After all, is it not better to be possessed of a single whale-boat,
or a few sheep pastures; to live free and independent under the
mildest governments, in a healthy climate, in a land of charity and
benevolence; than to be wretched as so many are in Europe,
possessing nothing but their industry: tossed from one rough wave to
another; engaged either in the most servile labours for the smallest
pittance, or fettered with the links of the most irksome dependence,
even without the hopes of rising?

The majority of those inferior hands which are employed in this
fishery, many of the mechanics, such as coopers, smiths, caulkers,
carpenters, etc., who do not belong to the society of Friends, are
Presbyterians, and originally came from the main. Those who are
possessed of the greatest fortunes at present belong to the former;
but they all began as simple whalemen: it is even looked upon as
honourable and necessary for the son of the wealthiest man to serve
an apprenticeship to the same bold, adventurous business which has
enriched his father; they go several voyages, and these early
excursions never fail to harden their constitutions, and introduce
them to the knowledge of their future means of subsistence.




LETTER VII

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS AT NANTUCKET


As I observed before, every man takes a wife as soon as he chooses,