Chapter 38 33．javeliner and captain

In this chapter I shall tell you something about the personnel system of the whaling ship.Especially on the whaling ship, an extremely important, and even a pivotal, personnel position is the javeliner. In fact, the so-called personnel system on the whaling ship is aimed at senior crew members, and the main part of it is the rank division between them. Compared with the general industry in the ocean, many rules of the whaling industry are very special, especially the relevant rules of javeliners, which are unknown to other industries. The reason why the javeliner is so important on the whole whaling ship that we have to mention it alone has its special reasons, the most fundamental of which comes from whaling-this special trade.

Whaling is an industry that we have inherited from generation to generation, but what we have inherited is not only the profession itself, but also a large number of regulations and various systems on whaling ships. Of course, even the system that we have been using for generations will not be static. The evolution of the javeliner system is a good example. In the earliest whaling industry in the Netherlands, that is, in the earliest whaling industry in the world, the two tasks of sailing and whaling on a whaling ship were managed separately, instead of being completely handed over to the captain as it is now. people to rule.

The captain is responsible for navigational matters and other non-whaling day-to-day management, while the leadership of whaling is handed over to a senior crew member. This senior crew member is the Javeliner. The whaling ship is used for whaling, so the javeliner has considerable power, and he has the final say on all whaling-related work on board. This system was determined according to the earliest conditions of the whaling industry. With the continuous evolution and development of the whaling industry, this system began to change. The privileges of the senior javeliner had been greatly diminished, until now he had hardly any great rights other than being a senior crew member on a whaling ship.

His original rights were occupied by the captain who was not originally involved in whaling, and he himself became a subordinate of the captain without disputed authority. Despite this, the javeliner is still a very important position, and he is the main person the captain relies on. Sometimes, his status is still quite high. Everyone on board can basically be divided into two categories in terms of their positions, namely senior crew members and ordinary sailors. There is a fundamental difference in treatment between the two sides, the officers live in the stern, while the sailors live in the bow, and this is also the case in merchant ships, where the captain and mate live in the stern, and on whalers, the javeliners also live in the stern.

The officers eat in the captain's cabin. For a whaling ship, as long as it sails out of the port and into the embrace of the sea, the fate of the whole ship is closely related. All people are not supported by people, but rely on the common method of whaling to eat. Although they will be divided according to their grades when they get the final distribution, the dangers they face consistent with difficulty. It is common purpose, not high or low status, that binds them firmly together. Discipline is the most powerful and indispensable guarantee for them to achieve their goals. The captain is the embodiment of discipline. He is like a naval officer, leading his ship with a pale face.

This Captain Ahab of the "Pequode" is always not very cheerful. He doesn't seem to care about using various forms and habits to emphasize his supremacy and strengthen discipline and majesty. Therefore, there are no rules and offensive manners on board that make the sailors feel inferior, although such manners are normal if they exist. But Captain Ahab never gave up the irrevocable habits of the whaling world, though he did not pursue them outwardly. He has a fairly solid idea of ​​a monarch in his mind. Although he himself is poor in dressing and grooming, this does not affect his inviolable dignity in his mind.

This dignity and power has been seen by everyone on board, although Captain Ahab did not seek an opportunity to show it to everyone. Everyone was conquered by Captain Ahab's extraordinary hidden under the ordinary.