Moreover, the trading methods involved, and the relations of the captain or other officers to the owners, were such as to spur ambition and promise profit.

The merchant was then greatly dependent on his captain, who must judge markets, buy and sell, and shape his course without direction from home.

So the custom arose of giving the captain--and sometimes other officers--an opportunity to carry goods of their own in the ship, or to share the owner's adventure.

In the whaling and fishery business we shall see that an almost pure communism prevailed.

These conditions attracted to the maritime calling men of an enterprising and ambitious nature--men to whom the conditions to-day of mere wage servitude, fixed routes, and constant dependence upon the cabled or telegraphed orders of the owner would be intolerable.