42 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



remained on the bottom some two or three days, when they floated on the surface, and as they 

 were liable to come up in the night or during rugged weather, when the whalemen were not on 

 hand to take care of them, many drifted out to sea, and were lost or picked up by Gloucester fish- 

 ing vessels and towed to that port. A few were brought to Provincetown by these vessels, with 

 whom the proceeds for the oil were divided. There were brought in and landed at Jonathan 

 Cook's oil works on Long Point 38 whales, from which the blubber was stripped and the oil 

 extracted. Two other whales brought in were sold to parties who tcok them away for exhibi- 

 tion, one to Boston and the other to New York. 



"Early in June immense quantities of sand-eels (Ammodytes) came n our harbor and bay and 

 remained several days. About the 10th of June there appeared plenty of whales feeding on the 

 sand-eels. They were again attacked "by our men, when a number of them were killed in a few 

 days, and ten were saved and landed at the oil works. Probably as many more that were not killed 

 outright received their death wound, went out of the bay, soon after died, and were lost. 



" The forty-eight whales delivered at the oil works yielded about 950 barrels of oil, that sold 

 at an average price of 40 cents per gallon. 



" When the first whales were killed it was supposed the whalebone in their mouths was worth- 

 less, and it was not saved; but subsequently some was saved and sold at 15 cents per pound. The 

 average quantity of bone in each whale is about 250 pounds. Probably the bone of thirty-five 

 whales has been saved, making an aggregate of 8,750. 



"No whales have come in of late; our men are still anxiously looking for another school, 

 hoping they will come again and give them another benefit. 



" Total for the season's work : 



48 whales, 29,925 gallons of oil, at 40 cents $11,970 00 



1 whale, sold for exhibit in Boston 350 00 



1 whale, sold for exhibit in New York 405 00 



8,750 pounds of whalebone from thirty-five whales, at 15 cents 1, 312 50 



14,037 50 



"Besides the whales saved and taken to Provincetown, many of those lost by our whalers 

 were towed into other places ; others have drifted on shore at different points. We hear of four 

 being towed into Gloucester, three into Boston, one to Newburyport, one to Cape Porpoise, one 

 Portland, one Mount Desert ; two drifted ashore at Scituate, two at Barnstable, one at Brewster, 

 one at Orleans, two at Wellfleet, one on the back of Cape Cod ; one was stripped of its blubber 

 at sea by a fishing vessel, that sold it in Boston. The entire catch from March to July was 

 probably one hundred whales, of which number nearly all were killed by Provincetown whalers. 

 Three of these whales were humpbacks ; the rest were of the finback species." 



In the fall of 1S80 a finback whale about 50 feet long was killed in Cape Cod Bay, and towed to 

 Boston, where it was sold to an enterprising Yankee, who, after realizing quite a profit by exhibit- 

 ing it in Boston, conceived the idea of transporting it to Chicago for exhibition. It was accordingly 

 carefully cleaned and loaded upon a large platform car. Salt and ice were freely used for its 

 preservation. It reached Chicago, and was shown to the public as one of the wonders of the deep. 

 The enterprising exhibitor made several thousand dollars by this venture. 



The following graphic description of whaling in Massachusetts Bay in 1881 was written for a 

 Boston newspaper : 



" The denizens of Cape Cod have always been an amphibious population, largely taking their 

 living from, and making their fortunes upon, the waters of the oceans of the world. Especially is 

 this the case with the people of the lower half of the ' Right Arm,' who are fishers indeed, the 



