And here, let me say that my parents took the proper course. My mother was apparently troubled, but she conferred with my father, and it was agreed that when I was old enough I might go to sea. “When I was old enough” was not very definite. I felt that I was old enough then, but I knew that my parents thought otherwise. At thirteen I entered the High School and at fifteen I felt that I had sufficient education, at least for a sailor, and I implored my parents to let me go. “You aren’t old enough,” said my mother. “But yesterday, mother, you said that I was large and strong for my age—as large and strong as a man of eighteen.” My mother made no reply, but there were tears in her eyes. It was July and vacation. I was restless and impatient. Hitherto I had worked during vacations for a cooper, doing odd jobs, but now the cooper sent me home with the statement that I was of no use to him. Years afterward my mother told me that she and my father conferred and decided that it was the best course to let me ship, provided my age was not against me. In the fifties of the last century, whaling was at its height. In the warm weather ships were constantly coming and going. There was no lack of vessels, but would they ship a boy of fifteen who was as large and strong as a man of eighteen? Of course my father’s consent was necessary. I went to my old friend, the shipkeeper. One of his employer’s vessels named the _Seabird_ was to sail in a few weeks, and I was anxious to go in her. The shipkeeper said, “You are big for your years and as strong as a man, but a sailor’s life is a hard one. But, if your folks are willing you should go, I’ll see the old gentleman and find out what he says about your going in the _Seabird_. Sailors are shipped through the outfitters, sometimes called ‘sharks.’ The outfitters provide the men with their clothes and various articles, and the owners pay the outfitters and, at the end of the voyage, the owners take the amount out of the sailor’s shares. If the old gentleman is willing to take you, don’t have anything to do with an outfitter, but have your mother provide the outfit, and I’ll give her a list of the things you’ll have to take with you.” In a few days the shipkeeper said that his employer would see me with my father, and in the late afternoon we appeared at his office. The merchant was a Quaker, and he appeared at first a little stern. He declared that it was unusual for one so young to be taken on a whaler as a foremast hand, but my size seemed to justify an exception; that I could ship only with my father’s consent; that my parents must see to it that I had a good outfit; and that my share or lay would be 1/180. On whalers captain, officers and crew shipped on shares or lays, and my share or lay was to be one barrel of oil for every one hundred and eighty barrels stowed down, and one pound of whalebone for every one hundred and eighty pounds taken.