During the summer months he and his fellow apprentices made voyages to the Greenland seas, returning with their cargoes in the early autumn; and employing the winter months in watching the preparation of the oil from the blubber in the melting-sheds, and learning navigation from some quaint but experienced teacher, half schoolmaster, half sailor, who seasoned his instructions by stirring narrations of the wild adventures of his youth.

The house of the ship-owner to whom he was apprenticed was his home and that of his companions during the idle season between October and March.

The domestic position of these boys varied according to the premium paid; some took rank with the sons of the family, others were considered as little better than servants.

Yet once on board an equality prevailed, in which, if any claimed superiority, it was the bravest and brightest.

After a certain number of voyages the Monkshaven lad would rise by degrees to be captain, and as such would have a share in the venture; all these profits, as well as all his savings, would go towards building a whaling vessel of his own, if he was not so fortunate as to be the child of a ship-owner.