Journal of a Whaling Voyage on the Bark WAMPANOAG, Written by Amos Cudjoe, Harpooner

Remarks Monday 10th of June 1867, 1st Day

O my dear I wish I could call you my wife.

Early part of the day engaged in stowing provisions. Good and fair wind from SSW. Took up anchor at 3 P.M. and left New Bedford. Half of us are drunk and most of the greenhands sick even with quiet seas. Leaving port is a sad day for all and for me most of all. There are many other boats in the water and God Bless those coming home I wish I was with them. Barometer 29.8 at 8 P.M. and steady.

Remarks Tuesday 11th of June 1867, 2nd Day

First part of the day engaged in stowing anchor and chains and all things. Good breeze from SW though the master is unhappy because he aims us for the Azores and this wind takes us in the wrong direction. At least we can move out to sea though if the wind was more foul we would have stayed in New Bedford a few more days and I would have seen you which would have pleased me. But half the crew would have been lost if we had stayed. There are already men who have regrets about going and at the latter part of last night I was one of them to be sure. But today the sun is warm and if the world is to be the small one of this boat for the next four years I think I can bear it with good cheer and a glad and thankful heart. Barometer 30.1.

Remarks Wednesday 12th of June 1867, 3rd Day

Though we are not yet far enough to have any true hope of seeing whales or so I should think I spent part of the morning aloft and looking for them. Saw nothing but sails which I tried not to watch as they made me homesick. Wind from the S continues but mild and pleasant weather that I cannot find it in my heart to complain about. Already I am used to the ship and all her crew. We are thirty plus the master which is neither a small crew nor a large one but she is a small ship and so it is tight quarters down below even though on this voyage as a harpooner I am in the steerage rather than the forecastle which is a blessing. I am glad to be aloft this morning though there is nothing to see. I spend my time thinking of what I should say to you my dear. I imagine the mast is you standing behind me and the sails are your pretty white dress and the hoop holding me here is your gentle arms around me and I tell you so many sweet little things and make you laugh though your laugh is the gulls yelling. But this makes me homesick too. I think this will pass if the Good Lord puts me in an easier mind. It is easy to be homesick at the beginning of the journey most of all. Barometer 29.7 and falling it seems we will have rain soon and maybe a turn of the wind.

Remarks Thursday 13th of June 1867, 4th Day

Early part of the day squall. Winds from the ESE trying to push us back to port and so many people wished they would but we must carry on despite the wind and weather. I know myself I cannot go home without some pay and what time it takes it will pass quickly if I let it. This is what I tell Tobey who is sick as a whole pack of dogs with the ship moving under him. I think he will get well soon enough but it makes me feel bad to see him in this state.

O I have not told you who Tobey is my dear. Tobey is my brother on this voyage. Not by blood of course. We met when we were signing on board. Tobey came up to the ship with me, and when the agent was asking for his name to sign him on and give him his lay Tobey wouldn’t give a surname for the crew list. I don’t know if he doesn’t have one or if he doesn’t want to give one. He’s a free man now so it wasn’t a problem with papers I can’t imagine that but he just said his name was Tobey and that was it. The agent wouldn’t sign him his lay unless he gave a full name so I said to Tobey Well you can have my name if you like. 

He looked at me so funny I knew he would be a good friend to have on this voyage even if he was only a greenhand having come up from Virgina on foot or so he said. Virginia is a long way for a man to walk but the Good Lord knows some people have the urge to go somewhere and they just go the only way they know how. So Tobey he asked me if my name was mine and I said whose else’s would it be and he said my father’s. I told him it was my father’s and my grandfather’s before that if that’s a problem. Was your grandfather a free man he asked and I said Yes my friend he was he bought his freedom and my family has been free men since that day though my grandmother was indian and we’ve lived near New Bedford for many years besides. And he said Alright what’s your name. So I told him and the agent wrote down that there’s two Cudjoes on the ship. So we’re brothers of a kind.

I think the agent shouldn’t have minded if he gave a fake name even if he just made it up instead of taking mine so that I’m responsible for him. He’s younger than I am he’s the age I was when I was a greenhand on my first voyage so I do feel responsible for him. O my dear you do not know how good it is to have a friend and brother with me on the ship it does get so lonely sometimes even when you can never get a moment’s peace to yourself you are lonely.

If I write so many pages every day I will fill up this book within a year and I will have to buy a new one when we are in our next port which is an expense I do not want if I want to bring my whole lay home to you. I am being tight with my money except for my ink and pages. I should write less but there is so little to do other than write when I am belowdecks with the rain. 

Tobey has brought me the board and chalk and he has drawn a figure on it which may mean he is in better spirits but o my dear the picture is not fit for me to copy here! And I do not have a good hand for drawings I hold my pen like I would rather be holding the harpoon or so somebody told me last voyage I was on. I think it was Jack who said that and he was a better harpooner than me.

Barometer 28.9 I think this bad weather will pass soon.

Remarks Friday 14th of June 1867, 5th Day

Fair breezes from the N early part of the day and all are in good cheer. Engaged in repairing sail ripped during squall. By the end of my last voyage the sails were so full of holes that they could be used for fishing nets if you plucked out the patches but this is a small tear and if God is gracious all our stitching will hold just fine. Since God is gracious and I’m as good with a needle as any woman if I need to be I think we won’t have trouble! O my dear maybe it is good that you did not marry me before I left because I will have four years to sew you up a sampler like a little girl but make it out of sailcloth rather than calico and twine rather than cotton thread. That will make a fine part of my dowry if you won’t marry me until I have such a thing, and my pay from this voyage will have to be the rest. There are worse ways to pass the time than with a needle and thread! You see I too am in a fair mood with good weather and making good way down to the equator. You needn’t worry about tropical maids we won’t be anywhere near pleasant ports like that we will be in the middle of the Atlantic ocean for a long time yet with nothing as far as the eye can see. Except for whales I hope! Barometer 29.7.

Remarks Saturday 15th of June 1867, 6th Day

Hot still air all day long with just a little breeze to move us. I do not think we made good headway today but what does it matter to me. One man saw finbacks but I did not and we aren’t fishing for finbacks in any event. I wonder when we shall see our first sperm whale or any other good kind to catch. Soon I hope. Barometer 30.2 at 4 P.M. but I didn’t have a moment to check it later though I would have liked to.

Remarks Sunday 16th of June 1867, 7th Day

On Sundays since the master is a Quaker and a good one he does read to any man who will listen from the Bible and if any man should have something to say well then he can get on up and say it. I don’t have much to say but I do like to listen as it does bring some of the comforts of being at home. The master had the idea that as we will be on this voyage a good long time together there will be enough Sundays to make it through the whole of the Book so we should start at the very beginning. It’s as good of a place to start as any. 

The first mate though he seems like a man who is pleased about very little he enjoyed hearing the list of God’s creation and didn’t even mind when Tobey asked why God bothered making so many different types of fish and half of them aren’t even good to eat. He said that probably there is some purpose to find for them all but we may not discover it for some time. He pointed out that there are things buried deep in the ground like oil that we did not find or know the purpose of from the time of Adam until now so maybe the same will be true of fish. There may be even types of whales that live so deep in the ocean that we have never seen them and certainly have not learned to catch them. Well maybe it is good that many generations of descendants of Adam all have their own work to do I do not know. It’s for cleverer men than I to figure it out and well the first mate may think himself one and may even be one.

As the master is a Quaker and a good one he says that work on Sunday should only be what’s essential but since this is a ship and a good one you will not be surprised to hear that all work is essential and there is always plenty of it. I was engaged in work on the ropes. No whales as of yet but I am hopeful and the Lord does provide if He sees fit even to us undeserving toilers of the sea! He has seen fit to provide us with a good wind from the NNE today which all of us are grateful for. Barometer 30 inches exactly.

Remarks Monday 17th of June 1867, 8th Day

Today I saw the master looking so forlorn at the photograph of his pretty wife he has hung up over the table in the main cabin. That photograph being the only woman on board aside from the hens and the goats all of us men have become quite familiar with her (though I of course have not!) So I asked the master why didn’t he bring his wife with him plenty of masters do. And you know what he said to me my dear? He said that the ship’s owner who is his uncle will charge him $1000 per head to berth his family on the ship. And seeing as he has a wife and three children so far that would be $4000 which is a sum that I can hardly fathom. But he is the master and so gets the greatest lay which might cover it. But being a Quaker he is tight with his money. And if being tight with money is a vice it is at least less of one than spending it on ill.

It is funny to think that even the master is hard up for money sometimes I don’t think the master on my last voyage ever would have let me know such a thing. But he was a hard man too hard to have a wife or if he did have a wife he never said. That was a long voyage. This one might pass more quickly since the master is a good man and doesn’t do wrong by us even the greenhands if we do our work well. The first mate I shall say nothing about.

I told all this to Tobey and he asked me if I was the master if I would take you along my dear if you cost $1000 to bring with me. If you were my wife of course. Tobey has heard me talk so much of you I think he is a little tired of hearing me and wanted to put a question to me that would cause me to think twice about you. But I said that even if I were afforded the position of first mate which is what I of course desire I do not think that I could ever be master. I’m not well suited for it and besides I intend to quit going to sea after this journey is over so that I can marry you. And first mates are not given a place for their wives on the ship. If every man was allowed to bring his wife well we would have no room to put our oil when we get some! Barometer 29.8.

Remarks Wednesday 19th of June 1867, 10th Day

O my dear I did not have time to write yesterday as it was so terrible. Yesterday early in the day fair weather but clouds and wind came the latter part of the day so fast that we were all quite engaged in tying everything down before the storm. It was a terrible sight much worse than the last one and anyone who went out on the deck tied himself down and even if he was tied down he was still saying a prayer to not be carried away though only the Good Lord could have heard him over the wind and the rain. But the Good Lord must have been straining His ears to listen to us because with His mercy we did make it through and we lost no one but one of the ties on the boats got loose and it did get slightly stove against the side of the ship. It seems like a bad omen to happen so early into such a long voyage or so people are saying. Today when we all passed it by going about our business we all took a look at it and there has been much discussion about fixing it. I’m sure it can be fixed our carpenter is a good man. I did not read the barometer yesterday but today it is 30.1.

Remarks Thursday 20th of June 1867, 11th Day

Fair winds from the WSW. All day I gave the carpenter his name is John my assistance in fixing our poor stove in boat. It was not very hard work and it was interesting for the novelty of it. I think we made her seaworthy once more and for that the master is glad and everything is well on board once again. It was good to sit in the boat and get a sense for it too seeing as I will be in it quite a lot when we lower for whales though we have seen none as of yet. I expect that some time in the next week we will hear a cry of There She Blows even if there are no whales in sight because we need to be set to practicing in the boats. None of the greenhands have rowed very much before unless it’s around a farm pond and as for my own sake it has been a long time since I was last rowing. I expect my arms will be sore on that day but I should not worry about that before it happens. You can’t rest your arms without tiring them first. Barometer 29.9.

Remarks Friday 21st of June 1867, 12th Day

Still air all day and nothing interesting on board. Some sails on the horizon but they are as still as us and not close enough to gam with. Close to port there were plenty of steamships and paddleboats but none out here as we are now a ways south. It is warmer but I do not mind. Barometer 29.8 but it barely moves.

Remarks Saturday 22nd of June 1867, 13th Day

Slow winds today and we are barely moving forward more than the water pushes us back. I am not worried about us being becalmed here it is early into our journey still and we have plenty of provisions and far more than plenty of time. Tobey is anxious to go somewhere but I said to him he boarded the wrong ship if he had places to go. The nice thing about a whaler I said is that we go out just to come home and we’re always returning to our home port even if very slowly. I’ll be very glad to be home in New Bedford though I try not to think about it too much now or I will be homesick which is not a pleasant thing.

I asked Tobey if he was homesick and he said he’s never been happier to be gone even if he wasn’t meant for the sea. I asked him what he meant by that and if he’s afraid of drowning and he said no. Sometimes I can’t understand much about him but I am glad to have a good friend here with me and even if he does not say so I think he is glad to have me to look out for him. I think he has had a hard life. To be sure many men have including other men on this very ship. I thank the Good Lord for giving me relatively few troubles in life although I am on board a whaler and have very little money and I am not yet married & happy so perhaps my troubles are not as few as another man’s! But I can bear it all with good cheer and I would not mind taking a share of Tobey’s troubles as I can be cheerful for the both of us. But I shouldn’t go asking the Good Lord for trouble because certainly Job teaches us that trouble is another thing that the Good Lord can provide!

When Tobey asked what I was writing I told him and he laughed at me. Barometer 30.5 very high.

Remarks Sunday 23rd of June 1867, 14th Day

First part of the day still air but later wind picked up from the NNE and we are moving again which has lifted spirits. Although until we see whales it does not change our daily labors much if we are moving or not but the boredom is much worse when sitting still.

The first mate was angry with me for checking the barometer so often and writing it down in my journal. I don’t know why he should be angry as I think it is good to have another man reading it to know if the weather will turn. He jealously guards his position which of course I cannot resent him for. He is a more experienced whaleman than I this is his third or maybe fourth voyage and only my second. I would like to be a mate and I am well qualified as I can read and write as well as any man and do sums also which is the duty and the pleasure of the first mate. But o my dear you know as well as I do that I am content with my lot in life and if the Lord has decided that on this voyage I am to be a harpooner I will not utter a word of complaint. And I did not complain to the first mate either. 

I will continue checking the pressure in the same way that I watch the stars. But it is harder to write what the stars are doing here as I said I do not have a good hand for drawing nor do I touch the instruments to shoot them. And besides if I write down our position the mate would accuse me of trying to collect the secrets of where the best whales are for myself. As if we have seen any whales so far! Barometer 30.2.