Sunday, September 27, 2009

"We have to work like horses and live like pigs"

I posted a few months ago on Mystic Seaport's whaleboat that is in the National Museum of American History’s exhibit.What I didn't realize at the time was that it is a quote from Robert Weir's journal kept on board the whale ship Clara Bell that appears on the wall above the whaleboat and that curators choose to exemplify the feelings of 19th century mariners. "We have to work like horses and live like pigs" is only one of the many insightful lines written by Weir in Mystic Seaport's Log 164. Illustrations from the Clara Bell log have appeared in numerous publications including the novel: "Whale Hunt: The Narrative of a Voyage by Nelson Cole Haley, Harpooner in the Ship Charles W. Morgan." “American Heritage” also featured an article on Weir that is now available online. … Many and many a weary league am I now from those I love—and O what a life for me to lead, among an ungodly set of men