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At least one journalist romanticized the Yankee ingenuity and industry of a returning crew that had weathered storms and sailed under foreign constellations in the Pacific Ocean. The patchwork on a black seaman’s jacket revealed years of dedicated service by someone who was "no longer young, hoping and ambitious." A journalist’s interview with a crew member who hailed from Nantucket revealed the monotony of much of the voyage. The young sailor who had never been to sea before quickly discovered that much of whaling was dull work and his shipmates soon grew tired of each other. Even as the reporter spoke to this sailor, he noticed that several other seamen "came near to listen, and their eyes, and their ears, and their minds, seemed to be devouring a new face, and voice, and person."

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image of crew_with_accordian

New Bedford Whaling Museum