United States Merchant Marine Academy - Midships Yearbook (Kings Point, NY)

Page 29 text:

A sketch portraying life in the forecastle. The crew often engaged themselves in horseplay during their watch be- low to reduce the monotony of cruising quiet waters. The sailmaker busy at work repairing the main canvas of his vessel. In youth, this man was probably a harpooner or boatsteerer. .1P From farms and small towns, young men and boys came to the whaling capitals to engage in a calling of the sea— a calling composed of monotony, drudgery, and moments of acute peril. For 300 years, these men pitted their strength against the mighty whale. Many left their quiet homes never to return— others returned rich and well rewarded for their toils. Still others returned as only parts of men . . . men who roamed our shores as ghosts of what they once were.

Page 28 text:

The Class of 1961 Respectfully Dedicates its Logbook to the Memory of Those Men Who Gave Their Hearts, Their Lives, Their Souls to Young America So that She Might Prosper Upon the Seas . . .The Yankee Whalemen Captiiin Stephen C. Christian of New Bedford.

Page 30 text:

I The captains of The Stone Fleet who sacrificed the vessels to stop rebel blockade runners during the Civ War. Epitaphs such as the one on the opposite page pay tribute to those who were lost while persuing the great leviathan. However, many more brave and noble young Americans were lost while away on the distant whaling grounds and their deaths were never commemorated— death by accident being a common thing. Let us pay them their homage long overdue— we recognize you for your noble deeds dear dead and revered whalemen! Never again will you climb the mast to send out your long and quavering cry . . . but do not fear, its echo oft resounds in our hearts. The last skipper of tli. cabin plannini the li of his wife and faniih hcdin seated in the after iiiirso and daydreaming in New Bedford.