BEARINGS II 



reasons, however, certain ports clung tenaciously to various 

 specialized branches of the industry. Throughout her history 

 Nantucket maintained a stubborn preference for sperm oil, and 

 unwisely assisted in shortening her whaling career by so do- 

 ing. New London and Stonington found their greatest suc- 

 cesses in the Antarctic, where they hunted the sea-elephant as 

 well as the right whale. Sag Harbor remained true to north- 

 ern right whaling, in spite of the higher price of sperm oil. 

 Provincetown, with her small, light vessels, known in the jar- 

 gon of the trade as "plum-pud'ners," never ventured beyond 

 the confines of the Atlantic. New Bedford, on the other 

 hand, laid the foundations for her prosperity through a canny 

 discernment of the shifting possibilities of the industry, and a 

 willingness to send her vessels wherever the greatest profits 

 were to be had. 



With the exception of the small vessels and short cruises 

 of the Provincetown fleet, however, the important activities 

 in the various branches of the industry were essentially similar. 

 All were characterized by long voyages of ten to fifty months, 

 made in ships or barks ranging in size from 200 to 500 tons. 

 Generally the sperm whalers, like their prey, roamed all the 

 seas of the world, while right whalers were more likely to re- 

 strict their cruising radius to the North Atlantic or the North 

 Pacific. But there were many exceptions in which the latter 

 sailed as many nautical miles as the former. 



There was, too, a superb seamanship and a consummate skill 

 in the handling of whaling vessels which caused them to suffer 

 far less than merchantmen from stress of weather. Navi- 

 gating expertness was to be expected, of course, on the part 

 of men who spent year after year in their floating prisons with 

 only brief and infrequent furloughs on land. But the relative 

 freedom from serious loss is to be explained also by the con- 

 struction of the vessels and the manner of sailing them. 

 Speed was of little importance. In bad weather sail was short- 

 ened in ample time, and on the whaling grounds was taken in 

 every night. The whaling functions proper, separate and 

 distinct from the ordinary duties of seamen, required that all 

 whalers be heavily manned j and this surplus man-power 

 proved a great asset in all times of emergency. Whaling ves- 



