Chapter XIV: Section I: Entrance on, and General Results of, this New Command

The aversion of his wife to a change in the port of sailing, though it might retard, did not prevent my Father's ultimately making that change. He had been applied to by letter, and with reiterated urgency, and offers of additional advantages, by a mercantile firm in London (Messrs. Edward Gale and Sons) to take charge of a ship of theirs, which they were anxious to employ in the northern whale-fishery. But, finding that the applications by letter failed, or at least led to no satisfactory result, one of the principals of the house determined on an application in person,--an undertaking, at that time, involving a most troublesome and tedious journey,--and, totally unexpected, made his appearance at the residence of our family in Whitby.

The circumstance of Mr. Piper's early consideration for, and confidence in, my Father, on an occasion which, under the Divine blessing, proved the turning-point of his fortune in life, had induced a feeling of regard and gratitude so decided as to become strongly resistant of the temptation to change. But, on the other hand, he had long felt dissatisfaction at the abridgment of some allowances and perquisites enjoyed by his predecessor in command, and promised to himself, which, though of but small consideration in the meagre extent of the former wonted success, had accumulated, in the estimation made year by year during his extraordinary successful career, to a very handsome amount, in money value. His repeated remonstrances at this deprivation and injustice being always met with a "Pooh, pooh! be content; you have done very well,"--no doubt served greatly to weaken the binding influence of ties otherwise so decidedly felt, and frankly acknowledged. Hence, from an unwise and ungenerous policy, which, in the course of six years had deprived my Father of a sum amounting, as he calculated, to about 300_l._ out of his rightful earnings, the alliance previously existing betwixt himself and the owners of the Henrietta, was, with due and honourable notice on his part, brought to a conclusion by the visit and liberal proposals of Mr. Gale. These proposals, as I have understood, involved a new and additional advantage to the commander, in a per centage upon the value of the cargo obtained, together with the proffer of a small share in the concern, on terms at once equitable and easy. On this encouraging basis an arrangement was forthwith made with the house which Mr. Gale represented, for the command, by my Father, of the _Dundee_, of London, a ship much larger and finer than the Henrietta, on a whale-fishing adventure in the Greenland seas.

In the spring of the year 1798, the Dundee, according to the arrangement made, was, after being strengthened and fortified for the navigation of the formidable ices of the north, fitted out, and set forth on her first voyage to the fishery. The result far more than realized the hopes and expectations of all the parties interested in the adventure; for, in a surprisingly short interval of time, the return of the Dundee to the Thames was announced, with the exulting and almost incredible report, that she brought the spoils of no less than _six-and-thirty_ captured whales! The report proved true; and, although many of the whales were of small size, yet a quantity of produce, in oil and whalebone, such as no other adventurer had hitherto obtained, was yielded by this extraordinary "catch."

During subsequent adventures, with but one exception in a series of five years, my Father's high reputation for pre-eminent skill and success, was amply maintained. In one of these voyages (that of 1801) twenty-three whales were captured, which yielded the previously unequalled quantity of 225 tuns of oil;[E] and the voyage following, which terminated his command of the Dundee, produced twenty whales, yielding 200 tuns of the best kind of train oil, with a proportional weight of whalebone.

These voyages were not only unequalled in the Greenland whale-fishery in their measure of success, but likewise in the quickness with which they were accomplished. _Ordinarily_, my Father's ship, not sailing earlier than his competitors in general, not only brought home the largest cargo of any in the fleet, but returned amongst the soonest. The produce in oil, therefore, partly from the freshness of the blubber when it was brought to the "coppers," and partly from the care taken, under his direction, in the process of boiling, was, as I have advisedly designated it, of the _best quality._