“The longer a man is out of his own country, the more he feels the need of support. To a Parisian, then, every Parisian is a relative; to a Frenchman all Frenchmen are friends; to a European, any European Is a compatriot, a fellow citizen.”
“And a sailor extends even further this community of feeling. Any man whose name is inscribed on the master roll of a ship is a child of the same great family, almost a brother.”
“The sailor greets him, defends him, makes sacrifices for him, and, above all, will consider it shameful to be made use of in any way harm a man of his own craft.”
“It is in the months of October and November that the English and American whaling ships, having spent the summer off the coast of Japan, come to the Sandwich Islands to refresh their crews and put their vessels in shape to go back to sea …”
“… either to return home if their whaling is finished or to continue the work if they do not yet have a full cargo. And in fact there arrived many such ships belonging to these two nations.”
“One cannot help noticing a great difference between the one and the other.”
“The Americans do not use ships of more than four hundred tons; they all arrive here in a state of uncleanness and disrepair1hat indicates a lack of discipline and care.”
“The English ships, much larger and more difficult to maintain since they are almost all renovated warships, appear on the contrary pleasingly neat and orderly.”
“We saw American whalers that remained a week in the harbor without loosing their wet sails to dry and others that let them Rap in the wind for several days without furling them.”
“On the English ships the oil casks are stowed away as they are filled and not touched until arrival In England. The Americans have to heave theirs onto the deck at least once in order to reseal them; without this precaution they would lose half their contents.”
“The English have perfected their casks , while the ship owners of Boston and Nantucket follow an old practice that they do not wish to change.”
“But if the English show more order and capacity to manage their ships, once the whalers have reached the Sandwich lslands the two groups compete with each other in dissipation.”
“English and American officers and sailors, all display the same manners. As soon as set foot on land, the streets are full of drunken men, nothing is to be heard but quarrels and bickering.”
“What a spectacle for the islanders, you see them run shouting toward the places where the Yankees and Jhn Bulls dispute their differences.”
The Captains arrive, sometimes more drunk than the men, and would send them back on board; the latter resist; the captains strike, and sometimes the sailors strike back; all shout at the same time; the God damns and damnation are Iike thunder; kicks and blows of the fist come down like hail; black eyes shine like lightning.”
“It is late at night before the storm abates only to blow up again the next day.”
“Few of these ships complete their voyages without some kind of mutiny or revolt, but there is good reason to believe that if the captain and officers were more sober, the sailors would be more obedient and peaceable.”
“Every day the English consul finds it necessary to have some of them flogged.”
“In general and with very exceptions the foreigners who have settles in the Sandwich Islands are the dregs of all countries, and they have brought their vices with them.”
“There are always a number of them around the young king, corrupting and giving bad counsel. Among them are several who have escaped from Botany Bay having been branded for crimes in England.”
“The consul is aware of this situation but has no way to prevent It. For the honor of his country, however, he would not suffer the executioner (flogger) to be a compatriot of his.”
“The season that brings English and American whalers to this archipelago attracts also those ships that trade furs on the Northwest Coast of America, few of which wish to pass the winter on those frozen shores.”
“During the month of October there arrived four of them, all of which had failed to prosper in this business. One of them, the Louisa, out of Boston, staying through a winter and two summers, had been able to procure only eight hundred beaver pelts and one hundred twenty otter skins, and the latter had cost eight times what they were worth ten years before.”
“It appears that this commerce, formerly so rich, is now quite done for, and the natives have turned sour in their relations with the whites.”
“Continually at war among themselves, they have become more savage and intractable than ever; they now hunt the otter only for their own needs.”
“During the years 1827 and 1828 ten vessels have traded for fewer than half the otter skins that a single ship could once have done in three months, and the ones they did obtain have cost them four or five times as much.”
“All the ships that came to the Sandwich Islands during my stay in Honolulu were obliged to sell at public auction what remained of their trading goods. …”
“One cannot deny, however, that (the) American missionaries have contributed much to the civilization of the archipelago as we understand that word, and if the pure Christian doctrine is not the basis of their instruction, they have at least enabled these people to enjoy some of the benefits of Christianity in teaching them the ethics of the Gospels.”
“They have been able to adapt the English alphabet or a part of it to the Sandwich Island idiom and they have succeeded in teaching these people to read and write their own language. There is a printing shop where they print in the Sandwich language the works judged proper for the people to read. …”
“Through the influence of Kaahumanu they receive kapus from the king for everything they want: to build their churches, their houses, their cloisters, their walls, and the like. At such times all the people are required to perform the prescribed tasks. “
“Another kapu fills the schools. In addition to these kapus for the benefit of the missionaries others are used by the king, the queen and the chiefs to get work done for themselves.” (All from French sea captain Auguste Dehaut-Cilly who made round-the world travels between 1826 and 1829.)
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