.  As the mate stood on the ship, he saw a large sperm whale rush directly at the vessel.  The whale seemed to think the ship some great animal, and that it would be fine fun to have a fight with it.  He struck the ship with his great square head.  The crash was fearful.  For a moment or two the crew were so astonished that they could do nothing.  Then they found the ship sinking.  They put up signals for the other boats to come back.