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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #55152 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55152)
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Whale Fishery of New England, by Various
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-
-
-Title: Whale Fishery of New England
-
-Author: Various
-
-Editor: State Street Trust Company
-
-Release Date: July 19, 2017 [EBook #55152]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHALE FISHERY OF NEW ENGLAND ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by deaurider, Brian Wilcox and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
-file was produced from images generously made available
-by The Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Transcriber’s Notes:
-
-Italic text is marked _thus_.
-
-The spelling, punctuation and hyphenation are as the original, except
-for apparent typographical errors, which have been corrected.
-
-
-
-
- WHALE FISHERY OF
- NEW ENGLAND
-
- AN ACCOUNT,
- WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND SOME INTERESTING AND AMUSING
- ANECDOTES, OF THE RISE AND FALL OF AN INDUSTRY
- WHICH HAS MADE NEW ENGLAND FAMOUS
- THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
-
- [Illustration: Sailing ship page decoration]
-
-
- PRINTED FOR THE
- STATE STREET TRUST COMPANY
- BOSTON, MASS.
-
-
-
-
- COPYRIGHTED 1915
- BY THE
- STATE STREET TRUST COMPANY
-
- The vignette on the title-page is reproduced from a print of the
- ship “Maria” of New Bedford, which in 1853 was the oldest whaleship
- owned in the United States. Her registry was dated 1782. She was
- built in Pembroke, now called Hanson, for a privateer during the
- Revolutionary War, and was bought in the year 1783 by William Rotch
- of Nantucket, afterwards of New Bedford. At one time she was owned
- by Samuel Rodman, and also by the Russells. In construction she was
- the typical whaleship of her time. It is said that she earned for
- her owners $250,000 and made twenty-five voyages, bringing back a
- full cargo each time. The tailpiece is from a very old print which
- represents whaling in the seventeenth century.
-
-
- _Compiled, arranged and printed
- under the direction of the
- Walton Advertising and Printing Company
- Boston, Mass._
-
-
-
-
-FOREWORD
-
-
-The people of New England have long been interested in all matters
-pertaining to the sea, and members of many of her best-known families
-have commanded its merchant ships and whalers.
-
-The State Street Trust Company has always endeavored to encourage an
-interest in historical matters, and it is hoped that this pamphlet, the
-ninth of the series, which deals with one of our earliest industries,
-will be interesting to the Company’s depositors and also to the
-general public. It is sent to you with the compliments of the Company,
-which for over twenty years has tried to serve the interests of its
-depositors.
-
-For valuable assistance in the preparation of this pamphlet the Trust
-Company desires to acknowledge its indebtedness to Dr. Benjamin Sharp
-and Sidney Chase, residents of Nantucket (the latter being a descendant
-of the Starbucks, Coffins and Husseys), to Z. W. Pease, Frank Wood and
-George H. Tripp, all of New Bedford (Mr. Tripp being the librarian of
-the Free Public Library), Llewellyn Howland, Frederick P. Fish, Charles
-H. Taylor, Jr., Roy C. Andrews and Madison Grant of the American
-Museum of Natural History, New York, D. A. deMenocal, J. E. Lodge
-and Kojiro Tornita of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and George F.
-Lord, secretary of the Boston Stock Exchange. Assistance has also been
-rendered by the officers of the Trust Company.
-
-The following books have been used as references and contain valuable
-information and many interesting anecdotes:—
-
- “The Story of New England Whalers,” by John R. Spears.
-
- “History of the American Whale Fishery,” by Alexander Starbuck.
-
- “A History of the American Whale Fishery,” by Walter S. Tower.
-
- “Moby Dick, or the White Whale,” by Herman Melville.
-
- “Whaling Ventures and Adventures,” by George H. Tripp.
-
- “Whaling and Fishing,” by Charles Nordhoff.
-
- “Miriam Coffin,” by Col. Joseph C. Hart.
-
- “The Gam,” by Capt. Charles Henry Robbins.
-
- “Eighteen Months on a Greenland Whaler,” by Joseph P. Faulkner.
-
- “Arctic Whaleman and Whaling,” by Rev. Lewis Holmes.
-
- “Cruise of the Cachalot,” by Frank T. Bullen.
-
- “History of Nantucket,” by Edward K. Godfrey.
-
- “History of Nantucket,” by Obed Macy.
-
- “History of Nantucket,” by Douglas-Lithgow.
-
- “The Glacier’s Gift” (Nantucket), by Eva C. G. Folger.
-
- “History of New Bedford,” by Daniel Ricketson.
-
- “The Perils and Romance of Whaling,” by G. Kobbé.
-
- “The Whale and its Captors,” by Rev. Henry T. Cheever.
-
- “Incidents of a Whaling Voyage,” by Olmstead.
-
- “Nimrod of the Sea,” by Captain Davis.
-
- “Hunting the Biggest of all Big Game,” by Roy C. Andrews.
-
- “Four Years Aboard a Whaleship,” by William B. Whitecar, Jr.
-
- “Etchings of a Whaling Cruise,” by J. Ross Browne.
-
- “Bark Kathleen, sunk by a Whale,” by Capt. T. H. Jenkins.
-
- “Peter the Whaler,” by William H. G. Kingston.
-
- “The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States,” by
- George Brown Goode, prepared for the United States Tenth Census.
-
-[Illustration: Model of the whaleship “Henry,” made at sea in 1847.
-This model stands in the main banking rooms of the Company, and may be
-seen by visitors.]
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-
- PAGE
-
- THE WHALE 7
-
- ANCIENT HISTORY OF WHALING 8
-
- EARLY NEW ENGLAND WHALING 13
-
- NANTUCKET 16
-
- NEW BEDFORD 23
-
- OTHER NEW ENGLAND WHALING PORTS 33
-
- ABOARD A “BLUBBER HUNTER” 35
-
- WHALING IMPLEMENTS AND WHALEBOATS 37
-
- DIFFERENT SPECIES OF WHALES AND THEIR PRODUCTS 41
-
- METHODS OF CAPTURE AND “TRYING OUT” 45
-
- THE PERILS OF WHALING 51
-
- THE “CATALPA” EXPEDITION 58
-
- DECLINE OF WHALING AND THE CAUSES 60
-
- WHALING OF TO-DAY 62
-
- The illustrations used in this brochure are from rare prints in the
- possession of the Dartmouth Historical Society and the Free Public
- Library of New Bedford, H. S. Hutchinson & Co., Charles H. Taylor,
- Jr., Roy C. Andrews of the American Museum of Natural History of
- New York, Doubleday, Page & Co., and others.
-
- * * * * *
-
-“Neither the perseverance of Holland, nor the activity of France, nor
-the dexterous and firm sagacity of the English enterprise, ever carried
-this most perilous mode of hardy industry to the extent to which it
-has been pushed by this recent People; a People who are still, as
-it were, but in the gristle, and not yet hardened into the bone, of
-manhood.”—_From a speech by Edmund Burke before Parliament in 1775._
-
-[Illustration: Capturing a huge sperm whale. (From a very rare print.)]
-
-
-
-
-THE WHALE
-
- “Oh, the rare old Whale, ’mid storm and gale,
- In his ocean home will be
- A giant in might where might is right,
- And King of the boundless sea.”
-
- _From “Moby Dick.”_
-
-
-No animal in prehistoric or historic times has ever exceeded the
-whale, in either size or strength, which explains perhaps its survival
-from ancient times. Few people have any idea of the relative size of
-the whale compared with other animals. A large specimen weighs about
-ninety tons, or thirty times as much as an elephant, which beside a
-whale appears about as large as a dog compared to an elephant. It is
-equivalent in bulk to one hundred oxen, and outweighs a village of one
-thousand people. If cut into steaks and eaten, as in Japan, it would
-supply a meal to an army of one hundred and twenty thousand men.
-
-[Illustration: A French lithograph showing the comparative sizes of a
-whale, an elephant, a horse, and a giraffe.]
-
-Whales have often exceeded one hundred feet in length, and George Brown
-Goode, in his report on the United States Fisheries, mentions a finback
-having been killed that was one hundred and twenty feet long. A whale’s
-head is sometimes thirty-five feet in circumference, weighs thirty
-tons, and has jaws twenty feet long, which open thirty feet wide to a
-mouth that is as large as a room twenty feet long, fifteen feet high,
-nine feet wide at the bottom, and two feet wide at the top. A score of
-Jonahs standing upright would not have been unduly crowded in such a
-chamber.
-
-The heart of a whale is the size of a hogshead. The main blood artery
-is a foot in diameter, and ten to fifteen gallons of blood pour out at
-every pulsation. The tongue of a right whale is equal in weight to ten
-oxen, while the eye of all whales is hardly as large as a cow’s, and
-is placed so far back that it has in direction but a limited range of
-vision. The ear is so small that it is difficult to insert a knitting
-needle, and the brain is only about ten inches square. The head, or
-“case,” contains about five hundred barrels, of ten gallons each, of
-the richest kind of oil, called spermaceti.
-
-One of these giants, when first struck by a harpoon, can go as fast as
-a steam yacht, twenty or twenty-five miles an hour, but it soon slows
-down to its usual speed of about twelve miles, developing about one
-hundred and forty-five horse-power.
-
-Mr. Roy C. Andrews, of the American Museum of Natural History, New
-York, was on a whaler ninety feet long, which struck a finback whale,
-and he says that for seven hours the whale towed the vessel, with
-engines going at full speed astern, almost as though it had been a
-rowboat.
-
-The whale’s young are about twelve feet long at birth, and can swim
-as soon as they are born. So faithfully does the cow whale watch over
-her offspring when they are together that she will rarely move when
-attacked for fear of leaving the young whale unprotected, or of hurting
-it if she thrashes round to escape capture. It is believed that whales
-sometimes live to attain the age of eight hundred years. They sleep
-at the bottom of the ocean, which fact shows that they do not inhale
-air when asleep, like the warm-blooded animals, and to help them in
-breathing below the surface they have a large reservoir of blood to
-assist circulation. This spot is known to whalemen as the “life” of the
-whale. When “sounding” to a great depth it is estimated that the whale
-bears on its back the weight of twenty battleships. The strength and
-power of a whale are described as almost unbelievable.
-
-
-
-
-ANCIENT HISTORY OF WHALING
-
-
-Every one knows the story of Jonah; how he was thrown overboard to
-appease the gods, and how a “big fish” swallowed him and carried him
-ashore. It will always be a mooted question whether or not the big
-fish was a whale. If it were a whale, it is doubtful whether Jonah got
-any further than its mouth, on account of the smallness of a whale’s
-throat. It may be well to explain that a whale does not belong to the
-fish family, but is a mammal, and therefore, perhaps, this great fish
-mentioned wasn’t a whale.
-
-This “fishing on a gigantic scale,” as it has been often termed, is
-of very ancient origin and dates back to 890 A.D., when a Norwegian,
-called Octhere, skirted the coast of Norway for whales.
-
-The Biscayans, who in the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and
-fifteenth centuries became famous on account of their whale fishery,
-were the first people to prosecute this industry as a regular
-commercial pursuit. In this connection the French are also mentioned
-about 1261, using the whale for food. Also the Icelanders are
-believed to have whaled some time during the twelfth century. The first
-reference to English whaling appears during the fourteenth century, and
-by statutory law the whale was declared “a royal fish.” Another curious
-law was that the King, as Honorary Harpooner, received the head, and
-the Queen the tail of all whales captured along the English coast,
-which is very much like halving an apple, there is so little left.
-
-[Illustration: From an old English print.]
-
-[Illustration: A rare old English print of the Eighteenth Century.]
-
-[Illustration: A “cachalot” on the seacoast of Holland. People have
-always shown intense interest in drift whales.]
-
-[Illustration: Whale-hunting in Westmannshaven Bay, Norway.
-
-The Norwegians were the earliest whalers of which we have any records.]
-
-[Illustration: The Dutch boiling oil on shore in a huge “try-works,”
-which was the early method of preparing the oil.]
-
-In 1612 the Dutch became the leaders and were still very active about
-1680, employing two hundred and sixty ships and fourteen thousand
-seamen, and during the last part of the seventeenth century they
-furnished nearly all Europe with oil. To them is attributed the
-improvements in the harpoon, the line, and the lance, and to their
-early prominence in the industry we owe the very name “whale,” a
-derivation from the Dutch and German word “wallen,” meaning to roll
-or wallow. They established a whaling settlement at Spitzbergen, only
-eleven degrees from the North Pole, where they boiled the oil; in fact,
-during the early days of whaling all nations “tried out” their oil on
-land. The Dutch continued to be the leaders until about 1770, when the
-English superseded them owing to the royal bounties.
-
-
-
-
-EARLY NEW ENGLAND WHALING
-
-
-The history of American whaling really begins with the settlement of
-the New England Colonies. When the “Mayflower” anchored inside of Cape
-Cod, the Pilgrims saw whales playing about the ship, and this was their
-chief reason for settling there. It afterwards proved that the products
-of the whale formed an important source of income to the settlers on
-Massachusetts Bay.
-
-The subject of drift, or dead whales which were washed ashore, first
-attracted the colonists, and there are numerous references to them on
-record. It was the invariable rule for the government to get one-third,
-the town one-third, and the owner one-third, and in 1662 it was voted
-that a portion of every whale should be given to the church. The whale
-fishery increased steadily, so that in 1664 Secretary Randolph could
-truthfully write to England, “The new Plymouth colony made great
-profit by whale killing.” The success of the settlers on Cape Cod and
-elsewhere encouraged Salem to consider ways and means of whaling; for
-as early as 1688 one James Loper, of Salem, petitioned the Colonial
-authorities for a patent for making oil, and four years later some
-Salem whalers complained that Easthamptonites had stolen whales that
-bore Salem harpoons. As early as 1647 whaling had become a recognized
-industry in Hartford, Conn., but for some reason did not prosper.
-
-The first white people to explore our New England coasts discovered
-that the Indians were ahead of them in the pursuit of the whale. The
-Red Men in canoes attacked these beasts with stone-headed arrows and
-spears which were attached to short lines. Usually wooden floats were
-tied to the line, which impeded the progress of the animal, and by
-frequent thrusts these early hunters actually worried the life out of
-the whale.
-
-[Illustration: This print shows the high sterns of the old Dutch
-ships.]
-
-Waymouth’s Journal of his voyage to America in 1605 gives the first
-description of the Indian method of whaling in canoes on the New
-England coast from November to April, when spouters generally abounded
-there. “One especial thing is their manner of killing the whale” runs
-the quaint description “which they call a powdawe; and will describe
-his form; how he bloweth up the water; and that he is twelve fathoms
-long: that they go in company of their king with a multitude of their
-boats; and strike him with a bone made in fashion of a harping iron
-fastened to a rope, which they make great and strong of the bark of
-trees, which they veer out after him; then all their boats come about
-him as he riseth above water, with their arrows they shoot him to
-death; when they have killed him and dragged him to shore, they call
-all their chief lords together, and sing a song of joy; and those chief
-lords, whom they call sagamores, divide the spoil and give to every man
-a share, which pieces so distributed, they hang up about their houses
-for provisions; and when they boil them they blow off the fat and put
-to their pease, maize and other pulse which they eat.”
-
-[Illustration: Early method of bringing whales on shore by means of a
-windlass.]
-
-The Esquimaux at this time were very much more advanced than the
-Indians, and showed their ingenuity by inventing the “toggle” harpoon,
-which is in use to this day, and which was improved upon in 1848 by
-a Negro in New Bedford called Lewis Temple, who made his fortune
-turning out irons. This harpoon was arranged to sink very easily into
-the blubber, but when pulled out the end turned at right angles to the
-shank, thus preventing the harpoon from withdrawing.
-
-Boston is mentioned only occasionally in connection with the Whale
-Fishery. During 1707 the Boston papers state that a whale forty feet
-long entered the harbour and was killed near Noddle’s Island, and
-another interesting record is in a letter written in 1724 by the Hon.
-Paul Dudley, who mentions that he has just received a note from a Mr.
-Atkins of Boston, who was one of the first to go fishing for sperm
-whales. There were many whaleships recorded in the Boston records,
-although fitting out and sailing from other neighboring ports.
-
-
-
-
-NANTUCKET
-
-
-A large part of the romance of whaling centres around the island of
-Nantucket and its hardy seamen. It was from here that the Red Men first
-sallied out in canoes to chase the whale; from here the small sloops
-first set out laden with cobblestones, as the story goes, to throw at
-the whales to see if they were near enough to risk a harpoon. These
-daring Nantucketers were, in 1791, the first to sail to the Pacific,
-and later on in 1820 to the coast of Japan, and finally they made their
-ships known in every harbour of the world. Thirty islands and reefs in
-the Pacific are named after Nantucket captains and merchants.
-
-There is an amusing legend concerning the origin of the island. A
-giant was said to be in the habit of sleeping on Cape Cod, because
-its peculiar shape fitted him when he curled himself up. One night he
-became very restless and thrashed his feet around so much that he got
-his moccasins filled with sand. In the morning he took off first one
-moccasin and then the other, flinging their contents across the sea,
-thus forming the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.
-
-From the time of the settlement of the island, the entire population,
-from the oldest inhabitant down to the youngest child, realized that
-on the whaling industry depended their livelihood. A story is told
-of a Nantucket youngster who tied his mother’s darning cotton to a
-fork, and, hurling it at the cat as she tried to escape, yelled “Pay
-out, mother! Pay out! There she ‘sounds’ through the window!” The
-inhabitants always alluded to a train as “tying up,” a wagon was called
-a “side-wheeler,” every one you met was addressed as “captain,” and a
-horse was always “tackled” instead of harnessed. The refrain of an old
-Nantucket song runs as follows:—
-
- “So be cheery, my lads, let your hearts never fail,
- While the bold harpooner is striking the whale!”
-
-A young man who had not doubled the cape or harpooned a whale had no
-chance of winning a Nantucket, New Bedford, or New London belle, and
-it is stated as a fact that the girls of Nantucket at one time formed
-a secret society, and one of their pledges was never to marry a man
-until he had “struck his whale.” The well-known Nantucket novel “Miriam
-Coffin” tells of a girl who made to her two lovers a condition of
-marriage that they must first of all undertake a whaling voyage, and
-that she would wed the more successful of the two. It happened that
-one was a Minister, and the other was no better adapted to the whale
-fishery; nevertheless, both set out to sea. The former was killed by a
-whale, and the latter returned after an absence of several years, but
-instead of claiming his bride, he tells her that before going he had
-already made up his mind that a girl who made such foolish propositions
-was no girl for him; and so the story ends.
-
-[Illustration: A whaler circling Cape Horn.]
-
-Many a Nantucket bride stepped from her home to her husband’s whaleship
-for a three-year voyage round Cape Horn, which probably suggested these
-verses:—
-
- “I asked a maiden by my side,
- Who sighed and looked at me forlorn,
- ‘Where is your heart?’ She quick replied,
- ‘Round Cape Horn.’
-
- * * * * *
-
- “I said, ‘I’ll let your fathers know,’
- To boys in mischief on the lawn;
- They all replied, ‘Then you must go
- Round Cape Horn.’
-
- * * * * *
-
- “In fact, I asked a little boy
- If he could tell where he was born;
- He answered, with a mark of joy,
- ‘Round Cape Horn.’”
-
-Any one who did not live in Nantucket was called a foreigner. To show
-their attitude a schoolboy was asked to write a thesis on Napoleon, and
-he began by stating that “Napoleon was a great man and a great soldier,
-but he was an off-islander.” In fact, it was an act of condescension
-for a Nantucketer even to shake hands with a “Mainlander,” and there
-are many of the older islanders to-day who have never set foot on any
-other soil.
-
-Most of the inhabitants were Quakers, and there was a saying that a
-Nantucketer was half Quaker and half sailor. Though their cemetery
-contains about ten thousand graves, there are only half a dozen
-tombstones in one corner of the field. There are no “Friends” in
-Nantucket to-day. The following incident shows the Quaker thrift, to
-which was due in a great measure their success in whaling. When the
-first chaise was purchased, the owner was about to take a drive in it,
-but, after a few minutes’ deliberation, decided it was too progressive,
-and would subject him to criticism, so he loaned it only to invalids
-and funeral parties.
-
-Billy Clark was town crier, and for forty years, up to the time of
-his death in 1909, he voluntarily announced with a bell and horn the
-arrival of all whalers and steamers. Once as he went along ringing,
-a girl asked him rudely where he got his bell, and his reply was,
-“I got my bell where you got your manners,—at the ‘brass foundry.’”
-Nantucketers declare that his death was due to the fact that he
-actually “blew his lungs away.”
-
-The Chase family has always occupied a most prominent position in the
-history of the island. One of the family was Reuben Chase, who served
-under John Paul Jones on the “Ranger,” and on his death the following
-epitaph was placed on his tombstone:—
-
- “Free from the storms and gusts of human life,
- Free from its error and its strife,
- Here lies Reuben Chase anchored; who stood
- The sea of ebbing life and flowing misery.
- He was not dandy rigged, his prudent eye
- Fore-saw and took a reef at fortune’s quickest flow.
- He luffed and bore away to please mankind;
- Yet duty urged him still to head the wind,
- Rumatic gusts at length his masts destroyed,
- Yet jury health awhile he yet enjoyed,
- Worn out with age and shattered head,
- At foot he struck and grounded on his bed.
- There careening thus he lay,
- His final bilge expecting every day,
- Heaven took his ballast from his dreary hold,
- And left his body destitute of soul.”
-
-Every islander knows the story of the Nantucket skipper who claimed
-that he could always tell where his ship was by the color and taste of
-the lead after sounding. Marden, his mate, on one trip determined to
-fool him, and for this purpose brought some dirt from a neighbor’s
-garden in Nantucket. He woke up the skipper one morning off Cape
-Horn, and showed him the lead, which had been smeared with this dirt,
-whereupon, to quote the words of James Thomas Fields,—
-
- “The skipper stormed and tore his hair,
- Hauled on his boots and roared to Marden:
- ‘Nantucket’s sunk, and here we are
- Right over old Marm Hackett’s garden!’”
-
-Another Nantucket captain always took to sea medicine bottles, each
-numbered and indexed to suit different complaints. Once his mate was
-ill, and, looking up the bottle to administer in his case, found
-that No. 13 contained the cure for his patient. Unfortunately, this
-bottle had all been used, so, after careful deliberation, he mixed the
-contents of bottles 6 and 7, which he gave the mate, who promptly died.
-
-Early history tells us that Thomas Macy purchased the island for thirty
-pounds and two beaver hats, “One for myself and one for my wife,” and
-to him therefore belongs the honor of the settlement of Nantucket; he
-had been driven away from Massachusetts for sheltering Quakers, which
-was at that time against the law, and with his friend Edward Starbuck
-fled to the island and established a colony composed of such well-known
-families as the Coffins, Husseys, Swaynes, Gardners, Chases, Folgers,
-and Starbucks. These men were not whalers, but they watched the Indians
-and learned much from them, and later on employed Ichabod Paddock to
-come over from Cape Cod and instruct them further.
-
-The character of the island and its situation far out in the ocean,
-its poor soil, and the number of whales along its shores, all proved
-an inducement to the Nantucketers to follow the sea as a calling. At
-first, there were so many whales that they did not find it necessary
-to go beyond the coast; so, under the guidance of Paddock, lookouts
-were erected along the South shore, and each man patrolled a certain
-amount of territory. Each one took his share of whales killed, and
-business flourished. This method of whaling continued until 1712,
-when Christopher Hussey, while cruising along the coast, was blown
-out to sea. He ran across a sperm whale, which he finally killed and
-brought home. This year was epoch making, as this was the first sperm
-whale known to have been taken by Americans. The oil from this species
-of whale being superior to that of all others, the Nantucketers now
-(1715) decided to change their methods and to whale in the “deep.”
-As the vessels steadily increased in size with greater and greater
-cargo-carrying capacity, voyages necessarily became longer, extending
-even to periods of four or five years. In fact, a voyage lasting but
-two years was considered unusually short. The point of view of most
-whalers regarding a two-year voyage is shown by the captain who, when
-boarding his ship, was reminded by a friend that he had not said
-“Good-by” to his wife,—
-
-“Why should I?” said he; “I am only to be gone two years.”
-
-[Illustration: The famous Roach (Rotch) fleet, “Enterprise,” “Wm.
-Roach,” “Pocahontas,” and “Houqua,” among a “school” of sperm whales
-off the coast of Hawaii. Ships often cruised together and divided the
-catch. Honolulu owes its rapid rise partially to the frequent visits of
-the whalers. The first vessel fitted out from the Sandwich Islands was
-in 1837 and was owned by Henry A. Pierce of New Bedford.]
-
-About 1730 “try-works” were built on the vessels instead of on the
-shore, and the oil was boiled and stowed away at sea, thus allowing
-the ships to make much longer voyages. At this time Nantucket owned as
-many whaleships as all the other ports of America combined. Whaling
-continued to increase, and the sterile island was turned into a
-prosperous community, when the Revolution came on, and for the time
-being practically put an end to the industry. Nantucket was the only
-port that carried on whaling during the war: the island simply had to
-whale or starve, as the inhabitants knew no other occupation. Most
-of their vessels were eventually captured or lost by shipwreck, and
-over twelve hundred of their men were either killed or made prisoners.
-The end of the war found the island’s business hopelessly wrecked;
-but, with their usual pluck and determination, the Nantucketers once
-more built up a profitable fleet. So impoverished were they that the
-government for one year levied no taxes.
-
-At the close of the war a Quaker, called William Rotch, was Nantucket’s
-greatest whaler, and even he became so discouraged with the prospects
-at home that in 1785 he left the island in his ship, the “Maria,”
-for London. He endeavored to make some arrangement with the English
-government to import some whaling families from Nantucket, but,
-failing to do so, repaired to France, where he succeeded in making an
-agreement with Louis XVI. A great many families moved to France, and
-carried on the pursuit from Dunkirk in Normandy. Rotch soon returned to
-Nantucket, and later moved to New Bedford, where he died. The old Rotch
-counting-house was later used as a club-room for Nantucket whaling
-captains, and is even now being used as such. In the old prosperous
-days this was jocosely called the House of Commons, while another club,
-which was used by the ship owners, was named the House of Lords.
-
-Immediately after the war, the ship “Bedford,” one of the Rotch
-vessels, was loaded with oil, and sent to England under command of
-Captain Mooers. This was the first vessel to display the American flag
-in a British port. It is related that one of the crew of the ship was
-hunchbacked, and when on shore one day a British sailor clapped his
-hand on his shoulder, and said, “Hello, Jack, what have you got here?”
-“Bunker Hill, and be d—d to you,” replied the Yankee.
-
-The redoubtable Nantucketers resumed their whaling at the close of the
-Revolution, and their energy and skill were again yielding rich profits
-when the War of 1812 almost annihilated the island’s fleet. But as it
-was another case of whale or starve, Nantucket continued to send out a
-few whalers, and was the only American port during the war that dared
-to brave the risks of British capture.
-
-
-[Illustration: A “camel” floating a whaler to sea over the Nantucket
-bar. The “camel” was used from 1842 to 1849, enabling the Nantucketers
-for a time to keep pace with the New Bedfordites.]
-
-About this time, in one of the Pacific ports, an incident occurred
-which showed in an amusing light the ready wit and intrepid courage of
-an American whaleman. He had in some way displeased an English naval
-officer, who, feeling himself highly insulted, promptly challenged the
-Yankee, who accepted and, being the challenged party, had the choice
-of weapons. He selected, of course, the weapon with which he was most
-skilful and took his stand with a poised harpoon. It had altogether too
-dangerous an appearance for the irate Englishman, particularly as the
-whaleman was evidently an expert in the manual of thrust and parry, and
-so with as good grace as he could command, the Englishman withdrew from
-the fight.
-
-At a very early day in the fishery, whaling vessels, which were at
-first long rowboats and later small sloops, began to increase in size,
-and about 1820 ships of three hundred tons were found profitable.
-The increase in profit producing capacity, strange as it may appear,
-actually sounded the death-knell of the Nantucket whaling, for
-across the mouth of the harbour ran a bar, over which it soon became
-impossible for whaling vessels of large size to pass. The difficulty
-was for a time overcome by the true Yankee ingenuity of some inventive
-Nantucketer, who devised the “camel,” a veritable dry-dock barge in
-which the larger whaleships, lightened often of oil and bone, were
-floated over the bar into the forest of masts which in those days
-characterized a harbour now frequented only by a few schooners and
-sloops, the small pleasure crafts of the summer residents, and an
-occasional steamer.
-
-As whaleships still continued to increase in size, the “camel”
-expedient was only a temporary success; for the time came when vessels
-were of too great tonnage to be thus floated over the bar, and the
-daring and skilful Nantucketer, who had taught the civilized world
-not only how, but where, to whale, had to admit defeat and gradually
-give up the industry to more fortunately situated ports. At this time,
-about 1830, Nantucket was commercially the third largest city in
-Massachusetts, Boston being first and Salem second.
-
-In 1843 Nantucket owned its record number of ships, eighty-eight. In
-1846, which is referred to as the “boom” year in American whaling,
-sixteen vessels cleared from Nantucket and sixty-nine from her near-by
-rival—New Bedford. In 1869 Nantucket sent her last ship and disappeared
-from the list of whaling ports. The great fire of 1846 also contributed
-to the downfall of the industry.
-
-A new era in whaling was to be born, with New Bedford as the centre,
-and Nantucket was to become only a health resort and mecca for
-sight-seers, more than ten thousand persons visiting the island in 1914.
-
-
-
-
-NEW BEDFORD
-
-
-New Bedford undoubtedly owed its whaling success to its proximity to
-Nantucket, to its wonderful harbour, and to the honesty, thrift, and
-good business ability of its citizens, most of whom were Quakers.
-
-
-[Illustration: A whaler leaving New Bedford Harbour.]
-
-As in Nantucket, the whole city lived to go whaling, and as each
-inhabitant made more money, he moved his residence higher up on the
-Hill. It is said that there was an inn called the “Crossed Harpoons,”
-and another called “Spouter Inn,” and there is a Whaleman’s Chapel on
-Johnny Cake Hill where regular Sunday services were held, at which the
-following hymn was always sung by the congregation:—
-
- “The ribs and terrors of the whale
- Arched over me in dismal gloom,
- While all God’s sun-lit waves rolled by
- And left me deepening down to doom.
-
- “I saw the opening maw of hell,
- With endless pains and sorrows there;
- Which none but they that feel can tell—
- Oh, I was plunging to despair—
-
- “In black distress I called to God,
- When I could scarce believe him mine,
- He bowed his ear to my complaints—
- No more the whale did me confine.”
-
-The pulpit of this chapel was made to represent the prow of a
-whaleship, and was ascended by means of a rope ladder, which the
-minister, who had been a harpooner in his youth, hauled up after him.
-Around the walls of this little church can still be seen tablets
-erected in memory of many whalemen who lost their lives at sea. There
-also was a daily paper called _The Whaleman_, which gave the reports of
-the whaleships and the whaling news. It has been said that New Bedford
-fathers gave whales for dowers to their daughters, and that they had
-reservoirs of oil in their attics to burn on gala occasions.
-
-It is a curious fact that three Morgans not long ago married three
-Rotchs, three Rotchs married three Rodmans, and three Rodmans married
-three Motleys. Among other well-known New Bedford whaling families are
-the Hathaways, Swifts, Howlands, Morgans, Stones, Delanos, Rodmans,
-Seaburys, Giffords, Tabers, Grinnells, and Wings.
-
-Whaling was a tremendous financial gamble, and until a vessel came
-home “clean” or “greasy,” meaning empty or full, the success of the
-voyage was not known. They tell a story of a New Bedford captain who
-had been out for nearly four years, and as he came up to the wharf the
-owners asked him what luck he had had. His reply was, “I didn’t get any
-whales, but I had a damn good sail.” There is another tale of a seaman
-whose vessel left New Bedford on the day of his mother’s funeral.
-Naturally he set sail with a heavy heart, and during his three years’
-cruise he thought many times of his sorrowful father at home. As the
-ship neared the docks he was met by his father with “Hurry up, Jim, I
-want to introduce you to your new mother.” There were many changes at
-home during a long cruise, and sometimes even the fashions had entirely
-changed. One whaleship captain described his surprise at seeing for the
-first time the crinoline or hoop skirt.
-
-The real founder of New Bedford, and the pioneer of the whale fishery
-at this port, was Joseph Russell, who sent his ships out in 1765.
-Several years later the first ship was launched and was called the
-“Dartmouth,” and this vessel is well known to history owing to the fact
-that she was one of the ships that carried into Boston Harbour the tea
-that was thrown overboard. The whaling industry increased steadily,
-except during the wars, until 1857, when the New Bedford fleet numbered
-three hundred and twenty-nine vessels, was valued at over twelve
-million dollars, and employed over twelve thousand seamen. If these
-vessels had been strung out in line, they would have stretched over ten
-miles. In addition to these sailors, thousands of others were employed
-at home making casks, irons, ropes, and many other articles used in
-whaling. In fact, it was often stated that the population was divided
-into three parts,—those away on a voyage, those returning, and those
-getting ready for the next trip.
-
-There were many nationalities represented in the crews of the whalers,
-and the New Bedford streets presented a very foreign appearance, with
-Spaniards, Portuguese, Dutch, Norwegians, Germans, French, English,
-Scotch, Irish, Sandwich Islanders, and New Englanders at every turn. A
-large number of Portuguese served on whaleships, and a part of the city
-near the south end of Water Street became known as Fayal.
-
-The “Golden Age,” as it is called, of whaling was between 1825 and
-1860, and during the whole of this period New Bedford assumed the lead,
-even long after other ports had given up the pursuit. It is estimated
-that about the year 1848 there were over seventy millions invested
-in the industry and seventy thousand persons derived from it their
-subsistence.
-
-It is an interesting fact that the insurance on American whalemen
-was about one-half the rate that was charged the Englishman, which
-certainly showed the superiority of our Yankee seamen. There were
-several whaling insurance companies in New Bedford. There is a story
-told of a New Bedford ship owner who had just heard that his vessel
-had gone down and he hadn’t yet received the insurance policy from the
-company. He sent a letter down to the office which read as follows:
-“I have heard from my ship and thee need not place the insurance.” Of
-course, the policy was sent up immediately.
-
-The New Bedford whalers explored new grounds, and to this fact chiefly
-is due the continued prosperity of its whale fishery, but it was to die
-slowly; in 1875 the fleet from this port had declined to 116 vessels,
-in 1886 to 77 ships, and in 1906 to 24.
-
-
-[Illustration: The famous Stone Fleet sailing from New Bedford, Nov.
-16, 1861. The ships were loaded with stones and were sunk in the
-mouths of certain Southern harbours during the Civil War, to prevent
-blockade runners from entering. The vessels in this picture are the
-Garland, Maria Theresa, Rebecca Simms, Leonidas, South America, Archer,
-American, Harvest, Amazon, Cossack, Courier, Henrietta, Potomac,
-Kensington, Herald and L. C. Richmond.]
-
-[Illustration: The captains of the Stone Fleet. A fine type of old
-New England ship masters. Standing from left to right—Captains Beard,
-Gifford, Swift, Childs, Stall, French, Wood, Cumiski, Willis, Bailey.
-Sitting from left to right—Captains Malloy, Swift, Brown, Howland,
-Worth, Tilton, Brayton, Taylor, Chadwick.]
-
-One of the chief historical events of New Bedford happened in 1861,
-when the famous Stone Fleet sailed from that port. The United States
-government decided to purchase some old ships and sink them in the
-channels of the harbours of Charleston and Savannah, to prevent
-blockade running during the war. H. Bartlett & Sons supervised their
-purchase and Captain Rodolphus N. Swift was the general agent. Bartlett
-purchased some of the old whalers for as small a price as thirty-one
-hundred and fifty dollars, some of them having more cement than wood
-in their hulls. To James Duddy, a teamster, fell the task of supplying
-the seventy-five hundred tons of stones with which to fill the vessels,
-and many a New Bedford stone wall now lies at the bottom of some of
-our Southern harbours. Captain Rodney French, an old “slaver,” who
-afterwards became Mayor of New Bedford, was selected as commander of
-the fleet, and on Thanksgiving Day most of New Bedford assembled on the
-wharves and saw fifteen of her once famous fleet, which had for years
-been the homes of its seamen, sail forth never to return. It must have
-been a very sad day for the city, and it may be said that this event
-marked the beginning of the decline of the industry at New Bedford.
-
-One captain insisted upon washing the decks of his ship every morning,
-using pulverized stones instead of sand, and another, to give the fleet
-a warlike appearance, mounted a formidable “Quaker” gun, made from a
-section of a spar.
-
-A second fleet sailed later in the year, making forty-five vessels in
-all. Although the expedition cost the government about a quarter of a
-million dollars, its success was only temporary. The captain of the
-“Alabama” swore vengeance on New Bedford and destroyed or captured
-every whaler he could find, and in the “Alabama” awards that were made
-after the war New Bedford received a large share.
-
-Ten years later occurred the worst disaster that ever befell a whaling
-fleet. Thirty-four whalers were caught in the ice in the Arctic regions
-and sunk, and it is a curious fact that, while the loss reached one
-million five hundred thousand dollars, not a single human life was
-sacrificed. These three pictures of a series of five on the following
-page show the sinking of the ships, the abandonment of their vessels,
-which had their flags union down, and the eighty-mile sail through
-the ice-floes to the open sea, where twelve hundred and nineteen men,
-women, and children were taken home in the seven whalers that had not
-been lost in the ice. It must have been very crowded, as each ship had
-to stow away several hundred persons in addition to her own crew. There
-were many sad hearts as they left their vessels and almost all of their
-belongings, and started off in the small boats. The trip to sea and the
-trans-shipment in the heavy swell must have been made with the utmost
-care, otherwise many lives would have been sacrificed. The loss to the
-New Bedford owners was so tremendous that they never really recovered
-from the catastrophe, and many families had to economize for years
-after. The Swifts, Howlands, and Rotchs were among those who lost ships.
-
-On one of the vessels in the first picture of this series was a large
-quantity of the finest Manila cigars and also some rare Madeira
-wine, that had been picked up in the Philippines the year before on
-instructions from the ship’s owner. When the captain of this vessel
-reached New Bedford and reported the loss of his command, the owner’s
-first question, after listening to the dismal tale, was whether his
-cigars and wine had been saved. “All of it,” came the reply. “Where is
-it?” said the owner, looking more cheerful. “Well, you see, I drank the
-wine and Mr. Jones, the mate, he smoked the cigars, and they certainly
-done us both good,” replied the captain.
-
-The ship “Progress,” shown in the last picture, forms an interesting
-connecting link between the Stone Fleet and this 1871 disaster.
-
-[Illustration: Abandonment of the whalers in the Arctic Ocean,
-September, 1871. Vessels surrounded by the ice, and many of them in a
-sinking condition.]
-
-[Illustration: Abandonment of the whalers in the Arctic Ocean,
-September, 1871. Showing the whaleboats being hauled up on Blossom
-Shoals, where the ship-wrecked crews spent the night crowded under the
-upturned boats.]
-
-[Illustration: Abandonment of the whalers in the Arctic Ocean,
-September, 1871. The seven ships receiving the 1217 men, women, and
-children of the abandoned vessels. The sea was very rough and the
-trans-shipment was very dangerous. The ship “Progress,” whose history
-is given on the opposite page, is at the right of the picture.] Under
-the name of the “Charles Phelps” she whaled from Stonington, Conn., for
-a number of years and finally was purchased for the Stone Fleet. She
-was found to be in such good condition that the government decided not
-to sink her, and she returned to New Bedford and was sold; and it was
-this same vessel that took part in the rescue of the twelve hundred and
-nineteen shipwrecked people ten years later. In 1893 she was fitted out
-as if for a whaling voyage and towed by way of the St. Lawrence River
-to Chicago, where she was exhibited at the Fair, and now lies rotting
-on the sands of the lake at South Chicago. No other whaler ever had so
-interesting and varied a history.
-
-The year after this Arctic disaster found the fleet again in the
-Arctic, and the “Minerva,” one of the ships left at Point Belcher, was
-discovered and found to be in good condition; the others had sunk. One
-lone person was found who had remained on board his ship for the whole
-year, and his sufferings had been fearful. The natives had stolen all
-the whalebone and oil from the sinking vessels, and when some of the
-same shipwrecked captains arrived the next year the Esquimaux tried to
-sell them back their own property, and one native was using one of the
-chronometer cases as a dinner pot in which to boil his blubber. The
-“Minerva” was manned and sailed to New Bedford and continued in the
-whaling industry.
-
-New Bedford ships suffered severely during the Rebellion, but later
-new ones were added to the fleet and business again prospered. Lack of
-space prevents enumerating the achievements of American whalers during
-the Civil War. Captain William P. Randall, however, will go down in
-history as a hero of this war; he was brought up on a whaleship and
-later served in the navy.
-
-Captain Frederick Fish, father of Frederick P. Fish and Charles H.
-Fish, of Boston, was one of the best known and most respected of
-the whaling captains sailing out of New Bedford. He commanded the
-“Montreal” and the “Columbus” when only twenty-two years old, made nine
-voyages round the world, and was one of the most successful whalers of
-his day. Once when near the Sandwich Islands his vessel happened to
-anchor very close to an English ship, and Captain Fish noticed that
-every evening at sunset the English commander, while at anchor, set
-all sails and then furled them again in order to show how quickly this
-work could be performed. After a few evenings Captain Fish ordered his
-crew to do the same, and the time consumed was so much less that the
-next evening the Englishman decided he did not care to go through the
-performance; in fact, he never tried to show off again in that port.
-
-There is also another amusing story told about Captain Fish. His ship
-at one port took on a great many chickens, which were used for food,
-and finally one of the crew rebelled and informed the captain that he
-had eaten enough hen. He was immediately ordered out on a yard-arm and
-was made to crow like a rooster for such a long time that when he was
-again allowed on deck, he had a most excellent appetite for another
-chicken dinner. Captain Fish delighted in telling of the time when
-he took a local pilot on board somewhere in the Pacific to conduct
-his vessel into port. He asked the navigator if he were sure of his
-course, and received a prompt and decisive answer in the affirmative.
-Presently, to the disgust of the captain, the vessel touched. The next
-question put to the pilot was whether or not he could swim, and finding
-that he could, Captain Fish ordered his crew to throw him overboard.
-This was done, and, the distance being short, the swimmer made the
-land, and the captain himself took his vessel in the rest of the way.
-
-[Illustration: New Bedford fifty years ago (1808). (This print is dated
-1858.)]
-
-Captain Fish was an excellent story teller, and another yarn has been
-handed down in connection with one of his trips. The voyage had been
-very unsuccessful, and as he was looking over his chart he tossed his
-dividers down in a disgruntled manner, and by accident they chanced to
-stick in the chart. He then conceived the novel idea of sailing to the
-very place where his instrument happened to land, and curiously enough
-he was rewarded by a very large catch.
-
-Once when one of his whaleboats had been overturned by a fighting
-whale he hurried to the assistance of the crew, who were struggling
-in the water, and to his amazement found two of them squabbling over
-the ownership of a pair of old shoes, instead of thinking about saving
-their lives. It is a curious fact that he never learned to swim, and
-often saved his life when capsized by grabbing some floating débris.
-His nerve and courage were remarkable, and it is related that even on
-his death-bed he told the doctor an amusing story.
-
-This picture of New Bedford in 1808 is most interesting. The oil
-market shed on the right-hand side of the street was built in 1795 by
-Barnabas Russell for his son Joseph, and the last building shown on
-the right of the picture was the mansion of William Rotch, Sr., and
-the first estate in the village at that time. This Rotch was the son
-of Joseph Rotch, one of New Bedford’s earliest whalers, and he himself
-is represented in his old chaise, the only private carriage then in
-the town. He is negotiating for a load of hay, and from all accounts
-he must have been a keen business man, for he was often seen going to
-market so early that he had to use a lantern. All the other figures in
-this picture also are intended to represent well-known citizens of the
-time. The two men shaking hands are Captain Crocker and Samuel Rodman;
-the latter, who was the son-in-law of William Rotch, had the reputation
-of being the best dressed man in New Bedford in his day. One of the
-boys harnessed to the small cart is the Hon. George Howland, Jr.,
-great-uncle of Llewellyn Howland. H. H. Hathaway, Jr., and Thomas S.
-Hathaway have three ancestors in the picture.
-
-[Illustration: Oil stored on the wharves at New Bedford awaiting a
-favorable market. The owners, dressed in silk hats, long-tailed coats,
-and polished top boots, might often be seen watching, testing, and
-marking the oil-barrels.]
-
-
-
-
-OTHER NEW ENGLAND WHALING PORTS
-
-
-Rhode Island pursued whales in 1731, Newport and Providence being
-the two most successful ports. Fifty ships were owned by Connecticut
-and Rhode Island in 1775. Massachusetts owned over three hundred at
-this time. Rhode Island was more of a “slave” than a whaling State.
-New London became a great whaling port in 1846, and was the third in
-importance in New England.
-
-The people of Cape Cod began sending ships to sea about 1726, and a
-few years later a dozen or so vessels were fitted out at Provincetown.
-Boston claimed twenty whaleships in 1775, and registered from one
-to eleven vessels almost every year until 1903, since which date no
-whaleship has been recorded from this port. Gloucester turned to
-whaling in 1833.
-
-The following figures show the different whaling ports in Massachusetts
-and the largest number of vessels enrolled in any one year in each. New
-Bedford, of course, held first place with 329 in 1857, with Nantucket
-88 in 1843, Provincetown claimed 54 in 1869; Fairhaven 50 in 1848 to
-1852; Edgartown and Mattapoisett owned 19 each; Salem had 14 in 1840;
-Boston 11 in 1868; Dartmouth, 10; Plymouth, 9; Falmouth, 8; Wareham,
-Fall River, and Marion, 7 each; Beverly, Holmes’ Hole, Orleans, 5
-each; Lynn, 4; Newburyport, 3; Gloucester, Dorchester, and Sandwich,
-2 each; and the following claimed 1: Braintree, Hingham, Marblehead,
-Barnstable, Duxbury, Quincy, Truro, Yarmouth, and Wellfleet. Of
-the Rhode Island towns Warren owned 25; Newport, 12; Bristol, 10;
-Providence, 9. Connecticut towns that owned whalers were New London,
-70; Stonington, 27; Mystic, 18; and a few scattered among half a dozen
-other places. Portsmouth, N.H., at one time owned two vessels, and
-between the years 1835 to 1845 Bath, Bucksport, Portland, and Wiscasset
-in Maine each had one. Massachusetts, however, could claim five-sixths
-of the total fleet.
-
-A few words must be said in praise of Samuel Mulford of Long Island.
-Governor Hunter of New York claimed for his State a share of all whales
-caught, whereupon Mulford waged war against this act in every possible
-way. Finally he sailed to London and put his case before the Crown.
-The people in London were much amused at his country clothes, and the
-pickpockets in particular became a nuisance to him in the streets.
-Mulford, however, showed his resourcefulness by sewing fish hooks in
-his pockets and succeeded in capturing the thief. Another incident
-shows the ingenuity of the whaleman. The ship “Syren” was attacked by a
-horde of murderous savages, and the crew of the ship would, doubtless,
-have been murdered had it not been for a quick stratagem of the mate.
-He remembered a package of tacks in the cabin and yelled, “Break out
-the carpet tacks and sow ’em over the deck.” The natives, yelling with
-pain, jumped headlong into the sea, and the ship was saved.
-
-
-[Illustration: The Japanese method of capturing whales was to entangle
-them in nets. A great many boatloads of men would drive the whale
-toward the nets by throwing bricks and stones at it. When once
-entangled the infuriated animal could be easily killed. In 1884 the
-Ukitsu Whaling Company employed over 100,000 whalemen. One of the most
-successful of the Japanese in this pursuit was Masutomi Matazaemon, who
-accumulated a large fortune. The Japanese have been very slow to adopt
-our Western methods.]
-
-[Illustration: A typical “blubber hunter” cruising for “right” whales
-in the Arctic.]
-
-The world owes many discoveries to the energy and determination of
-whaleship captains. Over four hundred islands in the Pacific were
-discovered and named by American whalemen, and the history of New
-Zealand is closely connected with the visits of New England whalers.
-Australia, too, was opened to the world by the whalemen.
-
-It was to a certain extent due to the testimony of Captain Bryant,
-a whale captain of Mattapoisett, that Alaska was purchased by the
-United States government. That there was a northwest passage was also
-discovered by American whalemen in this way: the date and name of a
-ship were always marked on its harpoons, and in several instances
-whales were captured in the Pacific by ships that were known to have
-been cruising not long before in the Atlantic. It was Captain Timothy
-Folger, of Nantucket, who charted the Gulf Stream at the request
-of Benjamin Franklin, to whom he was related, and this drawing was
-engraved on an old chart and preserved in London. In this way English
-mariners discovered how to avoid the swift current and thereby gain
-much time. Our seamen in the early days were not very kindly treated by
-the Japanese, but, finally, several whalemen secured their good will by
-teaching them English. This encouraged the American government to send
-out Commodore Perry’s expedition, which succeeded in making our first
-treaty with Japan, thus opening that country to Western civilization.
-
-It was difficult to make discoveries ahead of our whalemen. In 1834
-two Russian discovery ships approached a forlorn little island in the
-Antarctic Ocean and the commander was about to take possession in
-the name of his Czar. There was a dense fog at the time, but when it
-cleared away they were very much surprised and vexed to see a little
-Connecticut ship at anchor between their two vessels. The name of
-this whaler was the “Hero” of Stonington, captained by Nathaniel B.
-Palmer, who was only twenty-one years of age and was just returning
-from his discovery of the Antarctic Continent. The Russian commander
-was so impressed by the achievement of this youthful captain that he
-cheerfully acquiesced in naming the place Palmer’s Land. This name has
-since been changed to Graham Land. It is an undisputed fact that the
-whalers prepared the way for the missionaries.
-
-
-
-
-ABOARD A “BLUBBER HUNTER”
-
-
-Nothing can be more romantic than to be attending a clam-bake on
-Mishaum Point or Barney’s Joy and to see a whaleship, or “blubber
-hunter” as she is often termed, round the point and start to sea. It is
-with quite different feelings that one peers down into her forecastle,
-which is often referred to as the Black Hole of Calcutta. This room,
-which is the home of thirty to forty men for three or four years, is
-reached by a perpendicular ladder through a small hatchway, which is
-the only means of ventilation. The bunks are in tiers and are about the
-size of a coffin, so narrow that it has often been said that one has to
-get out of them in order to turn over. A small table in the centre of
-this “hole” and the seamen’s chests lashed to the floor comprise all
-the furnishings, except possibly a few bottles of rum, which were often
-labelled “camphor.” In fact, one might speak of the dis-accommodations
-of the forecastle, and it is no wonder that a cruise in a whaler is
-often spoken of as a “sailor’s horror.” The odor of grease, dirt, oil,
-and lack of air are unbearable except to one thoroughly accustomed to a
-whaling trip, and sailors often say that this attractive place should
-not be approached without a clothespin on one’s nose. The utensils
-comprised a few tin plates and a bucket of water, with one cup for the
-use of every one. The food consisted of “longlick” and “scouse,” the
-former made of tea, coffee, and molasses, and the latter of hardtack,
-beans, and meat. It is not difficult to see, therefore, why most of the
-captains anchored their ships well out beyond the harbour, so as to
-prevent desertions after the novice seaman had glanced at his sleeping
-quarters. There have been cases of sailors jumping overboard on the
-chance of reaching land, and it is on record that the greater part of a
-whaleship’s crew once floated to shore on the cover of the try-works. A
-captain was very careful where he allowed his men to land, and, in case
-he was afraid of desertions, took care to allow them shore leave only
-at places where the natives were troublesome, or where for a ten-dollar
-bill he knew he could get the whole crew returned to him.
-
-The whaleship looked very clumsy and was built for strength rather
-than for speed, the bow and stern looking as if they were made by the
-mile and chopped off in lengths to suit. It is a curious fact that the
-“Rousseau,” belonging to the Howlands, when caught in a storm off the
-Cape of Good Hope sailed astern for seven days faster than she had ever
-sailed ahead, and successfully weathered the point.
-
-There is an amusing anecdote that has gone the whaling rounds, of a
-greenhorn, called Hezekiah Ellsprett, who arrived on board the night
-before sailing. One of the men told him that the first ones on board
-had the right to pick out their berths and suggested that he paint his
-name on the berth he should select. Hezekiah looked round, found the
-best-looking cabin, painted his name in big letters on the outside of
-the door, and made himself comfortable for the night. He had chosen
-the captain’s room, and in the morning the captain came on board, and
-in very violent terms informed him that he was in the wrong end of the
-ship.
-
-The whaleman’s life was indeed a hard one, and his share of the profit,
-or “lay” as it was called, was so small that at the end of a moderately
-successful voyage if his share amounted to several hundred dollars
-he was doing well. His earnings were depleted by the captain’s “slop
-chest,” where the sailors had to purchase their tobacco and clothes at
-high prices, and if there were any kicks the answer was that he could
-“get skinned or go naked.” The most necessary part of the sailor’s
-equipment was the sheath knife which was used about the ship and to
-repair his clothes, and it was this same implement that he used to cut
-his food!
-
-Regular deck watches were kept, and in good weather the officers often
-winked their eyes if some of the men slept. Among sailors this was
-called a “caulk,” and often some kind of a joke was played on the
-sleeper. In one case they tied a live pig to the slumberer’s feet and
-watched the fun from behind the try-works.
-
-Whalers would rarely cruise past the Azores without stopping at Fayal,
-where they were most hospitably received by the American Consul, who
-for centuries was one of the Dabney family. In fact, the island is
-often referred to among whalemen as the “Isle de Dabney.”
-
-“Gamming” or exchanging visits between two whalers at sea was
-thoroughly enjoyed and gave a chance to the sailors to swap
-experiences, and many a weird, sorrowful, or wonderful story must have
-been related. An incident is recorded of a meeting between two brothers
-who had lived in Nantucket, and who had not met for twenty-three years.
-There is an old adage among whalers that when a year from home, on
-“gamming” with a ship that has sailed subsequent to your own departure,
-you have the privilege of begging; when two years out, of stealing; and
-when three years away from home, of both stealing and begging.
-
-A New London ship was once holding a reception on board for some
-natives, and each of the crew was endeavoring in some way to amuse
-the guests. One seaman took out his set of false teeth, thinking
-he would provide entertainment; but instead the natives became so
-alarmed that they tumbled over the side into their canoes and made
-their retreat as quickly as possible. The crew was asked on shore for
-a return visit; but an invitation to the exhibitor of the teeth was
-not forthcoming, and he was obliged to remain alone on the ship, much
-to his disappointment. Captain Gardner of Nantucket stated that in
-thirty-seven years he spent only four years and eight months at home,
-and Captain North, also of Nantucket, figured that he had sailed one
-million one hundred and ninety-one thousand miles.
-
-Nothing could have equalled the joy of returning home after a long
-voyage, and the anxiety to reach port was almost unbearable. Often a
-vessel ran into bad winds and had to anchor for days a few miles off
-shore, and there is one case known of a ship being blown to sea and
-lost after having actually come within sight of New Bedford Harbour.
-
-Many a whaleman has laughed at this story. It was customary for the
-first mate to keep the log book. One day he was intoxicated, so the
-captain entered the day’s events, noting that “the mate was drunk all
-day.” The next day the mate protested, but the captain said that it was
-true and must remain on the records. The mate resumed his charge of the
-diary, and got more than even with his superior officer by recording on
-the following day that “the Captain was sober all day.”
-
-
-
-
-WHALING IMPLEMENTS AND WHALEBOATS
-
-
-[Illustration: This picture, taken by Roy C. Andrews, Esq., of the
-American Museum of Natural History, on his last whaling expedition,
-shows a bomb exploding in a whale.]
-
-[Illustration: WHALING IMPLEMENTS.
-
-Figure 1. Harpoon with one barb. Figure 2. Harpoon with two barbs.
-Figure 3. The “toggle iron.” Figure 4. The lance for killing the whale
-by reaching its “life.” Figure 5. A spade used in small boats for
-making holes in the blubber after capture and on the whaleship for
-cutting the blubber from the body of the whale. Figure 6. A bomb lance.
-Figure 7. The “boarding knife” used for making holes in the strips of
-blubber for the hoisting hooks. Figure 8. The dipper used to bail oil
-out of the “case,” or head, and from the try-works into the cooler.
-Figure 9. A piece of whalebone as it comes from the whale. Figure 10. A
-strainer used for draining the scraps from the oil.]
-
-
-The earliest method of killing whales was by means of the bow and
-arrow, and the first accounts of New England whaling refer to the
-harpoons as being made of stone or bone. There are three kinds,
-however, that have been popular among American whalemen: one had one
-barb (Figure 1), shown on the preceding page; another had two barbs
-(Figure 2); and the third was the “toggle iron” (Figure 3), which has
-already been described. The edges were sharpened like a razor and
-were protected by a wooden cover when not in use. They were so sharp
-that Melville in “Moby Dick” describes his whaling hero, Queequeg, as
-shaving with one. The lance (Figure 4) which was used after the harpoon
-had been driven in “to the hitches,” or its entire length, resembled a
-flat spoon, and was very sharp on the edges and on the point. The long
-line was attached to the harpoon, and shorter lines, called “monkey
-ropes,” were made fast to the lances.
-
-It has been shown by the records of one James Durbee, a veteran harpoon
-maker of New Bedford, that between the years 1828 and 1868 he made and
-sold 58,517 harpoons, and he was only one of eight or ten manufacturers
-of whaling implements in that one port.
-
-An interesting and authentic anecdote of a lost harpoon describes how
-a Captain Paddock in 1802 struck a whale, which escaped with his iron,
-and in 1815, thirteen years later, the same captain killed the same
-whale and recovered his lost weapon.
-
-A whaler is supplied with from four to seven whaleboats, three of
-which are usually on the port side, one on the starboard side near
-the stern, and the rest are on deck; it was the improved early canoe,
-sharp at both ends so as to make a dash at the whale and then be able
-to retreat just as easily. The floor was very flat so as to enable
-the boat to be turned quickly in order to dodge a sudden movement of
-the whale. The boat was about twenty-eight feet long, was equipped
-with one long steering oar and five rowing oars, and a sail which was
-occasionally used; also paddles were sometimes resorted to in order to
-avoid noise. In the bow of the boat two seven-foot harpoons were placed
-ready for use. A warp was securely fastened to them, and to this warp
-was secured, after the boat was lowered, a line of two or three hundred
-fathoms of the best manila two-thirds of an inch in diameter, and
-with a tensile strength of about three tons. It ran from the harpoons
-through a chock or groove in the bow to a coil in a depressed box near
-by, and then lengthwise along the boat to the stout loggerhead or post
-in the stern, around which it made a turn or two, and then went forward
-to the line tub near the tub oarsman. Its twelve or eighteen hundred
-feet of line were coiled in this tub, with every possible precaution
-to prevent fouling in the outrun. When the rope was coiled and the tub
-was covered, it was said to resemble a Christmas cake ready to present
-to the whales. The loggerhead was for snubbing and managing the line
-as it ran out. A spare line was carried in another tub. A boat was
-also supplied with extra harpoons, lances, spades, hatchet with which
-to cut the line if necessary, lanterns, box of food, keg of water, and
-compass, weighing, all complete, about twelve hundred pounds.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Fig. 1. The Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus).
- Fig. 2. The California Gray Whale (Rjachianectes glaucus).
- Fig. 3. The North Pacific Humpback (Megaptera versabilis).
- Fig. 4. The Sulphur Bottom (Sibbaldius sulfurens).
- Fig. 5. The Bowhead (Balaena mysticetus).
- Fig. 6. The Finback or Oregon Finner (Balaenoptera velifera).
- Fig. 7. The Pacific Right Whale (Balaena japonica).
-]
-
-
-
-
-DIFFERENT SPECIES OF WHALES AND THEIR PRODUCTS
-
-
-There are many different kinds of whales; namely, sperm whale, right
-whale, finback, humpback, razor-back, sulphur bottom whale, and the
-narwhal. The two former species are the more often sought after. The
-sperm whale was so called because it was the only kind that furnished
-sperm oil, which is a richer and more valuable fluid than the ordinary
-whale oil. This species was also called “cachalot.” It has one spout
-hole through which it blows vapor (not water as is generally supposed),
-which resembles one’s breath on a frosty morning; it has also about
-fifty teeth on the lower jaw which fit into sockets in the upper jaw,
-and very small eyes and ears. This kind of whale usually employed its
-mouth as a means of defence, whereas the right whale used its immense
-tail. A large-sized whale will yield about eighty barrels of oil, but
-they have been known to boil even larger amounts. Captain John Howland
-of New Bedford captured two whales which produced over four hundred
-barrels together. The tongue alone often produced twenty-five barrels.
-In order to attract the squid, or cuttle-fish, which is often lured
-by a shiny object from the dark recesses in the great depths of the
-ocean, the jaw and inner side of the Brobdingnagian mouth are lined
-with a silvery membrane of phosphorescent whiteness, which is probably
-the only thing the squid sees when the dark body of the whale is at
-the great depths to which it sometimes descends for food. Huge pieces
-of shark and hundreds of mackerel have been found in the stomach of a
-sperm whale, showing what a carnivorous animal the sperm whale is.
-
-[Illustration: A ship on the northwest coast “cutting in” her last
-right whale, showing the jaw with the whalebone being hauled on board.]
-
-The right whale was so called because it was supposed to be the “right”
-whale to capture. It differs from the sperm whale chiefly from the fact
-that it has long strips of whalebone in its mouth which catch the small
-fish for food, the whalebone serving in place of the teeth of the other
-species. A right whale usually has about five or six hundred of these
-parallel strips, which weigh in all about one ton; they are over ten
-feet long, are fixed to its upper jaw, and hang down on each side of
-the tongue. These strips are fringed with hair, which hangs from the
-sides of the mouth and through which the whale strains the “brit,” on
-which a right whale feeds. The “brit” is a little reddish shrimp-shaped
-jellyfish which occurs in such quantities in various parts of the ocean
-that often the sea is red with them. With its mouth stretched open,
-resembling more than anything else a Venetian blind, a sulphur bottom
-or right whale scoops, at a speed of from four to six miles an hour,
-through the “brit” just under the surface and thus sifts in its search
-for food a tract fifteen feet wide and often over a quarter of a mile
-long. As the whale drives through the water much like a huge black
-scow, the sea foams through the slatted bone, packing the jellyfish
-upon the hair sieve. When it thinks it has a mouthful it raises the
-lower jaw and, keeping the lips apart, forces the great spongy tongue
-into the whalebone sieve. It then closes its lips, swallows the catch
-and repeats until satiated. Another difference between the sperm and
-the right whale is that the latter has two spout holes instead of one.
-
-The sperm whale is found in the warm waters off the coasts of Chili,
-Peru, Japan, New Zealand, Madagascar, California, and Brazil; in the
-Caribbean, China, and Red Seas, in the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf;
-off the Azores, Java, Galapagos, Society, Sandwich, Fiji, and Samoan
-Islands; and off the Cape de Verdes. The right whale is found in the
-high latitudes of the Arctic Ocean, in Baffin’s Bay, in the Ochotsk
-Sea, near Tristan d’Acunha and the Desolation Islands, and in the Japan
-Sea. There were many other cruising grounds, but these were the most
-frequented.
-
-The finback is even longer than the other varieties, but whalers rarely
-attack it owing to the thickness of the blubber and also owing to
-the fact that it swims so fast that, to use a favorite expression of
-whalemen, it “will run the nails out of the bottom of the boat.”
-
-The “narwhal,” or nostril whale, has a horn five to ten feet long
-protruding forward from its jaw. This species is also spoken of as the
-“Unicorn.” Opinions differ as to the use of this horn; some think it is
-used as a rake to turn over its food at the bottom of the sea, others
-think it is employed as an ice-piercer, but the author of “Moby Dick”
-suggests that it would make an exceedingly good folder for it to use
-in reading pamphlets. In ancient times this narwhal’s tusk was used to
-detect poison in food and wine, the idea being prevalent that the tusk
-would be discolored if it came in contact with any poisonous substance.
-It is difficult in the present day to appreciate the wholesale fear of
-poison which existed up to quite modern times. This fear was so general
-and pressing that no one of any position dared to eat and drink without
-a previous assurance that what was set before him did not contain some
-poison. Some authorities vouch for the fact that the tusk was also used
-as salts for fainting women.
-
-The chief products of the fishery are sperm and whale oil, whalebone,
-and ambergris. Spermaceti, meaning a foot of “sperm oil,” was the most
-valuable and was found only in the sperm whale. This oil was formerly
-used chiefly in the manufacture of sperm candles, and at one time
-there were eight factories for the manufacture of these candles in New
-England, Nantucket alone turning out three hundred and eighty tons
-annually before the war. In the olden times this oil was considered
-a sure cure for almost any kind of disease and was worth its weight
-in silver. Shakespeare makes reference to it in these words—“The
-sovereign’st thing on earth was ’parmaceti for an inward bruise.” At
-present it is used chiefly in making refined oils for lubricating.
-
-Whale oil was procured from all the other varieties of whales, and
-was formerly used as an illuminant in the old “whale oil” lamps; it
-is used now to a certain extent in the tanning of leather and in the
-manufacture of soaps, but chiefly in making heavy lubricating oils.
-
-Whalebone has been the most important product of the whale fishery for
-a number of years, and in fact whaling would undoubtedly have died
-out altogether had it not been for the discovery of its use in making
-women’s stays. Many a whaleman has lost his life in the endeavor to
-improve the female figure. It is a curious fact that fifty years or
-more ago this product was always thrown away as worthless. The value
-has gone down in the past few years on account of the invention of
-steel stays, which take the place of whalebone.
-
-The high and low prices of these three commodities are of interest.
-Sperm oil was $2.55 per gallon in 1866, and is 46 cents now. Whale oil
-was $1.45 per gallon in 1865, and is 26 cents now. Whalebone was $5.80
-per pound in 1904, 8 cents in 1809, and is $1.75 now.
-
-Ambergris, the rarest and most valuable of all the products, is a
-secretion from the intestines of the sperm whale and results from a
-disease. It is a very rare article and is worth almost its weight
-in gold, selling usually at $300 a pound. Its chief use is in the
-preparation of fine perfumeries. It is believed that the largest amount
-taken by one ship was brought back by the “Watchman” of Nantucket,
-which vessel found eight hundred pounds in 1858. Small amounts were
-sold every year in New Bedford even up to the year 1913. The Turks used
-it in cooking and also carried it to Mecca for the same purpose that
-frankincense is carried to St. Peter’s in Rome. Some wine merchants
-used to drop a little into their wine as a spice, and it was said that
-the Moors used it in green tea as a flavoring to present to their
-guests.
-
-The whale is used for food chiefly by the Japanese and Esquimaux, and a
-famous doctor belonging to the latter tribe some years ago recommended
-the blubber for infants. In fact, the whale would perhaps be considered
-a good dish were there not so much of him. Whale-meat is said by some
-to resemble boarding-house steak. In France, during the Middle Ages,
-the tongue was considered a great delicacy, and by some epicures the
-brains, mixed with flour, were much sought after.
-
-The largest income received by the whalers of America in any one year
-was in 1854, when they netted $10,802,594.20, although the record size
-of the fleet was attained eight years before. The five years from
-1853 to 1857 inclusive yielded a return of $51,063,659.59, the catch
-of each year selling for fifty per cent. of the total value of the
-whaling fleet. The total value of the cargoes from 1804 to 1876 was
-$331,947,480.51.
-
-Captain W. T. Walker, of New Bedford, is called the counting-house
-hero of the American Whale Fishery. He purchased in 1848 an old
-whaleship called the “Envoy” that was about to be broken up, and
-when ready for sea this ship stood the owner $8,000. He could get no
-insurance; nevertheless he “took a chance,” and after a three years’
-voyage he returned and had netted for himself the extraordinary sum
-of $138,450, or 1,630 per cent. The largest profit, however, was made
-by the “Pioneer” of New London, in 1865, the value of her cargo being
-$151,060. For a short voyage Frederick Fish, who has been mentioned
-before, holds the record for his ship the “Montreal,” which brought
-back a cargo worth over $36,000 after a voyage occupying only two
-months and fifteen days.
-
-There were many unprofitable voyages, and many were the ships that came
-home with barrels filled with salt water instead of oil for ballast.
-Some vessels, as whalemen say, didn’t have enough oil to grease their
-irons.
-
-
-
-
-METHODS OF CAPTURE AND “TRYING OUT”
-
- “Whales has feelin’s as well as anybody. They don’t like to be
- stuck in the gizzards an’ hauled alongside, an’ cut in, an’ tried
- out in those here boilers no more’n I do!”
-
- _Barzy Macks’s Biology._
-
-
-When the lookout at the masthead shouts out “Thar she blows,” or
-“There she whitewaters,” the whaleboats are gotten out and rowed
-towards the whale, while signals from the ship show from time to time
-the whereabouts of the whales and directions for their pursuit. The
-first man to “raise oil”—an expression which means the first to see a
-whale—usually received a plug of tobacco or some other prize, and this
-made the lookouts more keen.
-
-In “Moby Dick” Melville says that the crew pulls to the refrain “A Dead
-Whale or a Stove Boat,” which became such well-known by-words among
-whalemen that when Mr. W. W. Crapo last year presented to New Bedford
-“The Whaleman” statue, they were inscribed upon it. When rowing in a
-rough sea the captain cautioned the men to trim the boat and not to
-“shift their tobacco.”
-
-As they approach the whale the bow oarsman, who is the harpooner,
-stands up at a signal from the captain of the boat, who is steering,
-and yells out to “give it to him.” The next order is probably to “stern
-all” in order to avoid the whale. The boat is probably now fast,
-and either the whale will sound and run out the line at a terrific
-rate or else he may race away dragging the boat after him, which
-whalemen call “A Nantucket Sleigh-Ride.” This kind of sleigh-ride was
-often at railroad speed and was perhaps one of the most exhilarating
-and exciting experiences in the line of sport. An empty boat would
-certainly capsize, but a whaleboat had six trained, strong, athletic
-men sitting on her thwarts, whose skill enabled them to sway their
-bodies to the motions of the boat so that she would keep an even keel,
-even though her speed might plough small valleys over the huge swells
-and across the broad troughs of an angry Pacific, and great billows of
-foam piled up at her bow while the water rushed past the stern like a
-mad whirlpool. The greatest care must be taken not to allow the line
-to get snarled up or to let a turn catch an arm or leg, for it would
-result in almost immediate death to the person thus entangled. Conan
-Doyle, who once took a trip on a whaler, tells of a man who was caught
-by the line and hauled overboard so suddenly that he was hardly seen to
-disappear. One of the men in the boat grabbed a knife to cut the line,
-whereupon another seaman shouted out, “Hold your hand, the whale’ll be
-a good present for the widow!”
-
-
-[Illustration: No. 1. “The Chase.” A rare New Bedford print.]
-
-[Illustration: No. 2. “The Conflict,” showing ratchet in bow through
-which the line is run, and post in stern around which line is placed.]
-
-[Illustration: No. 3. “The Capture.” A whale will usually turn on its
-back when dying.]
-
-There is one case known where a man who had been hauled down by the
-line had the presence of mind to get out his knife and cut the rope,
-which allowed him to come to the surface more dead than alive; also
-occasionally the entangled arm or ankle would be torn off, thus freeing
-the man and allowing him to rise.
-
-Two harpoons were thrown if possible, and then it was customary for the
-harpooner to exchange places with the boat-steerer, who got ready his
-lance, which he plunged in and hauled out again until the whale went
-into his “flurry” and rolled over dead, or “fin out” as it was called.
-Often the whale would get frightened or “gallied,” or would jump in
-the air or “breach,” and therefore great care was taken to avoid his
-attacks. When the whale “breaches” the tail becomes very conspicuous,
-and one old salt used to say that an additional tail appeared after
-every glass of grog.
-
-Scoresby speaks of a whale which drew out from the different boats ten
-thousand four hundred and forty yards, or nearly six miles, of rope. It
-was necessary when the line of one boat was nearly exhausted to bend on
-the end to a new rope in another boat and so on, and of course often
-miles of rope and many harpoons would be lost if the whale escaped.
-When the line was drawn out rapidly it was necessary to pour water over
-the snub post to keep the rope from burning.
-
-There have been races almost as exciting as a Harvard-Yale race when
-the boats of different nations have been dashing for a whale, which is
-prized at between three thousand and four thousand dollars. Many years
-ago an English, a French, a Dutch, and an American ship lay becalmed
-in the Pacific, when suddenly a whale was “raised.” All four ships
-lowered and raced across the waters, with the American in the rear. In
-a few minutes the Yankee passed the Dutchman, who yelled “donner und
-blitzen!” The American captain encouraged his men by shouting “Thar
-she blows, she’s an eighty-barreler, break the oars, lads!” and soon
-the French were left astern with curses of “Le diable.” The Englishmen
-were still ahead; the American boat-steerer now began to help the
-stroke oarsman by pushing his oar, and their boat crept up slowly upon
-their only rivals. The English boat-steerer also grabbed his stroke’s
-oar, but it snapped off at the rowlock, and the Americans overtook
-them and captured the whale. Another international race took place
-in Delagoa Bay, which has become a classic among American whalemen.
-Again an English and a Yankee whaleboat were chasing a whale, and, in
-some manner, the former was able to cut in between the whale and the
-Americans, and as the English harpooner was reaching for his iron, the
-American harpooner “pitch-poled” his harpoon over the English boat, and
-his iron made fast.
-
-
-[Illustration: A “cutting” stage, showing blubber being stripped from
-the whale.]
-
-[Illustration: Hauling the “case,” or head, on board. The case weighs
-sometimes as much as 30 tons.]
-
-[Illustration: Cutting off the lower jaw of a sperm whale, showing the
-teeth.]
-
-After a capture came the long, hard row back to the ship, then the
-tedious process of “cutting in” and “trying out.” First of all the
-head, or “case,” was cut off and tied astern while the strips of
-blubber were cut from the body and hauled on board, as next shown, by
-means of huge tackles from the mast. Blubber averages in thickness
-from twelve to eighteen inches, and if cut four and one-half inches
-thick would carpet a room sixty-six feet long by twenty-seven wide.
-Then the head was either bailed out, if it were a sperm whale, or
-else the whalebone was taken in, if it were a right whale. The strips
-or “blanket pieces” were then minced, and after boiling, the oil was
-cooled and stored away in barrels below deck. The “try-works” consisted
-of iron pots set in brick furnaces, and there were pans of water
-underneath to prevent the decks from burning. This process of boiling
-the oil was most irksome and disagreeable as the men were soaked in oil
-from head to foot, and the smell of the burning fluid was so frightful
-that it has often been alluded to as Hell on a large scale, and was
-usually called a “squantum,” which is the Nantucket word for a picnic;
-nevertheless, old whalers delighted in it.
-
-It is a superstition among some whalemen that a ship which for once has
-a sperm whale’s head on her starboard quarter, and a right whale’s on
-her port side, will never afterwards capsize.
-
-
-
-
-THE PERILS OF WHALING
-
-
-Whalemen not only had to undergo the perils of the sea, but in addition
-ran the danger of being killed by the whale and of being attacked by
-savages at the ports where it was often necessary to land for food and
-water. Also in cases of accident the whaleship was usually off the
-regular cruise followed by the merchantmen and therefore less likely to
-be assisted by other vessels. Furthermore, the long voyages, poor food,
-and the many dangers of whaling induced many mutinies.
-
-
-[Illustration: A whale playing battledore and shuttlecock with a
-1200-pound whaleboat and six men.]
-
-The worst massacre occurred on the “Awashonks,” of Falmouth, in 1835,
-near the Marshall Islands. The natives came on board in large numbers
-and seemed most friendly, when, on a given signal, they killed the
-captain and many of the crew. Finally the seamen laid a charge of
-dynamite under a hatchway where the savages were sitting, and blew most
-of them to pieces, the crew being then enabled to recapture the vessel.
-A few years later, when the “Sharon” of Fairhaven was cruising not far
-from Ascension Island, the crew lowered for a whale, and upon returning
-to the ship it was discovered that three of the “Kanaka” crew, recently
-engaged, had taken charge of the ship and had killed the captain. The
-first mate in the whaleboat did not dare attack, but the third mate,
-Benjamin Clough, who was only nineteen years old, swam to the ship in
-the darkness, climbed up the rudder, shot two of the mutineers, and had
-a hand-to-hand encounter with the third, who died soon afterwards. The
-first mate then returned on board. Clough was made captain of a ship
-immediately upon his return to Fairhaven. Still another mutiny took
-place on the ship “Junior” which sailed from New Bedford in 1857, most
-of the officers being killed. Plummer, the ringleader, wrote a story
-of the mutiny in the log book, which is now in the possession of the
-New Bedford Library, and the account was signed by the five mutineers
-in order to clear the rest of the men on board. The five murderers on
-sighting land lowered two whaleboats with all the plunder they could
-find and rowed ashore. The mutineers were subsequently captured and
-were brought in cages to Boston, where they were defended by Benjamin
-F. Butler. Davis, the author of “Nimrod of the Sea,” mentions a quarrel
-on board the “Chelsea,” which ended by the men all signing a “round
-robin” to return to duty, and in order that no name should head the
-list the signatures were set down in a circle, like the spokes of a
-wheel, from which possibly comes the word “ringleader.”
-
-The most fearful mutiny happened on the “Globe” of Nantucket, in 1822.
-A boat-steerer called Comstock laid a plot which resulted in the death
-of all the officers of the ship, and those who were not killed outright
-were thrown overboard. Comstock then took charge of the ship, and
-stated that if any man disobeyed him, he would be put to death by being
-boiled in the “try-pots.” The ringleader was finally killed by some of
-the crew, and the ship brought into port.
-
-Captain Warrens, of the whaler “Greenland,” in 1775, told a most
-thrilling narrative, which shows the perils of Arctic whaling, and is
-the most weird and grewsome of all whaling yarns. While becalmed one
-day he sighted a vessel with rigging dismantled, and he immediately
-lowered and rowed over to her. Upon boarding the ship he found seated
-at the cabin table the corpse of a man. He held a pen in his hand, and
-the log book was on the table in front of him. The last entry was “Nov.
-14, 1762. We have now been enclosed in the ice seventeen days. The fire
-went out yesterday and our master has been trying ever since to kindle
-it again without success. His wife died this morning. There is no
-relief.” Other corpses were found in the cabin and a number of sailors
-in the forward part of the ship. The vessel had been frozen in the ice
-for thirteen years!
-
-There are many exciting accounts of accidents to whaleboats, and a
-few are worth mentioning. Captain Sparks, of the “Edward Lee” of
-Provincetown, in 1881, chased a whale and finally lost him. He and his
-crew endeavored to find his ship, but for some reason were unable to do
-so. The nearest land was one thousand miles away, and with no food or
-water the prospect was not very encouraging. For six days they sailed
-on, when by good fortune they killed a whale, and finally were picked
-up and brought to land.
-
-Another incident shows how a whale will sometimes fight. Captain Morse,
-of the “Hector” of New Bedford, had his boat attacked by a whale, which
-grabbed the bow in its mouth, shaking the crew and implements in all
-directions. The mate came to the rescue, and the whale at once started
-to chase his boat, snapping its jaws less than a foot behind the stern.
-The crew rowed desperately and succeeded in dodging its attacks, until
-finally the animal turned over to get more air, and a well-driven lance
-luckily killed it. The harpoons of the “Barclay” were found in it, and
-it was learned that this same whale had killed the “Barclay’s” captain
-only three days before. Another incident shows the fierceness of the
-attack of a fighting whale. The “Osceola 3rd,” of New Bedford, shot
-thirty-one bombs into a whale before it was killed.
-
-
-[Illustration: THE WHALE FISHERY “IN A FLURRY.”
-
-A whale is often fond of eating whaleboats and men.]
-
-Captain Davis, in “Nimrod of the Sea,” mentions an occurrence in
-which a whale attacked one of the men who had been hauled from the
-whaleboat. Then ensued a fight, and every time the monster swam for
-him he was obliged to dive. The mate rushed into the encounter with
-his boat and finally succeeded in killing the whale. Another captain
-described how the crew of his whaleboat was obliged to cling all night
-on the body of a dead whale until help came at daybreak. It happened
-to be Christmas evening, and the famished men obtained their Christmas
-dinner by digging from the back of the dead animal enough meat to
-satisfy their hunger. If a whaleboat were upset, and it was seen that
-the crew had something to hold on to in order to prevent going under,
-it was often a long time before the other boats rendered assistance,
-it being a truism among whalemen that whales were of much higher
-commercial value than men.
-
-Captain Hosmer, of the bark “Janet” of Westport (near New Bedford),
-met with a horrible experience off the coast of Peru in 1849. He had
-just secured a whale, and in towing it back to his ship his boat was
-capsized. He immediately displayed distress signals, and the “Janet”
-sailed towards the men who clung to the small boat, when suddenly, to
-his amazement and horror, the ship swung off and headed in another
-direction. They could see her sailing about searching for them, but
-were unable to attract her attention, and finally, as the distance
-between them increased, they set sail towards the nearest land, after
-bailing out their boat with difficulty, and having lost one man by
-drowning. The nearest coast was over one thousand miles away, and
-they had not a drop of water or a morsel of food. At the end of seven
-days lots were cast to decide who should be killed in order that the
-rest might live. Four more of the crew died, and after twenty days
-the two survivors landed on an island and were later picked up by the
-“Leonidas” of New Bedford.
-
-There are three cases known to history of a whale sinking a ship. The
-“Essex,” of Nantucket, was attacked by a huge whale in 1819, and twice
-did the animal make a rush at the ship, which became submerged in a few
-minutes. Owen Chase, the first mate, wrote an account of the accident
-and subsequent sufferings of the crew. Three whaleboats set sail for
-the Marquesas Islands. One boat was never heard from; another was
-picked up by an English brig with only three of the crew alive; and the
-third with only two survivors, having sailed over twenty-five hundred
-miles, was picked up by a Nantucket vessel, _three months_ after the
-accident. Captain Pollard, who was in command of the “Essex” at this
-time, had previously been one of the crew on Fulton’s “Claremont” on
-his first trip up the Hudson. He survived the frightful experience, but
-nothing could induce him ever to refer to it. He finally abandoned the
-sea and became a police officer in Nantucket.
-
-
-[Illustration: The “Ann Alexander” of New Bedford.]
-
-[Illustration: The “Kathleen” of New Bedford sinking in mid-ocean,
-having been “stove” by a monster whale. Flags at the mastheads are
-signals for the three whaleboats to return.]
-
-The “Ann Alexander” of New Bedford, which is shown in the next cut,
-met a similar fate in 1850, and the ship sank so quickly that only one
-day’s supplies were saved. With the horror of the “Essex” staring them
-in the face the crew set sail in the small boats, and with great good
-fortune in two days sighted the “Nantucket” and were taken on board.
-Five months after this incident the “Rebecca Sims,” of New Bedford,
-killed a whale, and to the great surprise of the crew, the irons of
-the “Ann Alexander” were discovered in its body, and there were also
-several pieces of the ship’s timber imbedded in its head.
-
-The latest of the three accidents happened to the bark “Kathleen” in
-the Atlantic Ocean in 1902, and the picture shows her about to sink
-after having been rammed by a whale. The three flags at the mastheads
-are signals to the three boats to return at once, but as each one
-was fast to a whale, they were loath to obey the signals. The whale
-showing its “flukes” at the right of the picture is the one that stove
-the hole in the vessel. The “Kathleen” also had a whale alongside,
-making four just captured. The accident meant a loss, not counting the
-vessel and oil on board, of ten to twelve thousand dollars. Captain
-Jenkins, who was in command, lowered with Mrs. Jenkins, a parrot, and
-nineteen of the crew, and with difficulty rowed to the other boats,
-which took in their share of the men from the captain’s over-crowded
-one. Captain Jenkins declares that the parrot, when removed from its
-home on the “Kathleen,” swore that “he would be damned if he’d ever
-go to sea again!” Three boat loads were discovered by a Glasgow ship,
-but the fourth had to sail over one thousand miles to the Barbadoes.
-Captain Jenkins is to-day living in South Dartmouth. He has written a
-small volume on the loss of his ship and is such a well-known whaleman
-that he was one of those who occupied the platform at the time of the
-unveiling of “The Whaleman” statue.
-
-
-
-
-THE “CATALPA” EXPEDITION
-
-
-While not primarily a whaling voyage, the “Catalpa” Expedition should
-be outlined in any account of whaling adventures.
-
-
-[Illustration: Whaling-bark “Catalpa” of New Bedford rescuing prisoners
-from Australia in 1876; on the left is the police-boat racing to
-intercept the convicts in the rowboat, and on the right is the English
-armed cruiser “Georgette” coming to the assistance of the police. The
-prisoners barely escaped.]
-
-A number of Irish subjects who had joined the Fenian conspiracy of 1866
-had been banished to Australia for life and were serving in the English
-penal colony at Freemantle. John Boyle O’Reilly had escaped with the
-aid of a whaleship and immediately began to form a plot to release
-his fellow prisoners. O’Reilly suggested a whaleship for the rescue,
-chiefly because it would create little suspicion, as whaleships were
-frequently seen off the coast of Australia. Captain H. C. Hathaway,
-who was the head of the night police force at New Bedford, was then
-consulted, and he recommended their approaching a certain George S.
-Anthony, a most successful whaler. Accordingly a meeting was held in
-a dark room, and Captain Anthony finally accepted the leadership of
-the expedition, probably not realizing fully the danger involved. The
-“Catalpa” was selected, and she sailed from New Bedford on April 29,
-1875, not even an officer sharing the secret with the brave commander.
-The ship actually captured whales and finally arrived off Bunbury on
-the coast of Australia. In the mean time a man called John J. Breslin,
-who used to be a freight agent in Boston, had gone to Australia with
-a fellow conspirator to arrange the land end of the scheme. On the
-day appointed Captain Anthony rowed ashore with his crew, and with
-great difficulty Breslin and his six prisoners, who had escaped from
-their work in the woods, were placed on board the rowboat, which set
-out to sea to join the “Catalpa,” some miles off shore. A storm came
-up, but by good fortune and skilful seamanship, after a whole day
-and night, the “Catalpa” was sighted. At the same time the English
-cruiser “Georgette” was seen coming out of Freemantle in search of the
-refugees. By great luck for some reason she never noticed the small
-whaleboat and after questioning the “Catalpa” put back towards the
-shore. The rescued and rescuers rowed on and finally were observed by
-the men on the “Catalpa.” At the same time Captain Anthony noticed with
-horror that there was an armed guard boat almost as near the “Catalpa”
-as was his boat. It was a terrific race, but the whaleboat arrived a
-few seconds ahead and the occupants climbed on board; the officers
-had lost, and the prisoners were free. The rescued men knew their
-pursuers and, leaning over the rail of the “Catalpa,” wished them “Good
-morning,” and there was nothing for the officers to do but to answer
-them in the same tone. When the captain reached home he weighed one
-hundred and twenty-three pounds, having lost thirty-seven pounds on the
-voyage, through worry and excitement. The police of Western Australia
-endeavored to get these prisoners returned, but as their letter was
-addressed to the same Captain Hathaway who assisted the plotters of the
-expedition, there was not much help in this direction!
-
-It is a very curious fact that at the precise moment that Disraeli was
-telling the House of Lords that he would not release these prisoners
-they were free on the Yankee ship. Receptions were held in New Bedford
-and Boston in honor of Captain Anthony and the other rescuers, and the
-daring captain will always be a hero with the Irish people.
-
-
-
-
-DECLINE OF WHALING AND THE CAUSES
-
-
-The first whaler to sail from San Francisco was the “Popmunnett” in
-the year 1850, and for thirty years after there were a few whaleships
-registered in this port. Steam whalers were introduced into the
-American fleet in 1880, when New Bedford sent out one, but it was
-the adoption of steam and the proximity to the Arctic that made San
-Francisco a whaling port at the time other places were giving up the
-pursuit. In 1893 there were thirty-three vessels enrolled there, many
-of which had been transferred from the Eastern cities. Since 1895
-Boston, New Bedford, Provincetown, and San Francisco have been the only
-places from which whalers have been regularly registered, and in 1903
-Boston recorded her last whaleship.
-
-
-[Illustration: A modern steam whaler in the act of shooting a harpoon
-gun.]
-
-[Illustration: The modern harpoon gun, showing line with which to hold
-the whale.]
-
-There are a number of reasons for the decline of the whale fishery,
-but the chief factor was undoubtedly the introduction of kerosene.
-The opening of the first oil well in Pennsylvania sealed the fate of
-whaling. Henceforth sperm candles were used for ornament, and whale
-oil lamps soon became interesting relics. Other causes doubtless
-contributed to this rapid decline; for instance, the financial crisis
-of 1857; the uncertainty of the business, especially since Arctic
-whaling was begun in 1848; the increased cost of fitting out the ships
-for longer voyages; and the California gold craze in 1849, when many
-crews and officers deserted. Also the rise of the cotton industry from
-about 1850 to 1875 in New Bedford drew a great deal of capital from
-the uncertain whale fishery to the more conservative investments in
-cotton mills, which were successful from the very start. As whaling
-died out the mills were built up, and it is owing to these same mills
-that the city was saved from becoming a deserted fishing village. Then
-later even the lubricating oils began to be made from the residuum of
-kerosene, and about the same time wax was invented for candles, which
-again robbed the whaling industry of another market for oil. Soon came
-the Civil War, in which many vessels were captured or destroyed, then
-followed the sinking of forty or more vessels of the Charleston Stone
-Fleet described elsewhere, and finally came the Arctic disasters of
-1871 and 1876, all of which hastened the end of the industry.
-
-[Illustration: Whale-meat in Japan awaiting shipment to market. It is
-sold to the poorer classes in all the large towns at prices which range
-from 7 to 8 cents a pound. One whale yields as much meat as a herd of
-100 cattle.]
-
-
-
-
-WHALING OF TO-DAY
-
-
-Whaling will doubtless be carried on from San Francisco in a small way
-as long as there is any demand for whalebone, and from New Bedford
-and Provincetown while there is any market for sperm and whale oil.
-Most of the Pacific steam whalers are now provided with a harpoon gun
-invented by Svend Foyn, a Norwegian. This gun is placed in the bow, and
-to the harpoon is attached a rope with which to play the whale, as one
-does a fish with a rod and reel, but there is little romance in this
-method of whaling.
-
-In modern whaling the flesh is made into guano and the bones and blood
-into fertilizer, and even the water in which the blubber has been
-“tried out” is used in making glue. The meat is to-day sold to Japan,
-and, if the weather is very cold and the supply of fish is limited, a
-whale might bring there as much as four thousand dollars by utilizing
-all the by-products as well as the meat, which is sometimes canned. In
-America a whale is now valued at about two hundred dollars, but, if the
-entire carcass is utilized, it might bring one thousand dollars.
-
-From the _Whalemen’s Shipping List_, still published in New Bedford,
-it can be figured that the total whaling fleet in America last year
-(1913) consisted of thirty-four vessels, twenty hailing from New
-Bedford, eleven from San Francisco, two from Provincetown, and one from
-Stamford, Conn. The Atlantic fleet, however, reported a total catch of
-over twenty thousand barrels of sperm oil and one thousand pounds of
-whalebone during the year 1913, which is a considerably larger amount
-than for the year previous.
-
-Whaling in stout wooden ships on the far seas of the East and the West
-is no longer carried on, for the glory and the profit of the industry
-have gone never to return. Substitute products have come in, and to-day
-the little whaling that is still done is along the coasts of the
-Antarctic and Arctic Oceans, off the shores of Western Africa, Northern
-Japan, New Zealand, California, and South America, and in the main it
-is carried on in stout iron steamers. Ere long the last whaleship will
-disappear from the sea and only the romance of a great industry will
-remain.
-
-[Illustration: _Corpora dum gaudent immania tollere Cętæ_
-
-_Sic varijs telis, varijs feriuntur aristis_
-
-A very old picture of whale-killing in the 17th century.]
-
-
-
-
-
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-<pre>
-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Whale Fishery of New England, by Various
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-
-
-Title: Whale Fishery of New England
-
-Author: Various
-
-Editor: State Street Trust Company
-
-Release Date: July 19, 2017 [EBook #55152]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHALE FISHERY OF NEW ENGLAND ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by deaurider, Brian Wilcox and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
-file was produced from images generously made available
-by The Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-</pre>
-
-
-<h1>WHALE FISHERY OF NEW ENGLAND</h1>
-
-<p class="center padt2 padb2">AN ACCOUNT,<br />
-WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND SOME INTERESTING AND AMUSING<br />
-ANECDOTES, OF THE RISE AND FALL OF AN INDUSTRY<br />
-WHICH HAS MADE NEW ENGLAND FAMOUS<br />
-THROUGHOUT THE WORLD</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_001.jpg" width="118" height="200" alt="sailing ship page decoration" />
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="center padt2"><span class="smaller">PRINTED FOR THE</span><br />
-STATE STREET TRUST COMPANY<br />
-<span class="small">BOSTON, MASS.</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p class="center noindent smaller padb2">
-<span class="smcap">Copyrighted 1915<br />
-by the<br />
-State Street Trust Company</span></p>
-
-<div class="blockquote"><p class="noindent small padt2 padb2">The vignette
-on the title-page is
-reproduced from a print of
-the ship “Maria” of New Bedford,
-which in 1853 was the oldest whaleship
-owned in the United States. Her registry
-was dated 1782. She was built in Pembroke, now
-called Hanson, for a privateer during the Revolutionary War,
-and was bought in the year 1783 by William Rotch of Nantucket,
-afterwards of New Bedford. At one time she was owned by
-Samuel Rodman, and also by the Russells. In construction
-she was the typical whaleship of her time. It is said
-that she earned for her owners $250,000 and made
-twenty-five voyages, bringing back a full
-cargo each time. The tailpiece is from
-a very old print which represents
-whaling in the seventeenth
-century.</p></div>
-
-<p class="center noindent smaller padt2">
-<i>Compiled, arranged and printed<br />
-under the direction of the<br />
-Walton Advertising and Printing Company<br />
-Boston, Mass.</i></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter"><h2 class="center" id="FOREWORD">FOREWORD</h2></div>
-
-<p>The people of New England have long been interested in all matters
-pertaining to the sea, and members of many of her best-known families
-have commanded its merchant ships and whalers.</p>
-
-<p>The State Street Trust Company has always endeavored to encourage an
-interest in historical matters, and it is hoped that this pamphlet, the
-ninth of the series, which deals with one of our earliest industries,
-will be interesting to the Company’s depositors and also to the
-general public. It is sent to you with the compliments of the Company,
-which for over twenty years has tried to serve the interests of its
-depositors.</p>
-
-<p>For valuable assistance in the preparation of this pamphlet the Trust
-Company desires to acknowledge its indebtedness to Dr. Benjamin Sharp
-and Sidney Chase, residents of Nantucket (the latter being a descendant
-of the Starbucks, Coffins and Husseys), to Z. W. Pease, Frank Wood and
-George H. Tripp, all of New Bedford (Mr. Tripp being the librarian of
-the Free Public Library), Llewellyn Howland, Frederick P. Fish, Charles
-H. Taylor, Jr., Roy C. Andrews and Madison Grant of the American
-Museum of Natural History, New York, D. A. deMenocal, J. E. Lodge
-and Kojiro Tornita of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and George F.
-Lord, secretary of the Boston Stock Exchange. Assistance has also been
-rendered by the officers of the Trust Company.</p>
-
-<p>The following books have been used as references and contain valuable
-information and many interesting anecdotes:—</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p class="indent">“The Story of New England Whalers,” by John R. Spears.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“History of the American Whale Fishery,” by Alexander Starbuck.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“A History of the American Whale Fishery,” by Walter S. Tower.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“Moby Dick, or the White Whale,” by Herman Melville.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“Whaling Ventures and Adventures,” by George H. Tripp.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“Whaling and Fishing,” by Charles Nordhoff.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“Miriam Coffin,” by Col. Joseph C. Hart.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“The Gam,” by Capt. Charles Henry Robbins.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“Eighteen Months on a Greenland Whaler,” by Joseph P. Faulkner.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“Arctic Whaleman and Whaling,” by Rev. Lewis Holmes.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“Cruise of the Cachalot,” by Frank T. Bullen.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“History of Nantucket,” by Edward K. Godfrey.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“History of Nantucket,” by Obed Macy.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“History of Nantucket,” by Douglas-Lithgow.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“The Glacier’s Gift” (Nantucket), by Eva C. G. Folger.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“History of New Bedford,” by Daniel Ricketson.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“The Perils and Romance of Whaling,” by G. Kobb&eacute;.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“The Whale and its Captors,” by Rev. Henry T. Cheever.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“Incidents of a Whaling Voyage,” by Olmstead.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“Nimrod of the Sea,” by Captain Davis.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“Hunting the Biggest of all Big Game,” by Roy C. Andrews.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“Four Years Aboard a Whaleship,” by William B. Whitecar, Jr.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“Etchings of a Whaling Cruise,” by J. Ross Browne.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“Bark Kathleen, sunk by a Whale,” by Capt. T. H. Jenkins.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“Peter the Whaler,” by William H. G. Kingston.</p>
-
-<p class="indent">“The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States,” by
-George Brown Goode, prepared for the United States Tenth Census.</p></div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_004.jpg" width="600" height="505" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Model of the whaleship “Henry,” made at sea in 1847.
-This model stands in the main banking rooms of the Company, and may be
-seen by visitors.</p></div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="center" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</h2></div>
-
-<div class="center">
-<table class="my90" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" summary="toc">
-<tr>
-<th class="tdr normal small" colspan="2">PAGE</th>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl padr1"><p class="indent"><span class="smcap">The Whale</span></p></td>
-<td class="tdr vertb"><a href="#THE_WHALE">7</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl padr1"><p class="indent"><span class="smcap">Ancient History of Whaling</span></p></td>
-<td class="tdr vertb"><a href="#ANCIENT_HISTORY_OF_WHALING">8</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl padr1"><p class="indent"><span class="smcap">Early New England Whaling</span></p></td>
-<td class="tdr vertb"><a href="#EARLY_NEW_ENGLAND_WHALING">13</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl padr1"><p class="indent"><span class="smcap">Nantucket</span></p></td>
-<td class="tdr vertb"><a href="#NANTUCKET">16</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl padr1"><p class="indent"><span class="smcap">New Bedford</span></p></td>
-<td class="tdr vertb"><a href="#NEW_BEDFORD">23</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl padr1"><p class="indent"><span class="smcap">Other New England Whaling Ports</span></p></td>
-<td class="tdr vertb"><a href="#OTHER_NEW_ENGLAND_WHALING_PORTS">33</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl padr1"><p class="indent"><span class="smcap">Aboard a “Blubber Hunter”</span></p></td>
-<td class="tdr vertb"><a href="#ABOARD_A_BLUBBER_HUNTER">35</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl padr1"><p class="indent"><span class="smcap">Whaling Implements and Whaleboats</span></p></td>
-<td class="tdr vertb"><a href="#WHALING_IMPLEMENTS_AND_WHALEBOATS">37</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl padr1"><p class="indent"><span class="smcap">Different Species of Whales and their Products</span></p></td>
-<td class="tdr vertb"><a href="#DIFFERENT_SPECIES_OF_WHALES_AND_THEIR_PRODUCTS">41</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl padr1"><p class="indent"><span class="smcap">Methods of Capture and “Trying out”</span></p></td>
-<td class="tdr vertb"><a href="#METHODS_OF_CAPTURE_AND_TRYING_OUT">45</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl padr1"><p class="indent"><span class="smcap">The Perils of Whaling</span></p></td>
-<td class="tdr vertb"><a href="#THE_PERILS_OF_WHALING">51</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl padr1"><p class="indent"><span class="smcap">The “Catalpa” Expedition</span></p></td>
-<td class="tdr vertb"><a href="#THE_CATALPA_EXPEDITION">58</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl padr1"><p class="indent"><span class="smcap">Decline of Whaling and the Causes</span></p></td>
-<td class="tdr vertb"><a href="#DECLINE_OF_WHALING_AND_THE_CAUSES">60</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl padr1"><p class="indent"><span class="smcap">Whaling of To-day</span></p></td>
-<td class="tdr vertb"><a href="#WHALING_OF_TODAY">62</a></td>
-</tr></table></div>
-
-<p class="small">The illustrations used in this brochure are from rare prints in the
-possession of the Dartmouth Historical Society and the Free Public
-Library of New Bedford, H. S. Hutchinson &amp; Co., Charles H. Taylor,
-Jr., Roy C. Andrews of the American Museum of Natural History of
-New York, Doubleday, Page &amp; Co., and others.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>“Neither the perseverance of Holland, nor the activity of France, nor
-the dexterous and firm sagacity of the English enterprise, ever carried
-this most perilous mode of hardy industry to the extent to which it
-has been pushed by this recent People; a People who are still, as
-it were, but in the gristle, and not yet hardened into the bone, of
-manhood.”—<i>From a speech by Edmund Burke before Parliament in 1775.</i></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_006.jpg" width="600" height="406" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Capturing a huge sperm whale. (From a very rare print.)</p></div>
-
-<div class="chapter"><h2 class="center" id="THE_WHALE"><b>THE WHALE</b></h2></div>
-
-<div class="poetry-container padb1 padt1">
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="stanza">
-<div class="line">“Oh, the rare old Whale, ’mid storm and gale,</div>
-<div class="i1">In his ocean home will be</div>
-<div class="line">A giant in might where might is right,</div>
-<div class="i1">And King of the boundless sea.”</div>
-<div class="right"><i>From “Moby Dick.”</i></div>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<div>
- <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i_007_cap_n.jpg" width="35" height="35" alt="" />
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap">N<span class="uppercase">o animal</span> in prehistoric or historic times has ever exceeded the
-whale, in either size or strength, which explains perhaps its survival
-from ancient times. Few people have any idea of the relative size of
-the whale compared with other animals. A large specimen weighs about
-ninety tons, or thirty times as much as an elephant, which beside a
-whale appears about as large as a dog compared to an elephant. It is
-equivalent in bulk to one hundred oxen, and outweighs a village of one
-thousand people. If cut into steaks and eaten, as in Japan, it would
-supply a meal to an army of one hundred and twenty thousand men.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_007.jpg" width="600" height="304" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">A French lithograph showing the comparative sizes of a
-whale, an elephant, a horse, and a giraffe.</p></div>
-
-<p>Whales have often exceeded one hundred feet in length, and George Brown
-Goode, in his report on the United States Fisheries, mentions a finback
-having been killed that was one hundred and twenty feet long. A whale’s
-head is sometimes thirty-five feet in circumference, weighs thirty
-tons, and has jaws twenty feet long, which open thirty feet wide to a
-mouth that is as large as a room twenty feet long, fifteen feet high,
-nine feet wide at the bottom, and two feet wide at the top. A score of
-Jonahs standing upright would not have been unduly crowded in such a
-chamber.</p>
-
-<p>The heart of a whale is the size of a hogshead. The main blood<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">8</a></span> artery
-is a foot in diameter, and ten to fifteen gallons of blood pour out at
-every pulsation. The tongue of a right whale is equal in weight to ten
-oxen, while the eye of all whales is hardly as large as a cow’s, and
-is placed so far back that it has in direction but a limited range of
-vision. The ear is so small that it is difficult to insert a knitting
-needle, and the brain is only about ten inches square. The head, or
-“case,” contains about five hundred barrels, of ten gallons each, of
-the richest kind of oil, called spermaceti.</p>
-
-<p>One of these giants, when first struck by a harpoon, can go as fast as
-a steam yacht, twenty or twenty-five miles an hour, but it soon slows
-down to its usual speed of about twelve miles, developing about one
-hundred and forty-five horse-power.</p>
-
-<p>Mr. Roy C. Andrews, of the American Museum of Natural History, New
-York, was on a whaler ninety feet long, which struck a finback whale,
-and he says that for seven hours the whale towed the vessel, with
-engines going at full speed astern, almost as though it had been a
-rowboat.</p>
-
-<p>The whale’s young are about twelve feet long at birth, and can swim
-as soon as they are born. So faithfully does the cow whale watch over
-her offspring when they are together that she will rarely move when
-attacked for fear of leaving the young whale unprotected, or of hurting
-it if she thrashes round to escape capture. It is believed that whales
-sometimes live to attain the age of eight hundred years. They sleep
-at the bottom of the ocean, which fact shows that they do not inhale
-air when asleep, like the warm-blooded animals, and to help them in
-breathing below the surface they have a large reservoir of blood to
-assist circulation. This spot is known to whalemen as the “life” of the
-whale. When “sounding” to a great depth it is estimated that the whale
-bears on its back the weight of twenty battleships. The strength and
-power of a whale are described as almost unbelievable.</p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 id="ANCIENT_HISTORY_OF_WHALING"><span class="inblk">ANCIENT HISTORY OF WHALING</span></h2></div>
-
-<p>Every one knows the story of Jonah; how he was thrown overboard to
-appease the gods, and how a “big fish” swallowed him and carried him
-ashore. It will always be a mooted question whether or not the big
-fish was a whale. If it were a whale, it is doubtful whether Jonah got
-any further than its mouth, on account of the smallness of a whale’s
-throat. It may be well to explain that a whale does not belong to the
-fish family, but is a mammal, and therefore, perhaps, this great fish
-mentioned wasn’t a whale.</p>
-
-<p>This “fishing on a gigantic scale,” as it has been often termed, is
-of very ancient origin and dates back to 890 <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span>, when a
-Norwegian, called Octhere, skirted the coast of Norway for whales.</p>
-
-<p>The Biscayans, who in the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and
-fifteenth centuries became famous on account of their whale fishery,
-were the first people to prosecute this industry as a regular
-commercial pursuit. In this connection the French are also mentioned
-about <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span>1261, using the whale for food. Also the Icelanders are
-believed to have whaled some time during the twelfth century. The first
-reference to English whaling appears during the fourteenth century, and
-by statutory law the whale was declared “a royal fish.” Another curious
-law was that the King, as Honorary Harpooner, received the head, and
-the Queen the tail of all whales captured along the English coast,
-which is very much like halving an apple, there is so little left.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_009.jpg" width="368" height="600" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">From an old English print.</p></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_010.jpg" width="600" height="452" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">A rare old English print of the Eighteenth Century.</p></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_011.jpg" width="600" height="372" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">A “cachalot” on the seacoast of Holland. People have
-always shown intense interest in drift whales.</p></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_012_1.jpg" width="600" height="414" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Whale-hunting in Westmannshaven Bay, Norway.<br />
-The Norwegians were the earliest whalers of which we have any records.</p></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_012_2.jpg" width="600" height="454" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">The Dutch boiling oil on shore in a huge “try-works,”
-which was the early method of preparing the oil.</p></div>
-
-<p>In 1612 the Dutch became the leaders and were still very active about
-1680, employing two hundred and sixty ships and fourteen thousand
-seamen, and during the last part of the seventeenth century they
-furnished nearly all Europe with oil. To them is attributed the
-improvements in the harpoon, the line, and the lance, and to their
-early prominence in the industry we owe the very name “whale,” a
-derivation from the Dutch and German word “wallen,” meaning to roll
-or wallow. They established a whaling settlement at Spitzbergen, only
-eleven degrees from the North Pole, where they boiled the oil; in fact,
-during the early days of whaling all nations “tried out” their oil on
-land. The Dutch continued to be the leaders until about 1770, when the
-English superseded them owing to the royal bounties.</p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 id="EARLY_NEW_ENGLAND_WHALING"><span class="inblk">EARLY NEW ENGLAND WHALING</span></h2></div>
-
-<p>The history of American whaling really begins with the settlement of
-the New England Colonies. When the “Mayflower” anchored inside of Cape
-Cod, the Pilgrims saw whales playing about the ship, and this was their
-chief reason for settling there. It afterwards proved that the products
-of the whale formed an important source of income to the settlers on
-Massachusetts Bay.</p>
-
-<p>The subject of drift, or dead whales which were washed ashore, first
-attracted the colonists, and there are numerous references to them on
-record. It was the invariable rule for the government to get one-third,
-the town one-third, and the owner one-third, and in 1662 it was voted
-that a portion of every whale should be given to the church. The whale
-fishery increased steadily, so that in 1664 Secretary Randolph could
-truthfully write to England, “The new Plymouth colony made great
-profit by whale killing.” The success of the settlers on Cape Cod and
-elsewhere encouraged Salem to consider ways and means of whaling; for
-as early as 1688 one James Loper, of Salem, petitioned the Colonial
-authorities for a patent for making oil, and four years later some
-Salem whalers complained that Easthamptonites had stolen whales that
-bore Salem harpoons. As early as 1647 whaling had become a recognized
-industry in Hartford, Conn., but for some reason did not prosper.</p>
-
-<p>The first white people to explore our New England coasts discovered
-that the Indians were ahead of them in the pursuit of the whale. The
-Red Men in canoes attacked these beasts with stone-headed arrows and
-spears which were attached to short lines. Usually wooden floats were
-tied to the line, which impeded the progress of the animal, and by
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span>
-frequent thrusts these early hunters actually worried the life out of
-the whale.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_014.jpg" width="600" height="385" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">This print shows the high sterns of the old Dutch
-ships.</p></div>
-
-<p>Waymouth’s Journal of his voyage to America in 1605 gives the first
-description of the Indian method of whaling in canoes on the New
-England coast from November to April, when spouters generally abounded
-there. “One especial thing is their manner of killing the whale” runs
-the quaint description “which they call a powdawe; and will describe
-his form; how he bloweth up the water; and that he is twelve fathoms
-long: that they go in company of their king with a multitude of their
-boats; and strike him with a bone made in fashion of a harping iron
-fastened to a rope, which they make great and strong of the bark of
-trees, which they veer out after him; then all their boats come about
-him as he riseth above water, with their arrows they shoot him to
-death; when they have killed him and dragged him to shore, they call
-all their chief lords together, and sing a song of joy; and those chief
-lords, whom they call sagamores, divide the spoil and give to every man
-a share, which pieces so distributed, they hang up about their houses
-for provisions; and when they boil them they blow off the fat and put
-to their pease, maize and other pulse which they eat.”</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_015.jpg" width="600" height="391" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Early method of bringing whales on shore by means of a
-windlass.</p></div>
-
-<p>The Esquimaux at this time were very much more advanced than the
-Indians, and showed their ingenuity by inventing the “toggle” harpoon,
-which is in use to this day, and which was improved upon in 1848 by
-a Negro in New Bedford called Lewis Temple, who made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span> his fortune
-turning out irons. This harpoon was arranged to sink very easily into
-the blubber, but when pulled out the end turned at right angles to the
-shank, thus preventing the harpoon from withdrawing.</p>
-
-<p>Boston is mentioned only occasionally in connection with the Whale
-Fishery. During 1707 the Boston papers state that a whale forty feet
-long entered the harbour and was killed near Noddle’s Island, and
-another interesting record is in a letter written in 1724 by the Hon.
-Paul Dudley, who mentions that he has just received a note from a Mr.
-Atkins of Boston, who was one of the first to go fishing for sperm
-whales. There were many whaleships recorded in the Boston records,
-although fitting out and sailing from other neighboring ports.</p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 id="NANTUCKET"><span class="inblk">NANTUCKET</span></h2></div>
-
-<p>A large part of the romance of whaling centres around the island of
-Nantucket and its hardy seamen. It was from here that the Red Men first
-sallied out in canoes to chase the whale; from here the small sloops
-first set out laden with cobblestones, as the story goes, to throw at
-the whales to see if they were near enough to risk a harpoon. These
-daring Nantucketers were, in 1791, the first to sail to the Pacific,
-and later on in 1820 to the coast of Japan, and finally they made their
-ships known in every harbour of the world. Thirty islands and reefs in
-the Pacific are named after Nantucket captains and merchants.</p>
-
-<p>There is an amusing legend concerning the origin of the island. A
-giant was said to be in the habit of sleeping on Cape Cod, because
-its peculiar shape fitted him when he curled himself up. One night he
-became very restless and thrashed his feet around so much that he got
-his moccasins filled with sand. In the morning he took off first one
-moccasin and then the other, flinging their contents across the sea,
-thus forming the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.</p>
-
-<p>From the time of the settlement of the island, the entire population,
-from the oldest inhabitant down to the youngest child, realized that
-on the whaling industry depended their livelihood. A story is told
-of a Nantucket youngster who tied his mother’s darning cotton to a
-fork, and, hurling it at the cat as she tried to escape, yelled “Pay
-out, mother! Pay out! There she ‘sounds’ through the window!” The
-inhabitants always alluded to a train as “tying up,” a wagon was called
-a “side-wheeler,” every one you met was addressed as “captain,” and a
-horse was always “tackled” instead of harnessed. The refrain of an old
-Nantucket song runs as follows:—</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="stanza">
-<div class="line">“So be cheery, my lads, let your hearts never fail,</div>
-<div class="line">While the bold harpooner is striking the whale!”</div>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p>A young man who had not doubled the cape or harpooned a whale had no
-chance of winning a Nantucket, New Bedford, or New London belle, and
-it is stated as a fact that the girls of Nantucket at one time formed
-a secret society, and one of their pledges was never to marry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span> a man
-until he had “struck his whale.” The well-known Nantucket novel “Miriam
-Coffin” tells of a girl who made to her two lovers a condition of
-marriage that they must first of all undertake a whaling voyage, and
-that she would wed the more successful of the two. It happened that
-one was a Minister, and the other was no better adapted to the whale
-fishery; nevertheless, both set out to sea. The former was killed by a
-whale, and the latter returned after an absence of several years, but
-instead of claiming his bride, he tells her that before going he had
-already made up his mind that a girl who made such foolish propositions
-was no girl for him; and so the story ends.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_017.jpg" width="600" height="406" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">A whaler circling Cape Horn.</p></div>
-
-<p>Many a Nantucket bride stepped from her home to her husband’s whaleship
-for a three-year voyage round Cape Horn, which probably suggested these
-verses:—</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="stanza">
-<div class="line">“I asked a maiden by my side,</div>
-<div class="i1">Who sighed and looked at me forlorn,</div>
-<div class="line">‘Where is your heart?’ She quick replied,</div>
-<div class="i1">‘Round Cape Horn.’</div>
-</div>
-<div class="stanza">
-<div class="line">“I said, ‘I’ll let your fathers know,’</div>
-<div class="i1">To boys in mischief on the lawn;</div>
-<div class="line">They all replied, ‘Then you must go</div>
-<div class="i1">Round Cape Horn.’</div>
-</div>
-<div class="stanza">
-<div class="line">“In fact, I asked a little boy</div>
-<div class="i1">If he could tell where he was born;</div>
-<div class="line">He answered, with a mark of joy,</div>
-<div class="i1">‘Round Cape Horn.’”</div>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Any one who did not live in Nantucket was called a foreigner. To show
-their attitude a schoolboy was asked to write a thesis on Napoleon, and
-he began by stating that “Napoleon was a great man and a great soldier,
-but he was an off-islander.” In fact, it was an act of condescension
-for a Nantucketer even to shake hands with a “Mainlander,” and there
-are many of the older islanders to-day who have never set foot on any
-other soil.</p>
-
-<p>Most of the inhabitants were Quakers, and there was a saying that a
-Nantucketer was half Quaker and half sailor. Though their cemetery
-contains about ten thousand graves, there are only half a dozen
-tombstones in one corner of the field. There are no “Friends” in
-Nantucket to-day. The following incident shows the Quaker thrift, to
-which was due in a great measure their success in whaling. When the
-first chaise was purchased, the owner was about to take a drive in it,
-but, after a few minutes’ deliberation, decided it was too progressive,
-and would subject him to criticism, so he loaned it only to invalids
-and funeral parties.</p>
-
-<p>Billy Clark was town crier, and for forty years, up to the time of
-his death in 1909, he voluntarily announced with a bell and horn the
-arrival of all whalers and steamers. Once as he went along ringing,
-a girl asked him rudely where he got his bell, and his reply was,
-“I got my bell where you got your manners,—at the ‘brass foundry.’”
-Nantucketers declare that his death was due to the fact that he
-actually “blew his lungs away.”</p>
-
-<p>The Chase family has always occupied a most prominent position in the
-history of the island. One of the family was Reuben Chase, who served
-under John Paul Jones on the “Ranger,” and on his death the following
-epitaph was placed on his tombstone:—</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="stanza">
-<div class="line">“Free from the storms and gusts of human life,</div>
-<div class="line">Free from its error and its strife,</div>
-<div class="line">Here lies Reuben Chase anchored; who stood</div>
-<div class="line">The sea of ebbing life and flowing misery.</div>
-<div class="line">He was not dandy rigged, his prudent eye</div>
-<div class="line">Fore-saw and took a reef at fortune’s quickest flow.</div>
-<div class="line">He luffed and bore away to please mankind;</div>
-<div class="line">Yet duty urged him still to head the wind,</div>
-<div class="line">Rumatic gusts at length his masts destroyed,</div>
-<div class="line">Yet jury health awhile he yet enjoyed,</div>
-<div class="line">Worn out with age and shattered head,</div>
-<div class="line">At foot he struck and grounded on his bed.</div>
-<div class="line">There careening thus he lay,</div>
-<div class="line">His final bilge expecting every day,</div>
-<div class="line">Heaven took his ballast from his dreary hold,</div>
-<div class="line">And left his body destitute of soul.”</div>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p>Every islander knows the story of the Nantucket skipper who claimed
-that he could always tell where his ship was by the color and taste of
-the lead after sounding. Marden, his mate, on one trip determined to
-fool him, and for this purpose brought some dirt from a neighbor’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span>
-garden in Nantucket. He woke up the skipper one morning off Cape
-Horn, and showed him the lead, which had been smeared with this dirt,
-whereupon, to quote the words of James Thomas Fields,—</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="stanza">
-<div class="line">“The skipper stormed and tore his hair,</div>
-<div class="i1">Hauled on his boots and roared to Marden:</div>
-<div class="line">‘Nantucket’s sunk, and here we are</div>
-<div class="i1">Right over old Marm Hackett’s garden!’”</div>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p>Another Nantucket captain always took to sea medicine bottles, each
-numbered and indexed to suit different complaints. Once his mate was
-ill, and, looking up the bottle to administer in his case, found
-that No. 13 contained the cure for his patient. Unfortunately, this
-bottle had all been used, so, after careful deliberation, he mixed the
-contents of bottles 6 and 7, which he gave the mate, who promptly died.</p>
-
-<p>Early history tells us that Thomas Macy purchased the island for thirty
-pounds and two beaver hats, “One for myself and one for my wife,” and
-to him therefore belongs the honor of the settlement of Nantucket; he
-had been driven away from Massachusetts for sheltering Quakers, which
-was at that time against the law, and with his friend Edward Starbuck
-fled to the island and established a colony composed of such well-known
-families as the Coffins, Husseys, Swaynes, Gardners, Chases, Folgers,
-and Starbucks. These men were not whalers, but they watched the Indians
-and learned much from them, and later on employed Ichabod Paddock to
-come over from Cape Cod and instruct them further.</p>
-
-<p>The character of the island and its situation far out in the ocean,
-its poor soil, and the number of whales along its shores, all proved
-an inducement to the Nantucketers to follow the sea as a calling. At
-first, there were so many whales that they did not find it necessary
-to go beyond the coast; so, under the guidance of Paddock, lookouts
-were erected along the South shore, and each man patrolled a certain
-amount of territory. Each one took his share of whales killed, and
-business flourished. This method of whaling continued until 1712,
-when Christopher Hussey, while cruising along the coast, was blown
-out to sea. He ran across a sperm whale, which he finally killed and
-brought home. This year was epoch making, as this was the first sperm
-whale known to have been taken by Americans. The oil from this species
-of whale being superior to that of all others, the Nantucketers now
-(1715) decided to change their methods and to whale in the “deep.”
-As the vessels steadily increased in size with greater and greater
-cargo-carrying capacity, voyages necessarily became longer, extending
-even to periods of four or five years. In fact, a voyage lasting but
-two years was considered unusually short. The point of view of most
-whalers regarding a two-year voyage is shown by the captain who, when
-boarding his ship, was reminded by a friend that he had not said
-“Good-by” to his wife,—</p>
-
-<p>“Why should I?” said he; “I am only to be gone two years.”</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_020.jpg" width="600" height="409" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">The famous Roach (Rotch) fleet, “Enterprise,” “Wm.
-Roach,” “Pocahontas,” and “Houqua,” among a “school” of sperm whales
-off the coast of Hawaii. Ships often cruised together and divided the
-catch. Honolulu owes its rapid rise partially to the frequent visits of
-the whalers. The first vessel fitted out from the Sandwich Islands was
-in 1837 and was owned by Henry A. Pierce of New Bedford.</p></div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span></p>
-
-<p>About 1730 “try-works” were built on the vessels instead of on the
-shore, and the oil was boiled and stowed away at sea, thus allowing
-the ships to make much longer voyages. At this time Nantucket owned as
-many whaleships as all the other ports of America combined. Whaling
-continued to increase, and the sterile island was turned into a
-prosperous community, when the Revolution came on, and for the time
-being practically put an end to the industry. Nantucket was the only
-port that carried on whaling during the war: the island simply had to
-whale or starve, as the inhabitants knew no other occupation. Most
-of their vessels were eventually captured or lost by shipwreck, and
-over twelve hundred of their men were either killed or made prisoners.
-The end of the war found the island’s business hopelessly wrecked;
-but, with their usual pluck and determination, the Nantucketers once
-more built up a profitable fleet. So impoverished were they that the
-government for one year levied no taxes.</p>
-
-<p>At the close of the war a Quaker, called William Rotch, was Nantucket’s
-greatest whaler, and even he became so discouraged with the prospects
-at home that in 1785 he left the island in his ship, the “Maria,”
-for London. He endeavored to make some arrangement with the English
-government to import some whaling families from Nantucket, but,
-failing to do so, repaired to France, where he succeeded in making an
-agreement with Louis XVI. A great many families moved to France, and
-carried on the pursuit from Dunkirk in Normandy. Rotch soon returned to
-Nantucket, and later moved to New Bedford, where he died. The old Rotch
-counting-house was later used as a club-room for Nantucket whaling
-captains, and is even now being used as such. In the old prosperous
-days this was jocosely called the House of Commons, while another club,
-which was used by the ship owners, was named the House of Lords.</p>
-
-<p>Immediately after the war, the ship “Bedford,” one of the Rotch
-vessels, was loaded with oil, and sent to England under command of
-Captain Mooers. This was the first vessel to display the American flag
-in a British port. It is related that one of the crew of the ship was
-hunchbacked, and when on shore one day a British sailor clapped his
-hand on his shoulder, and said, “Hello, Jack, what have you got here?”
-“Bunker Hill, and be d—d to you,” replied the Yankee.</p>
-
-<p>The redoubtable Nantucketers resumed their whaling at the close of the
-Revolution, and their energy and skill were again yielding rich profits
-when the War of 1812 almost annihilated the island’s fleet. But as it
-was another case of whale or starve, Nantucket continued to send out a
-few whalers, and was the only American port during the war that dared
-to brave the risks of British capture.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_022.jpg" width="600" height="324" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">A “camel” floating a whaler to sea over the Nantucket
-bar. The “camel” was used from 1842 to 1849, enabling the Nantucketers
-for a time to keep pace with the New Bedfordites.</p></div>
-
-<p>About this time, in one of the Pacific ports, an incident occurred
-which showed in an amusing light the ready wit and intrepid courage of
-an American whaleman. He had in some way displeased an English naval
-officer, who, feeling himself highly insulted, promptly challenged the
-Yankee, who accepted and, being the challenged party, had the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span> choice
-of weapons. He selected, of course, the weapon with which he was most
-skilful and took his stand with a poised harpoon. It had altogether too
-dangerous an appearance for the irate Englishman, particularly as the
-whaleman was evidently an expert in the manual of thrust and parry, and
-so with as good grace as he could command, the Englishman withdrew from
-the fight.</p>
-
-<p>At a very early day in the fishery, whaling vessels, which were at
-first long rowboats and later small sloops, began to increase in size,
-and about 1820 ships of three hundred tons were found profitable.
-The increase in profit producing capacity, strange as it may appear,
-actually sounded the death-knell of the Nantucket whaling, for
-across the mouth of the harbour ran a bar, over which it soon became
-impossible for whaling vessels of large size to pass. The difficulty
-was for a time overcome by the true Yankee ingenuity of some inventive
-Nantucketer, who devised the “camel,” a veritable dry-dock barge in
-which the larger whaleships, lightened often of oil and bone, were
-floated over the bar into the forest of masts which in those days
-characterized a harbour now frequented only by a few schooners and
-sloops, the small pleasure crafts of the summer residents, and an
-occasional steamer.</p>
-
-<p>As whaleships still continued to increase in size, the “camel”
-expedient was only a temporary success; for the time came when vessels
-were of too great tonnage to be thus floated over the bar, and the
-daring and skilful Nantucketer, who had taught the civilized world
-not only how, but where, to whale, had to admit defeat and gradually
-give up the industry to more fortunately situated ports. At this time,
-about 1830, Nantucket was commercially the third largest city in
-Massachusetts, Boston being first and Salem second.</p>
-
-<p>In 1843 Nantucket owned its record number of ships, eighty-eight. In
-1846, which is referred to as the “boom” year in American whaling,
-sixteen vessels cleared from Nantucket and sixty-nine from her near-by
-rival—New Bedford. In 1869 Nantucket sent her last ship and disappeared
-from the list of whaling ports. The great fire of 1846 also contributed
-to the downfall of the industry.</p>
-
-<p>A new era in whaling was to be born, with New Bedford as the centre,
-and Nantucket was to become only a health resort and mecca for
-sight-seers, more than ten thousand persons visiting the island in 1914.</p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 id="NEW_BEDFORD"><span class="inblk">NEW BEDFORD</span></h2></div>
-
-<p>New Bedford undoubtedly owed its whaling success to its proximity to
-Nantucket, to its wonderful harbour, and to the honesty, thrift, and
-good business ability of its citizens, most of whom were Quakers.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_024.jpg" width="600" height="331" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">A whaler leaving New Bedford Harbour.</p></div>
-
-<p>As in Nantucket, the whole city lived to go whaling, and as each
-inhabitant made more money, he moved his residence higher up on the
-Hill. It is said that there was an inn called the “Crossed Harpoons,”
-and another called “Spouter Inn,” and there is a Whaleman’s Chapel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span> on
-Johnny Cake Hill where regular Sunday services were held, at which the
-following hymn was always sung by the congregation:—</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="stanza">
-<div class="line">“The ribs and terrors of the whale</div>
-<div class="i1">Arched over me in dismal gloom,</div>
-<div class="line">While all God’s sun-lit waves rolled by</div>
-<div class="i1">And left me deepening down to doom.</div>
-</div>
-<div class="stanza">
-<div class="line">“I saw the opening maw of hell,</div>
-<div class="i1">With endless pains and sorrows there;</div>
-<div class="line">Which none but they that feel can tell—</div>
-<div class="i1">Oh, I was plunging to despair—</div>
-</div>
-<div class="stanza">
-<div class="line">“In black distress I called to God,</div>
-<div class="i1">When I could scarce believe him mine,</div>
-<div class="line">He bowed his ear to my complaints—</div>
-<div class="i1">No more the whale did me confine.”</div>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p>The pulpit of this chapel was made to represent the prow of a
-whaleship, and was ascended by means of a rope ladder, which the
-minister, who had been a harpooner in his youth, hauled up after him.
-Around the walls of this little church can still be seen tablets
-erected in memory of many whalemen who lost their lives at sea. There
-also was a daily paper called <i>The Whaleman</i>, which gave the reports of
-the whaleships and the whaling news. It has been said that New Bedford
-fathers gave whales for dowers to their daughters, and that they had
-reservoirs of oil in their attics to burn on gala occasions.</p>
-
-<p>It is a curious fact that three Morgans not long ago married three
-Rotchs, three Rotchs married three Rodmans, and three Rodmans married
-three Motleys. Among other well-known New Bedford whaling families are
-the Hathaways, Swifts, Howlands, Morgans, Stones, Delanos, Rodmans,
-Seaburys, Giffords, Tabers, Grinnells, and Wings.</p>
-
-<p>Whaling was a tremendous financial gamble, and until a vessel came
-home “clean” or “greasy,” meaning empty or full, the success of the
-voyage was not known. They tell a story of a New Bedford captain who
-had been out for nearly four years, and as he came up to the wharf the
-owners asked him what luck he had had. His reply was, “I didn’t get any
-whales, but I had a damn good sail.” There is another tale of a seaman
-whose vessel left New Bedford on the day of his mother’s funeral.
-Naturally he set sail with a heavy heart, and during his three years’
-cruise he thought many times of his sorrowful father at home. As the
-ship neared the docks he was met by his father with “Hurry up, Jim, I
-want to introduce you to your new mother.” There were many changes at
-home during a long cruise, and sometimes even the fashions had entirely
-changed. One whaleship captain described his surprise at seeing for the
-first time the crinoline or hoop skirt.</p>
-
-<p>The real founder of New Bedford, and the pioneer of the whale fishery
-at this port, was Joseph Russell, who sent his ships out in 1765.
-Several years later the first ship was launched and was called the
-“Dartmouth,” and this vessel is well known to history owing to the fact
-that she was one of the ships that carried into Boston Harbour the tea<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span>
-that was thrown overboard. The whaling industry increased steadily,
-except during the wars, until 1857, when the New Bedford fleet numbered
-three hundred and twenty-nine vessels, was valued at over twelve
-million dollars, and employed over twelve thousand seamen. If these
-vessels had been strung out in line, they would have stretched over ten
-miles. In addition to these sailors, thousands of others were employed
-at home making casks, irons, ropes, and many other articles used in
-whaling. In fact, it was often stated that the population was divided
-into three parts,—those away on a voyage, those returning, and those
-getting ready for the next trip.</p>
-
-<p>There were many nationalities represented in the crews of the whalers,
-and the New Bedford streets presented a very foreign appearance, with
-Spaniards, Portuguese, Dutch, Norwegians, Germans, French, English,
-Scotch, Irish, Sandwich Islanders, and New Englanders at every turn. A
-large number of Portuguese served on whaleships, and a part of the city
-near the south end of Water Street became known as Fayal.</p>
-
-<p>The “Golden Age,” as it is called, of whaling was between 1825 and
-1860, and during the whole of this period New Bedford assumed the lead,
-even long after other ports had given up the pursuit. It is estimated
-that about the year 1848 there were over seventy millions invested
-in the industry and seventy thousand persons derived from it their
-subsistence.</p>
-
-<p>It is an interesting fact that the insurance on American whalemen
-was about one-half the rate that was charged the Englishman, which
-certainly showed the superiority of our Yankee seamen. There were
-several whaling insurance companies in New Bedford. There is a story
-told of a New Bedford ship owner who had just heard that his vessel
-had gone down and he hadn’t yet received the insurance policy from the
-company. He sent a letter down to the office which read as follows:
-“I have heard from my ship and thee need not place the insurance.” Of
-course, the policy was sent up immediately.</p>
-
-<p>The New Bedford whalers explored new grounds, and to this fact chiefly
-is due the continued prosperity of its whale fishery, but it was to die
-slowly; in 1875 the fleet from this port had declined to 116 vessels,
-in 1886 to 77 ships, and in 1906 to 24.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_027_1.jpg" width="600" height="283" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">The famous Stone Fleet sailing from New Bedford, Nov.
-16, 1861. The ships were loaded with stones and were sunk in the
-mouths of certain Southern harbours during the Civil War, to prevent
-blockade runners from entering. The vessels in this picture are the
-Garland, Maria Theresa, Rebecca Simms, Leonidas, South America, Archer,
-American, Harvest, Amazon, Cossack, Courier, Henrietta, Potomac,
-Kensington, Herald and L. C. Richmond.</p></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_027_2.jpg" width="600" height="394" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">The captains of the Stone Fleet. A fine type of old
-New England ship masters. Standing from left to right—Captains Beard,
-Gifford, Swift, Childs, Stall, French, Wood, Cumiski, Willis, Bailey.
-Sitting from left to right—Captains Malloy, Swift, Brown, Howland,
-Worth, Tilton, Brayton, Taylor, Chadwick.</p></div>
-
-<p>One of the chief historical events of New Bedford happened in 1861,
-when the famous Stone Fleet sailed from that port. The United States
-government decided to purchase some old ships and sink them in the
-channels of the harbours of Charleston and Savannah, to prevent
-blockade running during the war. H. Bartlett &amp; Sons supervised their
-purchase and Captain Rodolphus N. Swift was the general agent. Bartlett
-purchased some of the old whalers for as small a price as thirty-one
-hundred and fifty dollars, some of them having more cement than wood
-in their hulls. To James Duddy, a teamster, fell the task of supplying
-the seventy-five hundred tons of stones with which to fill the vessels,
-and many a New Bedford stone wall now lies at the bottom of some of
-our Southern harbours. Captain Rodney French, an old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span> “slaver,” who
-afterwards became Mayor of New Bedford, was selected as commander of
-the fleet, and on Thanksgiving Day most of New Bedford assembled on the
-wharves and saw fifteen of her once famous fleet, which had for years
-been the homes of its seamen, sail forth never to return. It must have
-been a very sad day for the city, and it may be said that this event
-marked the beginning of the decline of the industry at New Bedford.</p>
-
-<p>One captain insisted upon washing the decks of his ship every morning,
-using pulverized stones instead of sand, and another, to give the fleet
-a warlike appearance, mounted a formidable “Quaker” gun, made from a
-section of a spar.</p>
-
-<p>A second fleet sailed later in the year, making forty-five vessels in
-all. Although the expedition cost the government about a quarter of a
-million dollars, its success was only temporary. The captain of the
-“Alabama” swore vengeance on New Bedford and destroyed or captured
-every whaler he could find, and in the “Alabama” awards that were made
-after the war New Bedford received a large share.</p>
-
-<p>Ten years later occurred the worst disaster that ever befell a whaling
-fleet. Thirty-four whalers were caught in the ice in the Arctic regions
-and sunk, and it is a curious fact that, while the loss reached one
-million five hundred thousand dollars, not a single human life was
-sacrificed. These three pictures of a series of five on the following
-page show the sinking of the ships, the abandonment of their vessels,
-which had their flags union down, and the eighty-mile sail through
-the ice-floes to the open sea, where twelve hundred and nineteen men,
-women, and children were taken home in the seven whalers that had not
-been lost in the ice. It must have been very crowded, as each ship had
-to stow away several hundred persons in addition to her own crew. There
-were many sad hearts as they left their vessels and almost all of their
-belongings, and started off in the small boats. The trip to sea and the
-trans-shipment in the heavy swell must have been made with the utmost
-care, otherwise many lives would have been sacrificed. The loss to the
-New Bedford owners was so tremendous that they never really recovered
-from the catastrophe, and many families had to economize for years
-after. The Swifts, Howlands, and Rotchs were among those who lost ships.</p>
-
-<p>On one of the vessels in the first picture of this series was a large
-quantity of the finest Manila cigars and also some rare Madeira
-wine, that had been picked up in the Philippines the year before on
-instructions from the ship’s owner. When the captain of this vessel
-reached New Bedford and reported the loss of his command, the owner’s
-first question, after listening to the dismal tale, was whether his
-cigars and wine had been saved. “All of it,” came the reply. “Where is
-it?” said the owner, looking more cheerful. “Well, you see, I drank the
-wine and Mr. Jones, the mate, he smoked the cigars, and they certainly
-done us both good,” replied the captain.</p>
-
-<p>The ship “Progress,” shown in the last picture, forms an interesting
-connecting link between the Stone Fleet and this 1871 disaster.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_029_1.jpg" width="600" height="187" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Abandonment of the whalers in the Arctic Ocean,
-September, 1871. Vessels surrounded by the ice, and many of them in a
-sinking condition.</p></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_029_2.jpg" width="600" height="181" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Abandonment of the whalers in the Arctic Ocean,
-September, 1871. Showing the whaleboats being hauled up on Blossom
-Shoals, where the ship-wrecked crews spent the night crowded under the
-upturned boats.</p></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_029_3.jpg" width="600" height="237" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Abandonment of the whalers in the Arctic Ocean,
-September, 1871. The seven ships receiving the 1217 men, women, and
-children of the abandoned vessels. The sea was very rough and the
-trans-shipment was very dangerous. The ship “Progress,” whose history
-is given on the opposite page, is at the right of the picture.</p></div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Under the name of the “Charles Phelps” she whaled from Stonington, Conn., for
-a number of years and finally was purchased for the Stone Fleet. She
-was found to be in such good condition that the government decided not
-to sink her, and she returned to New Bedford and was sold; and it was
-this same vessel that took part in the rescue of the twelve hundred and
-nineteen shipwrecked people ten years later. In 1893 she was fitted out
-as if for a whaling voyage and towed by way of the St. Lawrence River
-to Chicago, where she was exhibited at the Fair, and now lies rotting
-on the sands of the lake at South Chicago. No other whaler ever had so
-interesting and varied a history.</p>
-
-<p>The year after this Arctic disaster found the fleet again in the
-Arctic, and the “Minerva,” one of the ships left at Point Belcher, was
-discovered and found to be in good condition; the others had sunk. One
-lone person was found who had remained on board his ship for the whole
-year, and his sufferings had been fearful. The natives had stolen all
-the whalebone and oil from the sinking vessels, and when some of the
-same shipwrecked captains arrived the next year the Esquimaux tried to
-sell them back their own property, and one native was using one of the
-chronometer cases as a dinner pot in which to boil his blubber. The
-“Minerva” was manned and sailed to New Bedford and continued in the
-whaling industry.</p>
-
-<p>New Bedford ships suffered severely during the Rebellion, but later
-new ones were added to the fleet and business again prospered. Lack of
-space prevents enumerating the achievements of American whalers during
-the Civil War. Captain William P. Randall, however, will go down in
-history as a hero of this war; he was brought up on a whaleship and
-later served in the navy.</p>
-
-<p>Captain Frederick Fish, father of Frederick P. Fish and Charles H.
-Fish, of Boston, was one of the best known and most respected of
-the whaling captains sailing out of New Bedford. He commanded the
-“Montreal” and the “Columbus” when only twenty-two years old, made nine
-voyages round the world, and was one of the most successful whalers of
-his day. Once when near the Sandwich Islands his vessel happened to
-anchor very close to an English ship, and Captain Fish noticed that
-every evening at sunset the English commander, while at anchor, set
-all sails and then furled them again in order to show how quickly this
-work could be performed. After a few evenings Captain Fish ordered his
-crew to do the same, and the time consumed was so much less that the
-next evening the Englishman decided he did not care to go through the
-performance; in fact, he never tried to show off again in that port.</p>
-
-<p>There is also another amusing story told about Captain Fish. His ship
-at one port took on a great many chickens, which were used for food,
-and finally one of the crew rebelled and informed the captain that he
-had eaten enough hen. He was immediately ordered out on a yard-arm and
-was made to crow like a rooster for such a long time that when he was
-again allowed on deck, he had a most excellent appetite for another
-chicken dinner. Captain Fish delighted in telling of the time<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span> when
-he took a local pilot on board somewhere in the Pacific to conduct
-his vessel into port. He asked the navigator if he were sure of his
-course, and received a prompt and decisive answer in the affirmative.
-Presently, to the disgust of the captain, the vessel touched. The next
-question put to the pilot was whether or not he could swim, and finding
-that he could, Captain Fish ordered his crew to throw him overboard.
-This was done, and, the distance being short, the swimmer made the
-land, and the captain himself took his vessel in the rest of the way.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_031.jpg" width="600" height="402" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">New Bedford fifty years ago (1808). (This print is dated
-1858.)</p></div>
-
-<p>Captain Fish was an excellent story teller, and another yarn has been
-handed down in connection with one of his trips. The voyage had been
-very unsuccessful, and as he was looking over his chart he tossed his
-dividers down in a disgruntled manner, and by accident they chanced to
-stick in the chart. He then conceived the novel idea of sailing to the
-very place where his instrument happened to land, and curiously enough
-he was rewarded by a very large catch.</p>
-
-<p>Once when one of his whaleboats had been overturned by a fighting
-whale he hurried to the assistance of the crew, who were struggling
-in the water, and to his amazement found two of them squabbling over
-the ownership of a pair of old shoes, instead of thinking about saving
-their lives. It is a curious fact that he never learned to swim, and
-often saved his life when capsized by grabbing some floating d&eacute;bris.
-His nerve and courage were remarkable, and it is related that even on
-his death-bed he told the doctor an amusing story.</p>
-
-<p>This picture of New Bedford in 1808 is most interesting. The oil
-market shed on the right-hand side of the street was built in 1795 by
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span>
-Barnabas Russell for his son Joseph, and the last building shown on
-the right of the picture was the mansion of William Rotch, Sr., and
-the first estate in the village at that time. This Rotch was the son
-of Joseph Rotch, one of New Bedford’s earliest whalers, and he himself
-is represented in his old chaise, the only private carriage then in
-the town. He is negotiating for a load of hay, and from all accounts
-he must have been a keen business man, for he was often seen going to
-market so early that he had to use a lantern. All the other figures in
-this picture also are intended to represent well-known citizens of the
-time. The two men shaking hands are Captain Crocker and Samuel Rodman;
-the latter, who was the son-in-law of William Rotch, had the reputation
-of being the best dressed man in New Bedford in his day. One of the
-boys harnessed to the small cart is the Hon. George Howland, Jr.,
-great-uncle of Llewellyn Howland. H. H. Hathaway, Jr., and Thomas S.
-Hathaway have three ancestors in the picture.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_032.jpg" width="600" height="547" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Oil stored on the wharves at New Bedford awaiting a
-favorable market. The owners, dressed in silk hats, long-tailed coats,
-and polished top boots, might often be seen watching, testing, and
-marking the oil-barrels.</p></div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 id="OTHER_NEW_ENGLAND_WHALING_PORTS"><span class="inblk">OTHER NEW ENGLAND WHALING PORTS</span></h2></div>
-
-<p>Rhode Island pursued whales in 1731, Newport and Providence being
-the two most successful ports. Fifty ships were owned by Connecticut
-and Rhode Island in 1775. Massachusetts owned over three hundred at
-this time. Rhode Island was more of a “slave” than a whaling State.
-New London became a great whaling port in 1846, and was the third in
-importance in New England.</p>
-
-<p>The people of Cape Cod began sending ships to sea about 1726, and a
-few years later a dozen or so vessels were fitted out at Provincetown.
-Boston claimed twenty whaleships in 1775, and registered from one
-to eleven vessels almost every year until 1903, since which date no
-whaleship has been recorded from this port. Gloucester turned to
-whaling in 1833.</p>
-
-<p>The following figures show the different whaling ports in Massachusetts
-and the largest number of vessels enrolled in any one year in each. New
-Bedford, of course, held first place with 329 in 1857, with Nantucket
-88 in 1843, Provincetown claimed 54 in 1869; Fairhaven 50 in 1848 to
-1852; Edgartown and Mattapoisett owned 19 each; Salem had 14 in 1840;
-Boston 11 in 1868; Dartmouth, 10; Plymouth, 9; Falmouth, 8; Wareham,
-Fall River, and Marion, 7 each; Beverly, Holmes’ Hole, Orleans, 5
-each; Lynn, 4; Newburyport, 3; Gloucester, Dorchester, and Sandwich,
-2 each; and the following claimed 1: Braintree, Hingham, Marblehead,
-Barnstable, Duxbury, Quincy, Truro, Yarmouth, and Wellfleet. Of
-the Rhode Island towns Warren owned 25; Newport, 12; Bristol, 10;
-Providence, 9. Connecticut towns that owned whalers were New London,
-70; Stonington, 27; Mystic, 18; and a few scattered among half a dozen
-other places. Portsmouth, N.H., at one time owned two vessels, and
-between the years 1835 to 1845 Bath, Bucksport, Portland, and Wiscasset
-in Maine each had one. Massachusetts, however, could claim five-sixths
-of the total fleet.</p>
-
-<p>A few words must be said in praise of Samuel Mulford of Long Island.
-Governor Hunter of New York claimed for his State a share of all whales
-caught, whereupon Mulford waged war against this act in every possible
-way. Finally he sailed to London and put his case before the Crown.
-The people in London were much amused at his country clothes, and the
-pickpockets in particular became a nuisance to him in the streets.
-Mulford, however, showed his resourcefulness by sewing fish hooks in
-his pockets and succeeded in capturing the thief. Another incident
-shows the ingenuity of the whaleman. The ship “Syren” was attacked by a
-horde of murderous savages, and the crew of the ship would, doubtless,
-have been murdered had it not been for a quick stratagem of the mate.
-He remembered a package of tacks in the cabin and yelled, “Break out
-the carpet tacks and sow ’em over the deck.” The natives, yelling with
-pain, jumped headlong into the sea, and the ship was saved.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_034_1.jpg" width="600" height="442" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">The Japanese method of capturing whales was to entangle
-them in nets. A great many boatloads of men would drive the whale
-toward the nets by throwing bricks and stones at it. When once
-entangled the infuriated animal could be easily killed. In 1884 the
-Ukitsu Whaling Company employed over 100,000 whalemen. One of the most
-successful of the Japanese in this pursuit was Masutomi Matazaemon, who
-accumulated a large fortune. The Japanese have been very slow to adopt
-our Western methods.</p></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_034_2.jpg" width="600" height="370" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">A typical “blubber hunter” cruising for “right” whales
-in the Arctic.</p></div>
-
-<p>The world owes many discoveries to the energy and determination<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span> of
-whaleship captains. Over four hundred islands in the Pacific were
-discovered and named by American whalemen, and the history of New
-Zealand is closely connected with the visits of New England whalers.
-Australia, too, was opened to the world by the whalemen.</p>
-
-<p>It was to a certain extent due to the testimony of Captain Bryant,
-a whale captain of Mattapoisett, that Alaska was purchased by the
-United States government. That there was a northwest passage was also
-discovered by American whalemen in this way: the date and name of a
-ship were always marked on its harpoons, and in several instances
-whales were captured in the Pacific by ships that were known to have
-been cruising not long before in the Atlantic. It was Captain Timothy
-Folger, of Nantucket, who charted the Gulf Stream at the request
-of Benjamin Franklin, to whom he was related, and this drawing was
-engraved on an old chart and preserved in London. In this way English
-mariners discovered how to avoid the swift current and thereby gain
-much time. Our seamen in the early days were not very kindly treated by
-the Japanese, but, finally, several whalemen secured their good will by
-teaching them English. This encouraged the American government to send
-out Commodore Perry’s expedition, which succeeded in making our first
-treaty with Japan, thus opening that country to Western civilization.</p>
-
-<p>It was difficult to make discoveries ahead of our whalemen. In 1834
-two Russian discovery ships approached a forlorn little island in the
-Antarctic Ocean and the commander was about to take possession in
-the name of his Czar. There was a dense fog at the time, but when it
-cleared away they were very much surprised and vexed to see a little
-Connecticut ship at anchor between their two vessels. The name of
-this whaler was the “Hero” of Stonington, captained by Nathaniel B.
-Palmer, who was only twenty-one years of age and was just returning
-from his discovery of the Antarctic Continent. The Russian commander
-was so impressed by the achievement of this youthful captain that he
-cheerfully acquiesced in naming the place Palmer’s Land. This name has
-since been changed to Graham Land. It is an undisputed fact that the
-whalers prepared the way for the missionaries.</p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 id="ABOARD_A_BLUBBER_HUNTER"><span class="inblk">ABOARD A “BLUBBER HUNTER”</span></h2></div>
-
-<p>Nothing can be more romantic than to be attending a clam-bake on
-Mishaum Point or Barney’s Joy and to see a whaleship, or “blubber
-hunter” as she is often termed, round the point and start to sea. It is
-with quite different feelings that one peers down into her forecastle,
-which is often referred to as the Black Hole of Calcutta. This room,
-which is the home of thirty to forty men for three or four years, is
-reached by a perpendicular ladder through a small hatchway, which is
-the only means of ventilation. The bunks are in tiers and are about the
-size of a coffin, so narrow that it has often been said that one has to
-get out of them in order to turn over. A small table in the centre of
-this “hole” and the seamen’s chests lashed to the floor comprise<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span> all
-the furnishings, except possibly a few bottles of rum, which were often
-labelled “camphor.” In fact, one might speak of the dis-accommodations
-of the forecastle, and it is no wonder that a cruise in a whaler is
-often spoken of as a “sailor’s horror.” The odor of grease, dirt, oil,
-and lack of air are unbearable except to one thoroughly accustomed to a
-whaling trip, and sailors often say that this attractive place should
-not be approached without a clothespin on one’s nose. The utensils
-comprised a few tin plates and a bucket of water, with one cup for the
-use of every one. The food consisted of “longlick” and “scouse,” the
-former made of tea, coffee, and molasses, and the latter of hardtack,
-beans, and meat. It is not difficult to see, therefore, why most of the
-captains anchored their ships well out beyond the harbour, so as to
-prevent desertions after the novice seaman had glanced at his sleeping
-quarters. There have been cases of sailors jumping overboard on the
-chance of reaching land, and it is on record that the greater part of a
-whaleship’s crew once floated to shore on the cover of the try-works. A
-captain was very careful where he allowed his men to land, and, in case
-he was afraid of desertions, took care to allow them shore leave only
-at places where the natives were troublesome, or where for a ten-dollar
-bill he knew he could get the whole crew returned to him.</p>
-
-<p>The whaleship looked very clumsy and was built for strength rather
-than for speed, the bow and stern looking as if they were made by the
-mile and chopped off in lengths to suit. It is a curious fact that the
-“Rousseau,” belonging to the Howlands, when caught in a storm off the
-Cape of Good Hope sailed astern for seven days faster than she had ever
-sailed ahead, and successfully weathered the point.</p>
-
-<p>There is an amusing anecdote that has gone the whaling rounds, of a
-greenhorn, called Hezekiah Ellsprett, who arrived on board the night
-before sailing. One of the men told him that the first ones on board
-had the right to pick out their berths and suggested that he paint his
-name on the berth he should select. Hezekiah looked round, found the
-best-looking cabin, painted his name in big letters on the outside of
-the door, and made himself comfortable for the night. He had chosen
-the captain’s room, and in the morning the captain came on board, and
-in very violent terms informed him that he was in the wrong end of the
-ship.</p>
-
-<p>The whaleman’s life was indeed a hard one, and his share of the profit,
-or “lay” as it was called, was so small that at the end of a moderately
-successful voyage if his share amounted to several hundred dollars
-he was doing well. His earnings were depleted by the captain’s “slop
-chest,” where the sailors had to purchase their tobacco and clothes at
-high prices, and if there were any kicks the answer was that he could
-“get skinned or go naked.” The most necessary part of the sailor’s
-equipment was the sheath knife which was used about the ship and to
-repair his clothes, and it was this same implement that he used to cut
-his food!</p>
-
-<p>Regular deck watches were kept, and in good weather the officers often
-winked their eyes if some of the men slept. Among sailors<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span> this was
-called a “caulk,” and often some kind of a joke was played on the
-sleeper. In one case they tied a live pig to the slumberer’s feet and
-watched the fun from behind the try-works.</p>
-
-<p>Whalers would rarely cruise past the Azores without stopping at Fayal,
-where they were most hospitably received by the American Consul, who
-for centuries was one of the Dabney family. In fact, the island is
-often referred to among whalemen as the “Isle de Dabney.”</p>
-
-<p>“Gamming” or exchanging visits between two whalers at sea was
-thoroughly enjoyed and gave a chance to the sailors to swap
-experiences, and many a weird, sorrowful, or wonderful story must have
-been related. An incident is recorded of a meeting between two brothers
-who had lived in Nantucket, and who had not met for twenty-three years.
-There is an old adage among whalers that when a year from home, on
-“gamming” with a ship that has sailed subsequent to your own departure,
-you have the privilege of begging; when two years out, of stealing; and
-when three years away from home, of both stealing and begging.</p>
-
-<p>A New London ship was once holding a reception on board for some
-natives, and each of the crew was endeavoring in some way to amuse
-the guests. One seaman took out his set of false teeth, thinking
-he would provide entertainment; but instead the natives became so
-alarmed that they tumbled over the side into their canoes and made
-their retreat as quickly as possible. The crew was asked on shore for
-a return visit; but an invitation to the exhibitor of the teeth was
-not forthcoming, and he was obliged to remain alone on the ship, much
-to his disappointment. Captain Gardner of Nantucket stated that in
-thirty-seven years he spent only four years and eight months at home,
-and Captain North, also of Nantucket, figured that he had sailed one
-million one hundred and ninety-one thousand miles.</p>
-
-<p>Nothing could have equalled the joy of returning home after a long
-voyage, and the anxiety to reach port was almost unbearable. Often a
-vessel ran into bad winds and had to anchor for days a few miles off
-shore, and there is one case known of a ship being blown to sea and
-lost after having actually come within sight of New Bedford Harbour.</p>
-
-<p>Many a whaleman has laughed at this story. It was customary for the
-first mate to keep the log book. One day he was intoxicated, so the
-captain entered the day’s events, noting that “the mate was drunk all
-day.” The next day the mate protested, but the captain said that it was
-true and must remain on the records. The mate resumed his charge of the
-diary, and got more than even with his superior officer by recording on
-the following day that “the Captain was sober all day.”</p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 id="WHALING_IMPLEMENTS_AND_WHALEBOATS"><span class="inblk">WHALING IMPLEMENTS AND WHALEBOATS</span></h2></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_038_1.jpg" width="600" height="327" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">This picture, taken by Roy C. Andrews, Esq., of the
-American Museum of Natural History, on his last whaling expedition,
-shows a bomb exploding in a whale.</p></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_038_2.jpg" width="600" height="516" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">WHALING IMPLEMENTS.</p>
-
-<p>Figure 1. Harpoon with one barb. Figure 2. Harpoon with two barbs.
-Figure 3. The “toggle iron.” Figure 4. The lance for killing the whale
-by reaching its “life.” Figure 5. A spade used in small boats for
-making holes in the blubber after capture and on the whaleship for
-cutting the blubber from the body of the whale. Figure 6. A bomb lance.
-Figure 7. The “boarding knife” used for making holes in the strips of
-blubber for the hoisting hooks. Figure 8. The dipper used to bail oil
-out of the “case,” or head, and from the try-works into the cooler.
-Figure 9. A piece of whalebone as it comes from the whale. Figure 10. A
-strainer used for draining the scraps from the oil.</p></div>
-
-<p>The earliest method of killing whales was by means of the bow and
-arrow, and the first accounts of New England whaling refer to the
-harpoons as being made of stone or bone. There are three kinds,
-however, that have been popular among American whalemen: one had one
-barb<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span> (Figure 1), shown on the preceding page; another had two barbs
-(Figure 2); and the third was the “toggle iron” (Figure 3), which has
-already been described. The edges were sharpened like a razor and
-were protected by a wooden cover when not in use. They were so sharp
-that Melville in “Moby Dick” describes his whaling hero, Queequeg, as
-shaving with one. The lance (Figure 4) which was used after the harpoon
-had been driven in “to the hitches,” or its entire length, resembled a
-flat spoon, and was very sharp on the edges and on the point. The long
-line was attached to the harpoon, and shorter lines, called “monkey
-ropes,” were made fast to the lances.</p>
-
-<p>It has been shown by the records of one James Durbee, a veteran harpoon
-maker of New Bedford, that between the years 1828 and 1868 he made and
-sold 58,517 harpoons, and he was only one of eight or ten manufacturers
-of whaling implements in that one port.</p>
-
-<p>An interesting and authentic anecdote of a lost harpoon describes how
-a Captain Paddock in 1802 struck a whale, which escaped with his iron,
-and in 1815, thirteen years later, the same captain killed the same
-whale and recovered his lost weapon.</p>
-
-<p>A whaler is supplied with from four to seven whaleboats, three of
-which are usually on the port side, one on the starboard side near
-the stern, and the rest are on deck; it was the improved early canoe,
-sharp at both ends so as to make a dash at the whale and then be able
-to retreat just as easily. The floor was very flat so as to enable
-the boat to be turned quickly in order to dodge a sudden movement of
-the whale. The boat was about twenty-eight feet long, was equipped
-with one long steering oar and five rowing oars, and a sail which was
-occasionally used; also paddles were sometimes resorted to in order to
-avoid noise. In the bow of the boat two seven-foot harpoons were placed
-ready for use. A warp was securely fastened to them, and to this warp
-was secured, after the boat was lowered, a line of two or three hundred
-fathoms of the best manila two-thirds of an inch in diameter, and
-with a tensile strength of about three tons. It ran from the harpoons
-through a chock or groove in the bow to a coil in a depressed box near
-by, and then lengthwise along the boat to the stout loggerhead or post
-in the stern, around which it made a turn or two, and then went forward
-to the line tub near the tub oarsman. Its twelve or eighteen hundred
-feet of line were coiled in this tub, with every possible precaution
-to prevent fouling in the outrun. When the rope was coiled and the tub
-was covered, it was said to resemble a Christmas cake ready to present
-to the whales. The loggerhead was for snubbing and managing the line
-as it ran out. A spare line was carried in another tub. A boat was
-also supplied with extra harpoons, lances, spades, hatchet with which
-to cut the line if necessary, lanterns, box of food, keg of water, and
-compass, weighing, all complete, about twelve hundred pounds.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_040.jpg" width="600" height="425" alt="" />
-<div class="blockquote">
-<p class="indent">Fig. 1. The Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus).</p>
-<p class="indent">Fig. 2. The California Gray Whale (Rjachianectes glaucus).</p>
-<p class="indent">Fig. 3. The North Pacific Humpback (Megaptera versabilis).</p>
-<p class="indent">Fig. 4. The Sulphur Bottom (Sibbaldius sulfurens).</p>
-<p class="indent">Fig. 5. The Bowhead (Balaena mysticetus).</p>
-<p class="indent">Fig. 6. The Finback or Oregon Finner (Balaenoptera velifera).</p>
-<p class="indent">Fig. 7. The Pacific Right Whale (Balaena japonica).</p></div></div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 id="DIFFERENT_SPECIES_OF_WHALES_AND_THEIR_PRODUCTS"><span class="inblk">DIFFERENT SPECIES OF WHALES AND THEIR PRODUCTS</span></h2></div>
-
-<p>There are many different kinds of whales; namely, sperm whale, right
-whale, finback, humpback, razor-back, sulphur bottom whale, and the
-narwhal. The two former species are the more often sought after. The
-sperm whale was so called because it was the only kind that furnished
-sperm oil, which is a richer and more valuable fluid than the ordinary
-whale oil. This species was also called “cachalot.” It has one spout
-hole through which it blows vapor (not water as is generally supposed),
-which resembles one’s breath on a frosty morning; it has also about
-fifty teeth on the lower jaw which fit into sockets in the upper jaw,
-and very small eyes and ears. This kind of whale usually employed its
-mouth as a means of defence, whereas the right whale used its immense
-tail. A large-sized whale will yield about eighty barrels of oil, but
-they have been known to boil even larger amounts. Captain John Howland
-of New Bedford captured two whales which produced over four hundred
-barrels together. The tongue alone often produced twenty-five barrels.
-In order to attract the squid, or cuttle-fish, which is often lured
-by a shiny object from the dark recesses in the great depths of the
-ocean, the jaw and inner side of the Brobdingnagian mouth are lined
-with a silvery membrane of phosphorescent whiteness, which is probably
-the only thing the squid sees when the dark body of the whale is at
-the great depths to which it sometimes descends for food. Huge pieces
-of shark and hundreds of mackerel have been found in the stomach of a
-sperm whale, showing what a carnivorous animal the sperm whale is.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_042.jpg" width="600" height="382" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">A ship on the northwest coast “cutting in” her last
-right whale, showing the jaw with the whalebone being hauled on board.</p></div>
-
-<p>The right whale was so called because it was supposed to be the “right”
-whale to capture. It differs from the sperm whale chiefly from the fact
-that it has long strips of whalebone in its mouth which catch the small
-fish for food, the whalebone serving in place of the teeth of the other
-species. A right whale usually has about five or six hundred of these
-parallel strips, which weigh in all about one ton; they are over ten
-feet long, are fixed to its upper jaw, and hang down on each side of
-the tongue. These strips are fringed with hair, which hangs from the
-sides of the mouth and through which the whale strains the “brit,” on
-which a right whale feeds. The “brit” is a little reddish shrimp-shaped
-jellyfish which occurs in such quantities in various parts of the ocean
-that often the sea is red with them. With its mouth stretched open,
-resembling more than anything else a Venetian blind, a sulphur bottom
-or right whale scoops, at a speed of from four to six miles an hour,
-through the “brit” just under the surface and thus sifts in its search
-for food a tract fifteen feet wide and often over a quarter of a mile
-long. As the whale drives through the water much like a huge black
-scow, the sea foams through the slatted bone, packing the jellyfish
-upon the hair sieve. When it thinks it has a mouthful it raises the
-lower jaw and, keeping the lips apart, forces the great spongy tongue
-into the whalebone sieve. It then closes its lips, swallows the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span> catch
-and repeats until satiated. Another difference between the sperm and
-the right whale is that the latter has two spout holes instead of one.</p>
-
-<p>The sperm whale is found in the warm waters off the coasts of Chili,
-Peru, Japan, New Zealand, Madagascar, California, and Brazil; in the
-Caribbean, China, and Red Seas, in the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf;
-off the Azores, Java, Galapagos, Society, Sandwich, Fiji, and Samoan
-Islands; and off the Cape de Verdes. The right whale is found in the
-high latitudes of the Arctic Ocean, in Baffin’s Bay, in the Ochotsk
-Sea, near Tristan d’Acunha and the Desolation Islands, and in the Japan
-Sea. There were many other cruising grounds, but these were the most
-frequented.</p>
-
-<p>The finback is even longer than the other varieties, but whalers rarely
-attack it owing to the thickness of the blubber and also owing to
-the fact that it swims so fast that, to use a favorite expression of
-whalemen, it “will run the nails out of the bottom of the boat.”</p>
-
-<p>The “narwhal,” or nostril whale, has a horn five to ten feet long
-protruding forward from its jaw. This species is also spoken of as the
-“Unicorn.” Opinions differ as to the use of this horn; some think it is
-used as a rake to turn over its food at the bottom of the sea, others
-think it is employed as an ice-piercer, but the author of “Moby Dick”
-suggests that it would make an exceedingly good folder for it to use
-in reading pamphlets. In ancient times this narwhal’s tusk was used to
-detect poison in food and wine, the idea being prevalent that the tusk
-would be discolored if it came in contact with any poisonous substance.
-It is difficult in the present day to appreciate the wholesale fear of
-poison which existed up to quite modern times. This fear was so general
-and pressing that no one of any position dared to eat and drink without
-a previous assurance that what was set before him did not contain some
-poison. Some authorities vouch for the fact that the tusk was also used
-as salts for fainting women.</p>
-
-<p>The chief products of the fishery are sperm and whale oil, whalebone,
-and ambergris. Spermaceti, meaning a foot of “sperm oil,” was the most
-valuable and was found only in the sperm whale. This oil was formerly
-used chiefly in the manufacture of sperm candles, and at one time
-there were eight factories for the manufacture of these candles in New
-England, Nantucket alone turning out three hundred and eighty tons
-annually before the war. In the olden times this oil was considered
-a sure cure for almost any kind of disease and was worth its weight
-in silver. Shakespeare makes reference to it in these words—“The
-sovereign’st thing on earth was ’parmaceti for an inward bruise.” At
-present it is used chiefly in making refined oils for lubricating.</p>
-
-<p>Whale oil was procured from all the other varieties of whales, and
-was formerly used as an illuminant in the old “whale oil” lamps; it
-is used now to a certain extent in the tanning of leather and in the
-manufacture of soaps, but chiefly in making heavy lubricating oils.</p>
-
-<p>Whalebone has been the most important product of the whale fishery for
-a number of years, and in fact whaling would undoubtedly have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span> died
-out altogether had it not been for the discovery of its use in making
-women’s stays. Many a whaleman has lost his life in the endeavor to
-improve the female figure. It is a curious fact that fifty years or
-more ago this product was always thrown away as worthless. The value
-has gone down in the past few years on account of the invention of
-steel stays, which take the place of whalebone.</p>
-
-<p>The high and low prices of these three commodities are of interest.
-Sperm oil was $2.55 per gallon in 1866, and is 46 cents now. Whale oil
-was $1.45 per gallon in 1865, and is 26 cents now. Whalebone was $5.80
-per pound in 1904, 8 cents in 1809, and is $1.75 now.</p>
-
-<p>Ambergris, the rarest and most valuable of all the products, is a
-secretion from the intestines of the sperm whale and results from a
-disease. It is a very rare article and is worth almost its weight
-in gold, selling usually at $300 a pound. Its chief use is in the
-preparation of fine perfumeries. It is believed that the largest amount
-taken by one ship was brought back by the “Watchman” of Nantucket,
-which vessel found eight hundred pounds in 1858. Small amounts were
-sold every year in New Bedford even up to the year 1913. The Turks used
-it in cooking and also carried it to Mecca for the same purpose that
-frankincense is carried to St. Peter’s in Rome. Some wine merchants
-used to drop a little into their wine as a spice, and it was said that
-the Moors used it in green tea as a flavoring to present to their
-guests.</p>
-
-<p>The whale is used for food chiefly by the Japanese and Esquimaux, and a
-famous doctor belonging to the latter tribe some years ago recommended
-the blubber for infants. In fact, the whale would perhaps be considered
-a good dish were there not so much of him. Whale-meat is said by some
-to resemble boarding-house steak. In France, during the Middle Ages,
-the tongue was considered a great delicacy, and by some epicures the
-brains, mixed with flour, were much sought after.</p>
-
-<p>The largest income received by the whalers of America in any one year
-was in 1854, when they netted $10,802,594.20, although the record size
-of the fleet was attained eight years before. The five years from
-1853 to 1857 inclusive yielded a return of $51,063,659.59, the catch
-of each year selling for fifty per cent. of the total value of the
-whaling fleet. The total value of the cargoes from 1804 to 1876 was
-$331,947,480.51.</p>
-
-<p>Captain W. T. Walker, of New Bedford, is called the counting-house
-hero of the American Whale Fishery. He purchased in 1848 an old
-whaleship called the “Envoy” that was about to be broken up, and
-when ready for sea this ship stood the owner $8,000. He could get no
-insurance; nevertheless he “took a chance,” and after a three years’
-voyage he returned and had netted for himself the extraordinary sum
-of $138,450, or 1,630 per cent. The largest profit, however, was made
-by the “Pioneer” of New London, in 1865, the value of her cargo being
-$151,060. For a short voyage Frederick Fish, who has been mentioned
-before, holds the record for his ship the “Montreal,” which brought
-back a cargo worth over $36,000 after a voyage occupying only two
-months and fifteen days.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span></p>
-
-<p>There were many unprofitable voyages, and many were the ships that came
-home with barrels filled with salt water instead of oil for ballast.
-Some vessels, as whalemen say, didn’t have enough oil to grease their
-irons.</p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 id="METHODS_OF_CAPTURE_AND_TRYING_OUT"><span class="inblk">METHODS OF CAPTURE AND “TRYING OUT”</span></h2></div>
-
-<p><span class="small">“Whales has feelin’s as well as anybody. They don’t like to be
-stuck in the gizzards an’ hauled alongside, an’ cut in, an’ tried
-out in those here boilers no more’n I do!”</span></p>
-<p class="right small"><i>Barzy Macks’s Biology.</i></p>
-
-<p>When the lookout at the masthead shouts out “Thar she blows,” or
-“There she whitewaters,” the whaleboats are gotten out and rowed
-towards the whale, while signals from the ship show from time to time
-the whereabouts of the whales and directions for their pursuit. The
-first man to “raise oil”—an expression which means the first to see a
-whale—usually received a plug of tobacco or some other prize, and this
-made the lookouts more keen.</p>
-
-<p>In “Moby Dick” Melville says that the crew pulls to the refrain “A Dead
-Whale or a Stove Boat,” which became such well-known by-words among
-whalemen that when Mr. W. W. Crapo last year presented to New Bedford
-“The Whaleman” statue, they were inscribed upon it. When rowing in a
-rough sea the captain cautioned the men to trim the boat and not to
-“shift their tobacco.”</p>
-
-<p>As they approach the whale the bow oarsman, who is the harpooner,
-stands up at a signal from the captain of the boat, who is steering,
-and yells out to “give it to him.” The next order is probably to “stern
-all” in order to avoid the whale. The boat is probably now fast,
-and either the whale will sound and run out the line at a terrific
-rate or else he may race away dragging the boat after him, which
-whalemen call “A Nantucket Sleigh-Ride.” This kind of sleigh-ride was
-often at railroad speed and was perhaps one of the most exhilarating
-and exciting experiences in the line of sport. An empty boat would
-certainly capsize, but a whaleboat had six trained, strong, athletic
-men sitting on her thwarts, whose skill enabled them to sway their
-bodies to the motions of the boat so that she would keep an even keel,
-even though her speed might plough small valleys over the huge swells
-and across the broad troughs of an angry Pacific, and great billows of
-foam piled up at her bow while the water rushed past the stern like a
-mad whirlpool. The greatest care must be taken not to allow the line
-to get snarled up or to let a turn catch an arm or leg, for it would
-result in almost immediate death to the person thus entangled. Conan
-Doyle, who once took a trip on a whaler, tells of a man who was caught
-by the line and hauled overboard so suddenly that he was hardly seen to
-disappear. One of the men in the boat grabbed a knife to cut the line,
-whereupon another seaman shouted out, “Hold your hand, the whale’ll be
-a good present for the widow!”</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_046.jpg" width="600" height="318" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">No. 1. “The Chase.” A rare New Bedford print.</p></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_047.jpg" width="600" height="375" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">No. 2. “The Conflict,” showing ratchet in bow through
-which the line is run, and post in stern around which line is placed.</p></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_048.jpg" width="600" height="364" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">No. 3. “The Capture.” A whale will usually turn on its
-back when dying.</p></div>
-
-<p>There is one case known where a man who had been hauled down by the
-line had the presence of mind to get out his knife and cut the rope,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span>
-which allowed him to come to the surface more dead than alive; also
-occasionally the entangled arm or ankle would be torn off, thus freeing
-the man and allowing him to rise.</p>
-
-<p>Two harpoons were thrown if possible, and then it was customary for the
-harpooner to exchange places with the boat-steerer, who got ready his
-lance, which he plunged in and hauled out again until the whale went
-into his “flurry” and rolled over dead, or “fin out” as it was called.
-Often the whale would get frightened or “gallied,” or would jump in
-the air or “breach,” and therefore great care was taken to avoid his
-attacks. When the whale “breaches” the tail becomes very conspicuous,
-and one old salt used to say that an additional tail appeared after
-every glass of grog.</p>
-
-<p>Scoresby speaks of a whale which drew out from the different boats ten
-thousand four hundred and forty yards, or nearly six miles, of rope. It
-was necessary when the line of one boat was nearly exhausted to bend on
-the end to a new rope in another boat and so on, and of course often
-miles of rope and many harpoons would be lost if the whale escaped.
-When the line was drawn out rapidly it was necessary to pour water over
-the snub post to keep the rope from burning.</p>
-
-<p>There have been races almost as exciting as a Harvard-Yale race when
-the boats of different nations have been dashing for a whale, which is
-prized at between three thousand and four thousand dollars. Many years
-ago an English, a French, a Dutch, and an American ship lay becalmed
-in the Pacific, when suddenly a whale was “raised.” All four ships
-lowered and raced across the waters, with the American in the rear. In
-a few minutes the Yankee passed the Dutchman, who yelled “donner und
-blitzen!” The American captain encouraged his men by shouting “Thar
-she blows, she’s an eighty-barreler, break the oars, lads!” and soon
-the French were left astern with curses of “Le diable.” The Englishmen
-were still ahead; the American boat-steerer now began to help the
-stroke oarsman by pushing his oar, and their boat crept up slowly upon
-their only rivals. The English boat-steerer also grabbed his stroke’s
-oar, but it snapped off at the rowlock, and the Americans overtook
-them and captured the whale. Another international race took place
-in Delagoa Bay, which has become a classic among American whalemen.
-Again an English and a Yankee whaleboat were chasing a whale, and, in
-some manner, the former was able to cut in between the whale and the
-Americans, and as the English harpooner was reaching for his iron, the
-American harpooner “pitch-poled” his harpoon over the English boat, and
-his iron made fast.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_050_1.jpg" width="464" height="600" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">A “cutting” stage, showing blubber being stripped from
-the whale.</p></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_050_2.jpg" width="413" height="600" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Hauling the “case,” or head, on board. The case weighs
-sometimes as much as 30 tons.</p></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_050_3.jpg" width="464" height="600" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Cutting off the lower jaw of a sperm whale, showing the
-teeth.</p></div>
-
-<p>After a capture came the long, hard row back to the ship, then the
-tedious process of “cutting in” and “trying out.” First of all the
-head, or “case,” was cut off and tied astern while the strips of
-blubber were cut from the body and hauled on board, as next shown, by
-means of huge tackles from the mast. Blubber averages in thickness
-from twelve to eighteen inches, and if cut four and one-half inches
-thick would carpet a room sixty-six feet long by twenty-seven wide.
-Then the head was either bailed out, if it were a sperm whale, or
-else<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span> the whalebone was taken in, if it were a right whale. The strips
-or “blanket pieces” were then minced, and after boiling, the oil was
-cooled and stored away in barrels below deck. The “try-works” consisted
-of iron pots set in brick furnaces, and there were pans of water
-underneath to prevent the decks from burning. This process of boiling
-the oil was most irksome and disagreeable as the men were soaked in oil
-from head to foot, and the smell of the burning fluid was so frightful
-that it has often been alluded to as Hell on a large scale, and was
-usually called a “squantum,” which is the Nantucket word for a picnic;
-nevertheless, old whalers delighted in it.</p>
-
-<p>It is a superstition among some whalemen that a ship which for once has
-a sperm whale’s head on her starboard quarter, and a right whale’s on
-her port side, will never afterwards capsize.</p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 id="THE_PERILS_OF_WHALING"><span class="inblk">THE PERILS OF WHALING</span></h2></div>
-
-<p>Whalemen not only had to undergo the perils of the sea, but in addition
-ran the danger of being killed by the whale and of being attacked by
-savages at the ports where it was often necessary to land for food and
-water. Also in cases of accident the whaleship was usually off the
-regular cruise followed by the merchantmen and therefore less likely to
-be assisted by other vessels. Furthermore, the long voyages, poor food,
-and the many dangers of whaling induced many mutinies.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_052.jpg" width="600" height="432" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">A whale playing battledore and shuttlecock with a
-1200-pound whaleboat and six men.</p></div>
-
-<p>The worst massacre occurred on the “Awashonks,” of Falmouth, in 1835,
-near the Marshall Islands. The natives came on board in large numbers
-and seemed most friendly, when, on a given signal, they killed the
-captain and many of the crew. Finally the seamen laid a charge of
-dynamite under a hatchway where the savages were sitting, and blew most
-of them to pieces, the crew being then enabled to recapture the vessel.
-A few years later, when the “Sharon” of Fairhaven was cruising not far
-from Ascension Island, the crew lowered for a whale, and upon returning
-to the ship it was discovered that three of the “Kanaka” crew, recently
-engaged, had taken charge of the ship and had killed the captain. The
-first mate in the whaleboat did not dare attack, but the third mate,
-Benjamin Clough, who was only nineteen years old, swam to the ship in
-the darkness, climbed up the rudder, shot two of the mutineers, and had
-a hand-to-hand encounter with the third, who died soon afterwards. The
-first mate then returned on board. Clough was made captain of a ship
-immediately upon his return to Fairhaven. Still another mutiny took
-place on the ship “Junior” which sailed from New Bedford in 1857, most
-of the officers being killed. Plummer, the ringleader, wrote a story
-of the mutiny in the log book, which is now in the possession of the
-New Bedford Library, and the account was signed by the five mutineers
-in order to clear the rest of the men on board. The five murderers on
-sighting land lowered two whaleboats with all the plunder they could
-find and rowed ashore. The mutineers were subsequently captured and
-were brought in cages to Boston, where they were defended by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span> Benjamin
-F. Butler. Davis, the author of “Nimrod of the Sea,” mentions a quarrel
-on board the “Chelsea,” which ended by the men all signing a “round
-robin” to return to duty, and in order that no name should head the
-list the signatures were set down in a circle, like the spokes of a
-wheel, from which possibly comes the word “ringleader.”</p>
-
-<p>The most fearful mutiny happened on the “Globe” of Nantucket, in 1822.
-A boat-steerer called Comstock laid a plot which resulted in the death
-of all the officers of the ship, and those who were not killed outright
-were thrown overboard. Comstock then took charge of the ship, and
-stated that if any man disobeyed him, he would be put to death by being
-boiled in the “try-pots.” The ringleader was finally killed by some of
-the crew, and the ship brought into port.</p>
-
-<p>Captain Warrens, of the whaler “Greenland,” in 1775, told a most
-thrilling narrative, which shows the perils of Arctic whaling, and is
-the most weird and grewsome of all whaling yarns. While becalmed one
-day he sighted a vessel with rigging dismantled, and he immediately
-lowered and rowed over to her. Upon boarding the ship he found seated
-at the cabin table the corpse of a man. He held a pen in his hand, and
-the log book was on the table in front of him. The last entry was “Nov.
-14, 1762. We have now been enclosed in the ice seventeen days. The fire
-went out yesterday and our master has been trying ever since to kindle
-it again without success. His wife died this morning. There is no
-relief.” Other corpses were found in the cabin and a number of sailors
-in the forward part of the ship. The vessel had been frozen in the ice
-for thirteen years!</p>
-
-<p>There are many exciting accounts of accidents to whaleboats, and a
-few are worth mentioning. Captain Sparks, of the “Edward Lee” of
-Provincetown, in 1881, chased a whale and finally lost him. He and his
-crew endeavored to find his ship, but for some reason were unable to do
-so. The nearest land was one thousand miles away, and with no food or
-water the prospect was not very encouraging. For six days they sailed
-on, when by good fortune they killed a whale, and finally were picked
-up and brought to land.</p>
-
-<p>Another incident shows how a whale will sometimes fight. Captain Morse,
-of the “Hector” of New Bedford, had his boat attacked by a whale, which
-grabbed the bow in its mouth, shaking the crew and implements in all
-directions. The mate came to the rescue, and the whale at once started
-to chase his boat, snapping its jaws less than a foot behind the stern.
-The crew rowed desperately and succeeded in dodging its attacks, until
-finally the animal turned over to get more air, and a well-driven lance
-luckily killed it. The harpoons of the “Barclay” were found in it, and
-it was learned that this same whale had killed the “Barclay’s” captain
-only three days before. Another incident shows the fierceness of the
-attack of a fighting whale. The “Osceola 3rd,” of New Bedford, shot
-thirty-one bombs into a whale before it was killed.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_054.jpg" width="600" height="401" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">THE WHALE FISHERY “IN A FLURRY.”<br />
-A whale is often fond of eating whaleboats and men.</p></div>
-
-<p>Captain Davis, in “Nimrod of the Sea,” mentions an occurrence in
-which a whale attacked one of the men who had been hauled from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span>
-whaleboat. Then ensued a fight, and every time the monster swam for
-him he was obliged to dive. The mate rushed into the encounter with
-his boat and finally succeeded in killing the whale. Another captain
-described how the crew of his whaleboat was obliged to cling all night
-on the body of a dead whale until help came at daybreak. It happened
-to be Christmas evening, and the famished men obtained their Christmas
-dinner by digging from the back of the dead animal enough meat to
-satisfy their hunger. If a whaleboat were upset, and it was seen that
-the crew had something to hold on to in order to prevent going under,
-it was often a long time before the other boats rendered assistance,
-it being a truism among whalemen that whales were of much higher
-commercial value than men.</p>
-
-<p>Captain Hosmer, of the bark “Janet” of Westport (near New Bedford),
-met with a horrible experience off the coast of Peru in 1849. He had
-just secured a whale, and in towing it back to his ship his boat was
-capsized. He immediately displayed distress signals, and the “Janet”
-sailed towards the men who clung to the small boat, when suddenly, to
-his amazement and horror, the ship swung off and headed in another
-direction. They could see her sailing about searching for them, but
-were unable to attract her attention, and finally, as the distance
-between them increased, they set sail towards the nearest land, after
-bailing out their boat with difficulty, and having lost one man by
-drowning. The nearest coast was over one thousand miles away, and
-they had not a drop of water or a morsel of food. At the end of seven
-days lots were cast to decide who should be killed in order that the
-rest might live. Four more of the crew died, and after twenty days
-the two survivors landed on an island and were later picked up by the
-“Leonidas” of New Bedford.</p>
-
-<p>There are three cases known to history of a whale sinking a ship. The
-“Essex,” of Nantucket, was attacked by a huge whale in 1819, and twice
-did the animal make a rush at the ship, which became submerged in a few
-minutes. Owen Chase, the first mate, wrote an account of the accident
-and subsequent sufferings of the crew. Three whaleboats set sail for
-the Marquesas Islands. One boat was never heard from; another was
-picked up by an English brig with only three of the crew alive; and the
-third with only two survivors, having sailed over twenty-five hundred
-miles, was picked up by a Nantucket vessel, <i>three months</i> after the
-accident. Captain Pollard, who was in command of the “Essex” at this
-time, had previously been one of the crew on Fulton’s “Claremont” on
-his first trip up the Hudson. He survived the frightful experience, but
-nothing could induce him ever to refer to it. He finally abandoned the
-sea and became a police officer in Nantucket.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_056.jpg" width="600" height="411" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">The “Ann Alexander” of New Bedford.</p></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_057.jpg" width="600" height="412" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">The “Kathleen” of New Bedford sinking in mid-ocean,
-having been “stove” by a monster whale. Flags at the mastheads are
-signals for the three whaleboats to return.</p></div>
-
-<p>The “Ann Alexander” of New Bedford, which is shown in the next cut,
-met a similar fate in 1850, and the ship sank so quickly that only one
-day’s supplies were saved. With the horror of the “Essex” staring them
-in the face the crew set sail in the small boats, and with great good
-fortune in two days sighted the “Nantucket” and were taken<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span> on board.
-Five months after this incident the “Rebecca Sims,” of New Bedford,
-killed a whale, and to the great surprise of the crew, the irons of
-the “Ann Alexander” were discovered in its body, and there were also
-several pieces of the ship’s timber imbedded in its head.</p>
-
-<p>The latest of the three accidents happened to the bark “Kathleen” in
-the Atlantic Ocean in 1902, and the picture shows her about to sink
-after having been rammed by a whale. The three flags at the mastheads
-are signals to the three boats to return at once, but as each one
-was fast to a whale, they were loath to obey the signals. The whale
-showing its “flukes” at the right of the picture is the one that stove
-the hole in the vessel. The “Kathleen” also had a whale alongside,
-making four just captured. The accident meant a loss, not counting the
-vessel and oil on board, of ten to twelve thousand dollars. Captain
-Jenkins, who was in command, lowered with Mrs. Jenkins, a parrot, and
-nineteen of the crew, and with difficulty rowed to the other boats,
-which took in their share of the men from the captain’s over-crowded
-one. Captain Jenkins declares that the parrot, when removed from its
-home on the “Kathleen,” swore that “he would be damned if he’d ever
-go to sea again!” Three boat loads were discovered by a Glasgow ship,
-but the fourth had to sail over one thousand miles to the Barbadoes.
-Captain Jenkins is to-day living in South Dartmouth. He has written a
-small volume on the loss of his ship and is such a well-known whaleman
-that he was one of those who occupied the platform at the time of the
-unveiling of “The Whaleman” statue.</p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 id="THE_CATALPA_EXPEDITION"><span class="inblk">THE “CATALPA” EXPEDITION</span></h2></div>
-
-<p>While not primarily a whaling voyage, the “Catalpa” Expedition should
-be outlined in any account of whaling adventures.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_059.jpg" width="600" height="381" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Whaling-bark “Catalpa” of New Bedford rescuing prisoners
-from Australia in 1876; on the left is the police-boat racing to
-intercept the convicts in the rowboat, and on the right is the English
-armed cruiser “Georgette” coming to the assistance of the police. The
-prisoners barely escaped.</p></div>
-
-<p>A number of Irish subjects who had joined the Fenian conspiracy of 1866
-had been banished to Australia for life and were serving in the English
-penal colony at Freemantle. John Boyle O’Reilly had escaped with the
-aid of a whaleship and immediately began to form a plot to release
-his fellow prisoners. O’Reilly suggested a whaleship for the rescue,
-chiefly because it would create little suspicion, as whaleships were
-frequently seen off the coast of Australia. Captain H. C. Hathaway,
-who was the head of the night police force at New Bedford, was then
-consulted, and he recommended their approaching a certain George S.
-Anthony, a most successful whaler. Accordingly a meeting was held in
-a dark room, and Captain Anthony finally accepted the leadership of
-the expedition, probably not realizing fully the danger involved. The
-“Catalpa” was selected, and she sailed from New Bedford on April 29,
-1875, not even an officer sharing the secret with the brave commander.
-The ship actually captured whales and finally arrived off Bunbury on
-the coast of Australia. In the mean time a man called John J. Breslin,
-who used to be a freight agent in Boston, had gone to Australia with
-a fellow conspirator to arrange the land end of the scheme. On the
-day appointed Captain Anthony rowed ashore with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span> his crew, and with
-great difficulty Breslin and his six prisoners, who had escaped from
-their work in the woods, were placed on board the rowboat, which set
-out to sea to join the “Catalpa,” some miles off shore. A storm came
-up, but by good fortune and skilful seamanship, after a whole day
-and night, the “Catalpa” was sighted. At the same time the English
-cruiser “Georgette” was seen coming out of Freemantle in search of the
-refugees. By great luck for some reason she never noticed the small
-whaleboat and after questioning the “Catalpa” put back towards the
-shore. The rescued and rescuers rowed on and finally were observed by
-the men on the “Catalpa.” At the same time Captain Anthony noticed with
-horror that there was an armed guard boat almost as near the “Catalpa”
-as was his boat. It was a terrific race, but the whaleboat arrived a
-few seconds ahead and the occupants climbed on board; the officers
-had lost, and the prisoners were free. The rescued men knew their
-pursuers and, leaning over the rail of the “Catalpa,” wished them “Good
-morning,” and there was nothing for the officers to do but to answer
-them in the same tone. When the captain reached home he weighed one
-hundred and twenty-three pounds, having lost thirty-seven pounds on the
-voyage, through worry and excitement. The police of Western Australia
-endeavored to get these prisoners returned, but as their letter was
-addressed to the same Captain Hathaway who assisted the plotters of the
-expedition, there was not much help in this direction!</p>
-
-<p>It is a very curious fact that at the precise moment that Disraeli was
-telling the House of Lords that he would not release these prisoners
-they were free on the Yankee ship. Receptions were held in New Bedford
-and Boston in honor of Captain Anthony and the other rescuers, and the
-daring captain will always be a hero with the Irish people.</p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 id="DECLINE_OF_WHALING_AND_THE_CAUSES"><span class="inblk">DECLINE OF WHALING AND THE CAUSES</span></h2></div>
-
-<p>The first whaler to sail from San Francisco was the “Popmunnett” in
-the year 1850, and for thirty years after there were a few whaleships
-registered in this port. Steam whalers were introduced into the
-American fleet in 1880, when New Bedford sent out one, but it was
-the adoption of steam and the proximity to the Arctic that made San
-Francisco a whaling port at the time other places were giving up the
-pursuit. In 1893 there were thirty-three vessels enrolled there, many
-of which had been transferred from the Eastern cities. Since 1895
-Boston, New Bedford, Provincetown, and San Francisco have been the only
-places from which whalers have been regularly registered, and in 1903
-Boston recorded her last whaleship.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_061_1.jpg" width="600" height="464" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">A modern steam whaler in the act of shooting a harpoon
-gun.</p></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_061_2.jpg" width="600" height="475" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">The modern harpoon gun, showing line with which to hold
-the whale.</p></div>
-
-<p>There are a number of reasons for the decline of the whale fishery,
-but the chief factor was undoubtedly the introduction of kerosene.
-The opening of the first oil well in Pennsylvania sealed the fate of
-whaling. Henceforth sperm candles were used for ornament, and whale
-oil lamps soon became interesting relics. Other causes doubtless
-contributed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span> to this rapid decline; for instance, the financial crisis
-of 1857; the uncertainty of the business, especially since Arctic
-whaling was begun in 1848; the increased cost of fitting out the ships
-for longer voyages; and the California gold craze in 1849, when many
-crews and officers deserted. Also the rise of the cotton industry from
-about 1850 to 1875 in New Bedford drew a great deal of capital from
-the uncertain whale fishery to the more conservative investments in
-cotton mills, which were successful from the very start. As whaling
-died out the mills were built up, and it is owing to these same mills
-that the city was saved from becoming a deserted fishing village. Then
-later even the lubricating oils began to be made from the residuum of
-kerosene, and about the same time wax was invented for candles, which
-again robbed the whaling industry of another market for oil. Soon came
-the Civil War, in which many vessels were captured or destroyed, then
-followed the sinking of forty or more vessels of the Charleston Stone
-Fleet described elsewhere, and finally came the Arctic disasters of
-1871 and 1876, all of which hastened the end of the industry.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_062.jpg" width="600" height="401" alt="" />
-<p>Whale-meat in Japan awaiting shipment to market. It is
-sold to the poorer classes in all the large towns at prices which range
-from 7 to 8 cents a pound. One whale yields as much meat as a herd of
-100 cattle.</p></div>
-
-<div class="caption">
-<h2 id="WHALING_OF_TODAY"><span class="inblk">WHALING OF TO-DAY</span></h2></div>
-
-<p>Whaling will doubtless be carried on from San Francisco in a small way
-as long as there is any demand for whalebone, and from New Bedford
-and Provincetown while there is any market for sperm and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span> whale oil.
-Most of the Pacific steam whalers are now provided with a harpoon gun
-invented by Svend Foyn, a Norwegian. This gun is placed in the bow, and
-to the harpoon is attached a rope with which to play the whale, as one
-does a fish with a rod and reel, but there is little romance in this
-method of whaling.</p>
-
-<p>In modern whaling the flesh is made into guano and the bones and blood
-into fertilizer, and even the water in which the blubber has been
-“tried out” is used in making glue. The meat is to-day sold to Japan,
-and, if the weather is very cold and the supply of fish is limited, a
-whale might bring there as much as four thousand dollars by utilizing
-all the by-products as well as the meat, which is sometimes canned. In
-America a whale is now valued at about two hundred dollars, but, if the
-entire carcass is utilized, it might bring one thousand dollars.</p>
-
-<p>From the <i>Whalemen’s Shipping List</i>, still published in New Bedford,
-it can be figured that the total whaling fleet in America last year
-(1913) consisted of thirty-four vessels, twenty hailing from New
-Bedford, eleven from San Francisco, two from Provincetown, and one from
-Stamford, Conn. The Atlantic fleet, however, reported a total catch of
-over twenty thousand barrels of sperm oil and one thousand pounds of
-whalebone during the year 1913, which is a considerably larger amount
-than for the year previous.</p>
-
-<p>Whaling in stout wooden ships on the far seas of the East and the West
-is no longer carried on, for the glory and the profit of the industry
-have gone never to return. Substitute products have come in, and to-day
-the little whaling that is still done is along the coasts of the
-Antarctic and Arctic Oceans, off the shores of Western Africa, Northern
-Japan, New Zealand, California, and South America, and in the main it
-is carried on in stout iron steamers. Ere long the last whaleship will
-disappear from the sea and only the romance of a great industry will
-remain.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_063.jpg" width="550" height="195" alt="" />
-<p class="caption"><i>Corpora dum gaudent immania tollere Cęt&aelig;</i><br />
-<i>Sic varijs telis, varijs feriuntur aristis</i></p>
-
-<p class="caption">A very old picture of whale-killing in the 17th century.</p></div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="transnote"><p>Transcriber&#8217;s Note:</p>
-<p>The spelling, punctuation and hyphenation are as the original, except
-for apparent typographical errors, which have been corrected.</p></div>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
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