A 1849 handbill from the California Gold Rush. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Long Island whaling captains had the advantage of experience traveling the 18,000 nautical miles around Cape Hope to get to California. Most whalemen could tolerate being at sea for the five to eight months, so thousands of them took advantage of this new opportunity, sailing for gold instead of whales. Thomas Waters Jr. resisted this pull, seemingly uninterested. See also P. 205 of the By Sea, By Land book.
