Liberty on the Waterfront. Paul A. Gilje
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as free drinks and a bonus, to any sailor willing to sign aboard.77 Obviously this system was open to exploitation. William Ray admitted that “nothing but the insanity of Rum, violence, perfidy, artifice, or the most distressing penury, can draw men into a situation, where, instead, of meeting with promised smiles, approbation, reward and honour, they find nothing but frowns, chastisement, contempt, and disgrace.”78 The abuse could go both ways. Men might run away with the advance. Seven of the fifty-seven men Lieutenant William Henry Allen recruited for the Chesapeake in 1807 deserted before he shipped them off.79 Boardinghouse keepers, especially in the nineteenth century, played an important role in the recruiting process. Charles Smith ran up $40.38 in charges with landlord William Fairgreve to be paid out of his advance upon signing with the navy. The detailed list of expenses included two weeks of room and board for $7.00, carting his kit for $0.25, sundry cigars for $1.81, cash loaned for $4.50, and a black silk neckerchief for $1.00; various clothes for his upcoming service in the navy made up most of the rest.80 Recruiting was not always exploitative; men signed on with friends, relatives, and townsmen. Some captains went out of their way to reward men for enlisting or reenlisting. Captain Thomas Truxton of the Constellation offered a beaver hat, a black silk neckerchief, two months' advance pay, and two weeks' shore liberty to his crew in Baltimore to reenlist.81
Regardless of the type of vessel or the service he sailed for, the sailor went to sea to earn money. The laws of supply and demand had the greatest impact on what a sailor made. Between 1750 and 1850 monthly wages for common seamen varied from four dollars to fifty dollars. When demand was at its greatest, because of scarcity of labor or risks due to war, common seamen made their best money. If demand decreased, sailors' wages dropped and work became hard to find. A mariner's pay in New York declined by 50 percent in one year as the French and Indian War wound to a close. Wages were also high in Philadelphia during the 1750s and fell dramatically in the 1760s.82 Toward the end of the Revolutionary War, John Brice signed aboard the ship Nancy as the first mate for £18 per month. As soon as the preliminary peace had been agreed to, the captain reduced the wages. Brice sued in court, only to discover that the judge agreed with the owners and ordered that Brice should be paid the higher wage until March 3, 1783, upon which he was to be paid “Customary Peace wages” for the completion of the voyage. The wages of an experienced seaman on the same voyage went from £5 to £3 a month (approximately $12.50 to $7.50).83 After the Treaty of Paris of 1783, earnings were low, picking up again during the boom years of the 1790s.84 Throughout the period, sailor wages generally stayed in the $8 to $17 range. Local conditions, too, made a difference. While a run from New York to Quebec that began in April 1761 brought seamen, who risked impressment, 110 shillings a month, a trip from Gloucester to Virginia eight months later paid only 45 shillings.85 Horace Lane claimed that shortly before the War of 1812 he signed on to a vessel bound for Liverpool at Amelia Island, Florida, for $50 a month, when most American seamen made $12 a month. The captain paid this high wage because the vessel was sailing for Liverpool, where the risk of impressments was great. Skill level also mattered. On many voyages seamen were paid according to experience and ability. A greenhand might be paid half as much as as a seaman who truly knew the ropes, although the differential was usually only a few dollars a month.86 Wages could even vary on the same voyage depending on conditions in the ports visited. Daniel Evans and Zebulon York signed aboard the Aeolis in Portsmouth in March 1804 for $16 and $13 respectively. After they ran from the ship in Charleston, South Carolina, two months later, their replacements cost $23 and $16 each.87 The brig Mary had signed its crew in Providence in 1819 for wages that varied from $11 to $14 a month. When one of the poorer paid sailors jumped ship in Savannah, the captain had to offer $16 for his replacement.88 Certain ports, like New Orleans, were notorious for higher pay differentials, and it was a lucky captain who did not lose most of his crew if local wages were more than in the port of origin.89
Often, the wage was only a part of the sailor's compensation. Private ventures—the ability to use some of the cargo space for their own purposes—frequently came into play. On both the voyage to Quebec from New York, and the poorer paid trip from Gloucester to Virginia in 1761, common seamen were granted their own “venture.” Sometimes the articles signed by a sailor stipulated this right in detail; frequently it was merely assumed. Aboard the Susanna and Ann in 1762, which was running smuggled goods into New York, each sailor had ventures of two barrels of sugar worth £8 a barrel.90 When a shipowner questioned one sailor about loading two casks of his own goods in Port-au-Prince in 1762, the sailor retorted that he “conceives every foremast man has a Right by Law to put on board” a private venture and that the shipowner would not have questioned the sailor's right to a venture in New York.91 The contract for wages for a passage to the East Indies in 1831 included a quarter-ton privilege, which meant the sailor could ship five hundred pounds of goods as cargo.92 In the early 1800s James Durand brought five hundred pounds of coffee to the United States for which he received $125.93 Men like the Hammond brothers, who sailed in the 1820s and 1830s, constantly sent valued goods to their families to sell and for home consumption.94
As with everything else at sea, private ventures were based upon the vessel's hierarchy. Aboard the Dolphin in 1764 the master received 110 bushels, the mate 46 bushels, three men 36 bushels, and one man 27 bushels as their privilege.95 Sometimes a ship's officers had the right to a portion of the cargo space and the crew would not.96 This privilege could be so lucrative that although it was possible for the captain's monthly wage to be lower than the mate's and even the crew's, he could become wealthy and, if he were lucky and well connected, a merchant in his own right.97 The greater the captain's investment of in the voyage, however, the greater was his responsibility for the commercial aspect of the voyage. Similarly, the private venture for the common seaman benefited both the merchant and sailor by cementing everyone's interest in the successful outcome of the enterprise.
The same principle of shared risk and shared profit underwrote most fishing and whaling voyages as well. Throughout this period fishermen were not paid a daily wage; instead they obtained a percentage of the catch. Fishermen in the 1790s in Marblehead, for example, signed written contracts binding them to a specific crew during the season. The owner of the vessel would be given two to two and a half shares. The captain would get only a little more than a full share. A shoreman who dried and processed the fish would get a full share, and the remainder of the eight shares would be divided among the crew based on the amount of fish caught by each individual. Apprentices in the five- to six-man crew might get a half share or nothing at all, except knowledge of the business for future voyages.98
Whaling articles also divided the haul into shares, only they were much more elaborate, with a wide range of shares given out based upon previous experience and job category. Each rank or rating would be given a different lay, or share of the money earned from the whales caught. Aboard the whaleship Columbia on a voyage from 1846 to 1850, the first mate signed for a 1/28 lay, second mate 1/40, third mate 1/60, two coopers for 1/70 each, two steersmen and an assistant cooper for 1/75 each, another steersmen for 1/80, the cook for 1/120, the steward for 1/130, two seamen for 1/140, another seaman for 1/150, and seven seamen for 1/160.99 In the late eighteenth century, the lays for seamen would have been larger. The whaling industry changed between 1750 to 1850; voyages stretched from a few months to several years, and the pay and working conditions declined.100
Privateers operated similarly. In fact, the lucrative opportunities in times of war drew men into this service. Aboard the privateer sloop Comet during the Revolutionary War, the captain received five shares, the first lieutenant three shares, the second lieutenant, gunner, boatswain, and steward two shares each, the armorer one and one half shares, seventeen crew members one share each, and two boys one half share each. This could add up to significant money. One prize—a captured ship—could bring in £30,000. Half the money would go to the owners, the rest would be divided among the crew.101 The Yankee privateer during the War of 1812 made seven successful voyages out of Bristol, Rhode Island. On the first, which lasted three months, each share paid $700, while the second voyage netted $338.40 a share.102
Naval vessels also offered prize money in addition to a basic wage that was often minimal.