A Game of Chance
The Story of British North American South Seas Whaling
by Andrea Kirkpatrick

---

It’s almost impossible to imagine spending eight months at sea “without once putting foot on land.” But that’s exactly what whalers experienced when playing the dangerous “game of chance,” hunting down leviathans for oil and bone—all for a “lay,” or share, of the vessel’s spoils. A Game of Chance is the first comprehensive, in-depth study of British North American South Seas whaling. Author Andrea Kirkpatrick takes readers on a series of fascinating and sometimes fantastical journeys as she chronicles in great detail the story of a largely forgotten industry that operated out of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick ports from the 1760s to 1850. Kirkpatrick plumbed the depths of myriad logbooks and journals to piece together the often-murky tales of an astonishing number of ships. In this treatise covering a century of whaling, she shares details such as ownership, tonnage, voyages, captains’ pedigrees, and names of crewmen, including nascent whaler Herman Melville, author of Moby-Dick. Hoping for “greasy luck,” the men who manned these ships found both camaraderie and competition as they hunted the world’s whaling grounds from Cape Horn to Kamchatka, many circumnavigating the globe during their careers. They battled squalls and high seas, scurvy and venereal disease, heartbreak and homesickness—and sometimes each other. Many never returned home, their bodies committed to the deep or buried on foreign land. Written in two parts—landward and seaward—Kirkpatrick’s clear prose and adoption of whaling lingua franca brings this high-risk venture to the fore with authenticity, newly revealed facts, and remarkable stories of adventure.

---

. . . . as Whale-fishing is, perhaps, with the exception of Underwriting, more a game of chance, than any other pursuit in which mercantile men are engaged, the only means of forming any thing like a correct estimate, is by making an average of former voyages, taking care to make large allowances, so as to be sure to err on the safe side. Statement of the Affairs of the Saint John Mechanics’ Whale Fishing Company, November, 1845. Merritt Family Papers, F48-4, Archives, New Brunswick Museum. A Game of Chance is the first in-depth study of British North American South Seas whaling. Offering a great deal of new information, it chronicles the varied fortunes of the businesses involved and presents as narratives all the known voyages.

---

Now retired, Andrea Kirkpatrick is a former curator who has worked at major institutions including the National Gallery in London, National Library of Canada, National Gallery of Canada, and New Brunswick Museum. Kirkpatrick’s curiosity about whaling was initially inspired by some undocumented and unresearched artifacts that came under her purview at the New Brunswick Museum—likely brought back by whalers. Inspired to look deeper, what started as a small investigation into Saint John whaling soon expanded into the British North America industry as a whole, with Kirkpatrick’s tireless research and sharp writing resulting in A Game of Chance. Kirkpatrick lives in Saint John, New Brunswick.

---

Contributors

Author

Andrea Kirkpatrick

---

Other eBook Editions

This book is also available in eBook format from these sites.

• Amazon Kindle Store
• Nook Store
• Kobo Store
• Apple Books
• Google Play