CHAPTER I.

Whale Fishery.--Its Origin.--Where first carried on.--By whom.--Whaling in the Northern Ocean by the Dutch and English. --Contentions between them.--The Success of the Dutch.-- Its Commencement in New England.--"London Documents."--The first Whale Scene in Nantucket.--Boat Whaling.--The Number of Whales taken in one Day.--The first Spermaceti Whale.-- The Interest it excited.--Its supposed Value.--The first Sperm Whale captured.--New Life to the Business.--Whaling in Massachusetts in 1771-75.--Burke's Eulogy on New England Whalers.--Sperm Whaling in Great Britain.--Revived in France.--The American and French Revolutions nearly destroyed the Business.--Loss to Nantucket.--Its Commencement in New Bedford.--Tabular View of the Number of Vessels engaged in Whaling, and Places to which they belong.

"No species of fishery, prosecuted any where on the surface of the ocean, can compare in intensity of interest with the whale fishery. The magnitude of the object of the chase, and the perilous character of the seas which it frequents in all climates and latitudes, are features which prominently distinguish the whale fishery from all similar pursuits, and which invest the details of its history with the strong charm inseparable from pictures and verities of stirring exertion, privation, adventure, daring, and danger." In a word, it is fishery upon a gigantic scale, in which romance and reality are strangely blended.

"The whale fishery is a practice of long standing in the world. It is supposed that the Norwegians began to prosecute this hazardous and arduous enterprise as early as the closing part of the ninth century. From rather vague statements, on this subject, which have come down to us, it would seem that they confined themselves to the capturing of a few whales in their bays and harbors.

"The shores of the Bay of Biscay, where the Normans formed early settlements, became famous through them for the whale fishery there earned on. In the same region, it was first made a regular commercial pursuit; and as the whales visited the bay in large numbers, the traffic was convenient and easy.

"The Biscayans maintained it with great vigor and success in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries.

"We find from a work of Noel, 'Upon the Antiquity of Whale Fishing,' that, in 1261, a tithe was laid upon the _tongues_ of whales imported into Bayonne, they being then a highly esteemed species of food. In 1338, Edward III. relinquished to Peter de Puyanne a duty of six pounds sterling laid on each whale brought into the port of Biarritz, to indemnify him for the extraordinary expenses he had incurred in fitting out a fleet for the service of his majesty.

"The Biscayans, however, soon gave up the whale fishery for the want of fish, which ceased to come southward, no longer leaving the icy seas.

"In process of time, voyages both of the Dutch and English were undertaken to discover a passage through the Northern Ocean to India; and though they entirely failed in their primary object, yet they laid open the remote haunts of the whale, and immediately began to prosecute the enterprise of their capture. Even then, it was said, they employed the Biscayans as their harpooners, and for a considerable part of their crew. The Dutch and English prosecuted the business with varied success, each claiming the ground for whale fishery in the seas around Spitzbergen. Large companies were formed, and many ships were sent to those northern regions, each armed and prepared to maintain his right and supremacy over the seas. Thus one party would obtain a charter from its own government, to the exclusion of the other and all others--at the same time, each claiming the prior right of possession by discovery.

"At length, in 1618, a general engagement took place, in which the English were defeated. Hitherto the two governments had allowed the fishing adventurers and companies to fight out their own battles; but in consequence of this event, it was considered prudent by each party to divide the Spitzbergen bay and seas into fishing stations, where the companies might fish and not trouble each other.

"After this period, the Dutch quickly gained a superiority over their rivals. While the English prosecuted the trade sluggishly and with incompetent means, the Dutch turned their fisheries to great account, and, in 1680, had about two hundred and sixty ships and fourteen thousand seamen employed in them."[F]

"From the year 1660, or forty years after the landing of our pilgrim fathers on the shores of New England, down to the end of the seventeenth century, there seem to have been various, and, as far as now can be ascertained, nearly simultaneous and independent attempts to prosecute this business by the inhabitants of Cape Cod, those of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, and some of the British subjects in the bays around the Bermuda Islands."

The following interesting facts respecting the early history of whaling in this country were obtained from manuscripts in the New York State Library, by R. L. Pease, Esq., of Edgartown. They were copied from the originals in London, by Mr. Brodhead, under the authority of the State of New York, and called "London Documents."

Vol. iv. pp. 9-12. In the instructions of the Duke of York to his agent, John Lewen, he is directed to "inquire what number of whales have been killed near ye place within six years last past, and what quantities of whale bone and oyle have been made or brought in there, and how much my share hath amounted to in that time.... And you are also to informe yourself how many whales are taken and brought in there, commibus annis. Given May 24th, 1680."

Ibid. p. 71. In his answer, Lewen says "that the number of whales killed is never observed by any person, nor the oil or bone."

Ibid. p. 84. General Andros, on this point, states, December 31, 1681, that "very few whales have been driven on ashore but what have been killed and claymed by the whalers; and, if not proved theirs, then claymed by the Indian natives, or Christians clayming the shores in said Indian's right. And tho I have not been wanting in my endeavors, I never could recover any part thereof for his Royal Highness."

Vol. ii. p. 277. "On ye east of Long Island there were 12 or 13 whales taken before ye end of March, and what since wee heare not; here are some dayly seen in the very harbour, sometimes within Nutt Island. Out of the pinnace, the other week, they struck two, but lost both; the irons broke in one, the other broke the warpe.

SAMUEL MAVERICK.

July 5, 1669."

"The first whaling expedition from Nantucket was undertaken by some of the original purchasers of the island, the circumstances of which are handed down to us by tradition, and are as follows: A whale of the kind called the 'scragg' came into the harbor, and continued there three days. This excited the curiosity of the people, and led them to devise measures to prevent his return out of the harbor. They accordingly invented, and caused to be wrought for them, a harpoon, with which they attacked and killed the whale. This first success encouraged them to undertake whaling as a permanent business, whales being at that time numerous in the vicinity of the shores.

Finding, however, that the people of Cape Cod had made greater proficiency in the art of whale catching than themselves, the inhabitants, in 1690, sent thither and employed a man by the name of Ichabod Paddock to instruct them in the best manner of killing whales and extracting their oil.

The pursuit of whales was commenced in boats, and was carried on from year to year until it became a principal branch of business to the islanders. The Indians readily joined the whites in this new enterprise; and the most active among them soon became boat steerers and experienced whalemen, and were capable of conducting any part of the business.

Boat whaling from the shore continued until about the year 1760, when the whales became so scarce that it was wholly laid aside.

The greatest number of whales ever killed and brought to the shore in one day was eleven. In 1726, they were very plenty; forty-six were taken during that year--a greater number than ever was obtained in one year either before or since this date.

It is a remarkable fact that, notwithstanding the people had to learn the business and carry it on under many hazardous circumstances, yet not a single white person was known to be killed or drowned in the pursuit of whales in the course of seventy years preceding 1760. The whales hitherto caught near the shores in boats were of the 'right' species.

The first spermaceti whale known to the inhabitants was found dead and ashore on the west end of the island. It caused great excitement-- some demanding a part of the prize under one pretence and some under another, and all were anxious to behold so strange an animal.

The natives claimed the whole because they found it; the whites, to whom the natives made known the discovery, claimed it by a right comprehended, as they affirmed, in the purchase of the island by the original patent. An officer of the crown made his claim to it, and pretended to seize the fish in the name of his majesty, as being property without any particular owner.

After considerable discussion between the contending parties, it was finally settled that the white inhabitants who first found the whale should share the prize equally among themselves.

The teeth, however, which were considered very valuable, had been extracted by a white man and an Indian before any others had any knowledge of the whale.

All difficulty having been settled, a company was then formed that commenced cutting the whale in pieces convenient for transportation to the try works. The sperm procured from the head was thought to be of great value for medicinal purposes. It was used both as an internal and external application; and such was the credulity of the people that they considered it a certain cure for all diseases; it was sought with avidity, and for a while was esteemed to be worth its weight in silver."

"The first sperm whale taken by the Nantucket whalers was killed by Christopher Hussey. He was cruising near the shore for 'right' whales, and was blown off some distance from the land by a strong northerly wind, when he fell in with a school of that species of whale, and killed one, and brought it home.

"At what date this adventure took place is not fully ascertained, but it is supposed that it was not far from 1712. This event imparted new life to the business, for they immediately began to build vessels, of about forty tons, to whale out in the 'deep,' as it was then called, to distinguish it from 'shore whaling.' They fitted three vessels for six weeks, carried a few hogsheads, sufficient to contain the blubber of one whale, and tried out the oil after they returned home.

"In 1715, there were six vessels engaged in the whaling business, (all sloops, from thirty to forty tons burden each,) and which produced an income of nearly five thousand dollars."[G]

As the enterprise increased, more capital was invested, larger vessels were built, longer voyages were undertaken, and new localities or grounds for whales were discovered.

Fifty years later,--viz., from 1771 to 1775,--Massachusetts alone employed annually one hundred and eighty-three vessels in the North Atlantic Ocean, and one hundred and twenty-one vessels of larger burden in the South Atlantic Ocean.

"Look at the manner," says Burke, (1774,) "in which the New England people carry on the whale fishery. While we follow them among the tumbling mountains of ice, and behold them penetrating into the deepest frozen recesses of Hudson's Bay and Davis's Straits; while we are looking for them beneath the arctic circle, we hear that they have pierced into the opposite region of polar cold--that they are at the antipodes, and engaged under the frozen serpent of the south. Falkland Island, which seems too remote and too romantic an object for the grasp of national ambition, is but a stage and resting place to their victorious industry. Nor is the equinoctial heat more discouraging to them than the accumulated winter of both the poles. We learn that, while some draw the line and strike the harpoon on the coast of Africa, others run the longitude, and pursue their gigantic game, along the coast of Brazil."

Such was the eloquent commendation given to the energy and perseverance of New England whalers by one of the most distinguished of British statesmen.

"The first attempt to establish the sperm whale fishery from Great Britain was made in 1775. Nine years later, the French undertook to revive the prosecution of this business. The king, Louis XVI., fitted out six ships himself from Dunkirk, and procured his experienced harpooners from Nantucket; others emulated the example of that monarch; so that, before the French revolution, that nation had forty ships in the service.

"The revolutionary war of the American colonies, and the wars of the French revolution, nearly destroyed this flourishing branch of marine enterprise in both countries. Just previous to the war, Massachusetts employed in this service three hundred vessels and four thousand seamen, about half of whom were from Nantucket alone. During that war, fifteen vessels belonging to this island were lost at sea, and one hundred and thirty-four were captured by the enemy. The loss of life in prison ships and elsewhere, and the immense loss of property, show that Nantucket paid as dearly in the struggle for liberty as any portion of our country.

"It was not until the year 1792, many years after the commencement of the enterprise in Nantucket, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and other places on the sound, that the attention of the people of New Bedford was turned towards the whale fishery."[H]

From this date until the present time, no permanent obstruction, with the exception of the war of 1812-1815, has occurred to impede the gradual and increasing interest given to this enterprise, and which now assumes commanding commercial importance, and develops unrivaled energy in its prosecution.

The number of vessels in this country employed in the whale fishery far exceeds that of all others engaged in the same pursuit.

The following tabular view will present to the reader the number and class of vessels engaged in the whale fishery, belonging to their respective places in the United States, as reported in the "Whaleman's Shipping List and Merchant's Transcript" for October, 1856:--

---------------+--------+--------+--------+---------+--------+-------- Places. | Ships. | Barks. | Brigs. | Sch'rs. | Total. | Tonn. ---------------+--------+--------+--------+---------+--------+-------- New Bedford | 209[*] | 128[*] | | | 337 | 122,000 Dartmouth | 4 | 6 | | | 10 | 2,698 Sippican | | | | 3 | 3 | 319 Westport | | 17 | | | 17 | 3,989 Wareham | 1 | | | | 1 | 347 Sandwich | | 1 | 1 | | 2 | 292 Fairhaven | 36 | 12 | | 1 | 49 | 15,927 Mattapoisett | 1 | 10 | | 1 | 12 | 3,281 Nantucket | 32 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 39 | 12,860 Edgartown | 10 | 4 | | 3 | 17 | 4,986 Holmes's Hole | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1,349 Falmouth | 2 | 1 | | | 3 | 1,111 Provincetown | 1 | 4 | 1 | 16 | 22 | 2,792 Orleans | | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 638 Beverly | | 3 | | | 3 | 616 Salem | | 1 | | | 1 | 323 Lynn | | 1 | | | 1 | 216 Fall River | | 3 | | | 3 | 814 Warren, R.I. | 5 | 10 | | | 15 | 5,025 Newport | | 4 | | | 4 | 1,206 Providence | 1 | | | | 1 | 298 New London | 32 | 14 | 5 | 12 | 63 | 19,176 Stonington | 3 | 3 | | | 6 | 1,949 Greenport | 3 | 7 | | | 10 | 2,958 Mystic | 4 | 2 | | | 6 | 1,840 Sag Harbor | 5 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 5,252 Cold Spring | 3 | 2 | | | 5 | 2,129 San Francisco | 4 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 2,500 ---------------+--------+--------+--------+---------+--------+-------- [*] Ships reckoned at 400 tons, and barks at 300.

The whole number of vessels employed in the whale fishery in this country, as before reported, is 670

Number of ships, 358 Number of barks, 259 Number of brigs 17 Number of schooners 46 The tonnage may be put down at 220,000. Value of property, at $100 per ton, $20,000,000.

The number of seamen engaged in this business, allowing 30 for each ship, 24 for a bark, 20 for a brig, and 18 for a schooner, would be more than 20,000.

Importations of sperm and whale oil and whalebone into the United States in 1856 are as follows:--

Sperm oil, 80,941 bbls. Right whale oil, 197,890 bbls. Whalebone, 2,592,700 lbs.