Down to the Sea in Ships
1
Elmer Clifton
Presents
"DOWN to the SEA
in SHIPS"
2
Produced in
NEW BEDFORD,
Massachusetts
by
THE WHALING FILM CORPORATION
3
NEW ENGLAND
Distributors
WHOLESOME FILM SERVICE INC.
4
Personally directed
by
ELMER CLIFTON
5
Scenario
by
JOHN L.E. PELL
6
Photography
by
A. G. PENROD
7
Great credit is due the photo-
graphers who, in small boats,
stood by their cameras at the
risk of their lives to photograph
the fighting whales.
============
Photographers on Whaling Cruise
A. G. Penrod
Paul H. Allen
8
THE CAST
Patience Morgan .. Miss Marguerite Courtot
Thomas Allan Dexter ... Raymond McKee
William W. Morgan ... William Walcott
"Dot" Morgan .... Clara Bow
"Jimmy" ...... James Turfler
"Scuff" Smith .... Leigh R. Smith
Jake Finner ..... Patrick Hartigan
Samuel Siggs ... J. Thornton Baston
The Town Crier ... Curtis Pierce
"Henny" Clark ... Ada Laycock
"Thunderbolt Bill" .. William Cavanaugh
9
"... we account the whale immortal
in his species .... he swam the
seas before the continents broke
water .... in Noah's flood he des-
pised Noah's Ark; and if the world
is again to be flooded, then the
eternal whale will still survive,
and rearing upon the topmost
crest of the equatorial flood,
spout his frothed defiance to the
skies.
- Moby Dick
10
On the Wharves.
"The merry din of 'Yo heave ho' of the
sailors was heard.... coopers with their
hammers kept time..... as round and
round the casks they marched tightening
the vessels that should hold the precious
oil." Starbuck's History. Pub. 1850.
NOTE - Whalers continue to go out from
New Bedford on similar voyages to the one
portrayed in this picture. The brawny
boatsteerer still throws the hand harpoon.
11
Austere, and proud of his
American ancestry, glorying in
his fleet of whale ships, a strict
Quaker and a careful business
man, William W. Morgan is the
dominating figure on the water
front.
12
The seventh day always
brought Morgan consola-
tion for the son he had lost
at sea.
The Apponegansett Meet-
ing House. Built in 1790.
13
Sitting in silent worship
waiting for God to
speak.
14
"- and he is greatly
blessed who hath a
son!"
15
With the lowering of the
partition, worship ends and
the business meeting begins.
16
In accordance with their strict
"Discipline", the Quakers read a
young man "out of meeting" for
marrying a girl who is not a
Quaker - - severing all family,
religious and social ties.
17
The loving obedience of his
daughter Patience brings
happiness into Morgan's life -
Morgan's daughter Patience ..
Miss Marguerite Courtot.
18
The dolls - remembrance
of her childhood play-
mate "the little boy next
door" who had gone away.
19
"Father, thee must not spend
so much time in the attic.
Thee is expected at the
cooper's shop!"
20
"Patience, thee is a whale-
man's daughter. Promise
thee will never be any
but a whaleman's wife!"
21
It was difficult for Morgan
to understand his grand-
daughter, a restless, mis-
chievous child of the sea.
Morgan's granddaughter,
"Dot" ....... Miss Clara Bow
22
"- your father's ship was
never heard from - we
found you in a chest on
a raft bundled in sail
cloth -"
23
"- we searched the
islands for your
father and mother -"
24
"Jimmy."
25
"This is a man's job!"
26
The whale oil refinery,
where great caldrons
seethe with liquid gold.
27
Jake Finner - fearless, law-
less and godless. Just back
from a four years' cruise and
ready for whatever the devil
may find for his idle hands
to do.
28
"Hey! - you leave that
dog alone!"
29
In a nearby city Finner visits
Samuel Siggs, partner in his
nefarious schemes. He plans
to steal the Morgan ships and
sail them to the gold fields.
30
"It'll be easy. You run the
books and I'll run the ships
- and aside from the
money we'll make, Morgan
has a beautiful daughter - !"
31
"These Quaker clothes are
all you need. You'll look
all right!"
32
"Siggs' Shadow"
listens in.
33
Siggs' sinister strain
hidden by
sheep's clothing -
34
Smug in the success of
their plans, Samuel Siggs
arrives in the Whaling
City.
35
Armed with the best of
recommendations, Siggs
obtains a position in the
Morgan Counting Rooms.
36
In the Whaleman's Chapel.
On walls already filled with
memorials to whalemen lost at
sea, William Morgan places a
tablet to his son.
37
Alone the valley dark he
trod,
Yet not alone, for there
was God.
38
Delighted with Samuel Siggs'
rapid strides in the Counting
Rooms, Patience's father gives
him welcome in the Morgan
home.
39
"Thy daughter is very
beautiful - might I be
permitted - ?"
40
"Well - thee is very good
at figures - thee might
make a good son-in-law!"
41
"- Thomas Allan Dexter's
come home from college
to put the machinery in
the new mill! - Allan's
home to put the -"
42
After years of study
"the little boy next door"
comes home to open the
old homestead.
Thomas Allan Dexter ..
Raymond McKee.
43
"Then you remember when
we used to play together
- the day your mother
tied the string on your
tooth and -"
44
"Oh Golly Miss!
Don't cry!"
45
"Please, Miss, wait a
minute - -"
46
Siggs takes advantage
of the Morgan hospi-
tality to - -
47
"Tell me when you will
marry me. My house in
the city is waiting its
mistress!"
48
With one eye on his work
and the other on the road
leading past the Morgan
home, Allan starts his mill
career.
49
"I'm shipping on a
whaler - cabin boy!"
50
To Patience and Allan
each passing day was but
another page in Life's
Book of Happiness.
51
With all the confidence
of youth, Allan calls to
tell Patience's father of
their love.
52
"Sir, I love your
daughter Patience!"
53
"Thee is not a Quaker -"
54
"I'll be a Quaker -"
55
"Patience is a whaleman's
daughter. Unless thee has
thrown a harpoon into a
whale, take thy story of love
elsewhere. It can never be
- never!"
56
"How can I give the
best there is in me
to my country with-
out a son!"
57
"I want to sign on a
ship to go whaling."
58
"I signed my papers at
the Spouter Inn!"
59
"Get that Allan on your
ship - and see that he
never comes back!"
60
Sunday morning.
61
"Father, will thee
please give me
some sugar?"
62
"Thee was not at Meeting
- now thee shall not see
the ship sail!"
63
"You take care of me or
I'll squeal about you
not being a whaleman!"
64
"Sing a good hymn, Siggs,
- your college boy is
stowed between decks
right under your feet.
Don't worry - you'll never
see him again."
65
For nearly a century Chap-
lains of the Bethel have held
services aboard ship to ask
God to bless each out-bound,
world-wandering whaler.
66
"They that go down to the sea
in ships, that do business in
great waters; these see the
works of the Lord; and his
wonders in the deep."
Psalm 107:23-24.
67
Sailing time.
68
"Don't worry about the
new mate. I know how
to handle him!"
69
"Farewell, Captain -
greasy luck!"
70
"Stand by to cast off!"
71
The mysterious disap-
pearance of Dot and
Allan starts gossip.
72
"It is reported that Dot
Morgan and Allan Dex-
ter have joined the
Oregon Wagon Train
and are 'heading west'!"
73
"Whatever the Captain does is
right .... any opposition to it is
wrong on board ship; .... every
man knows this when he signs
the ship's articles."
Dana - Two Years before the Mast.
74
"Ashore - No! We're nine
hours out - you'll go to
work!"
75
"Oh Jimmie - my stomach
feels so funny!"
76
"Please Jimmy, get me
something to eat!"
77
"Girls have no business
running away from
home!"
78
"Plum-pudding" luck! The ship
finds a floating whale, a big bull
evidently just killed in a battle
with its mates. Overjoyed at
their good fortune, the men start
"cutting in" with a will.
79
The spade is as sharp
as a razor blade.
"The spadesman's feet are
shoeless....toes are scarce
among blubber room
whalemen -"
- Moby Dick.
80
Finding himself on a
whaler, Allan plunges
into the hard work,
hoping to win his chance
to harpoon a whale.
81
The Blanket Piece. The
blubber is cut in a con-
tinuous strip weighing
tons.
82
The Junk (Forehead of
the whale) weighing over
ten tons, is cut off - -
83
- - and hoisted
on deck.
84
A throat bigger than a
hogshead. Why question
the swallowing of Jonah!
85
The huge lower jaw, over
twenty feet long and with
46 enormous teeth, is un-
hinged and brought on
deck.
86
The Case. This part of the
head contains the most valu-
able oil - waxy spermaceti
- which is bailed directly
from its great storage space.
87
"The decks present the lively....
spectacle which sailors love....
try works a-blazing, cooper a-
pounding, oil a-flowing and every-
body busy night and day."
The Whale and his Captors. Pub. 1850.
88
"Come here, one! Swab
the deck!"
89
"Oh, Allan, you shouldn't
have gone away west - -
because - -"
90
Flukes - -
the whale's tail
91
"If you ever get hit by
a whale's flukes you'll
wake up in Davy Jones's
Locker!"
92
Finner tells the crew the
captain fell overboard --
calls all hands aft and
assumes command.
93
"From now on I'll walk
the Quarter Deck! I'm
master of this vessel, and
if any of you -"
94
"Black fish, sir, as
big as horses!"
95
The crew divides. Half
for Finner and the "gold
fields," the rest for tak-
ing the ship back home.
96
Grim heralds of
mutiny.
97
Meal time in the fore-
castle - the crew's
living quarters.
98
"Well, what the blazes
are you doin' on this
ship, bub?"
99
"I'm going to be a
whaler!"
100
"Trice the slob up in the
riggin' - string 'em both
up by the thumbs!"
101
"You know, sissy, we're
goin' to be pretty good
friends!"
102
"We're for the gold! If
those fellows below think
they're goin' to steer a
course for home we'll fix
'em -"
103
"- and he's got Morgan's
granddaughter in the
cabin!"
104
"- are you going to leave
our shipmates hanging in
the rigging?"
105
The stout bars of the
"brig" halt Finner's
plans.
106
To put the vessel to
rights. At anchor off
the uninhabited "Isle of
Caves".
107
At dawn they put
ashore -
108
For wood and
water -
109
The joy of a peaceful
ship. Allan is raised to
boatsteerer.
110
The Whaleman's "iron"
The Harpoon.
The Tub and whale line.
111
"Porps! Porps!"
(Porpoise)
112
Fresh meat for all hands
after weeks of "salt
horse".
113
"I was thinking - if there
was only a grandson in
the cradle -"
114
"It will soon be my lost son's
birthday - Patience it is my
desire that thee marry
Friend Siggs then."
115
"He is a Quaker and a
whaleman, Patience, and
thee has promised -"
116
"Blo-o-ows! Blo-o-ows!"
117
"White-water! White-water!"
118
"Where away?"
119
"Two points off the weather
bow! Blo-o-ows!"
120
"Stand by to lower!"
121
"Big school! Sperm
whale!"
122
"Look out! Look out!
He's coming at us!"
123
With a fresh boat from the mother
ship they pick up the line on
Allan's whale and renew the chase.
The giant of the deep drags three
boats, a combined weight of more
than 6,000 pounds through the
water for hours.
124
The lancing.
125
The Capture.
"Fins out!"
126
The prize - a hundred
barrel sperm whale; ap-
proximate weight, ninety
tons. Allan's big whale fills
the hold with oil.
127
Her wedding day.
128
"Why father - it is my
wedding dress!"
129
"Thy fringe is a bit gay!"
130
"Nahoma - does thee
think the children
will love me?"
131
"How can they - when I
don't love him!"
132
"Homeward Bound!"
133
"I know we're almost in the
harbor but omens is omens
and I still say somethin's
going to happen to this
ship!"
134
"Last watch I swear I
saw a phantom -"
135
"- and at dawn the
bird flew away!"
136
"I'll get you for not
helpin' me out of
this!"
137
"Don't let Finner put the
blame on me - I didn't
shanghai you!"
138
"- and his partner back
home is yellow! - and he's
trying to win Morgan's
daughter!"
139
The fastest horses in the
county to carry Siggs and
his bride, on the long
journey, to his city home
after the ceremony.
140
"Excitement is serious.
Do not cross him
tonight!"
141
"It's such a terrible night,
Father, can't we postpone
the wedding?"
142
"- Please, dear Father
in Heaven, take care
of me - !"
143
"Remember now, make
him a good wife!"
144
Following the long established
rules of the "Discipline", using
neither clergyman nor ring, they
go to the Meeting House to
marry each other - God willing.
145
"We're close in - let's
swim for it. They'll
never put me behind
the bars!"
146
"She meeting house now
her father make her
marry Siggs."
147
"In the presence of the Lord
and before this assembly, I
take thee, Patience Morgan,
to be my wife - -"
148
"In the presence of the
Lord and before this
assembly, I take thee,
Samuel Siggs - -"
149
The Quaker Marriage Cap
- to Patience and Allan,
happiness - to Morgan, a
grandson in the cradle of his
ancestors.
150
So ends.
Produced by
Elmer Clifton
151
THE CAST
Patience Morgan .. Miss Marguerite Courtot
Thomas Allan Dexter ... Raymond McKee
William W. Morgan ... William Walcott
"Dot" Morgan .... Clara Bow
"Jimmy" ...... James Turfler
"Scuff" Smith .... Leigh R. Smith
Jake Finner ..... Patrick Hartigan
Samuel Siggs ... J. Thornton Baston
The Town Crier ... Curtis Pierce
"Henny" Clark ... Ada Laycock
"Thunderbolt Bill" .. William Cavanaugh
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