WHALING IN THE COLONIES 31 



would have seemed to indicate. But the smaller fleets of the 

 eighteenth century, restricting their activities to the North 

 Atlantic, possessed neither the numbers nor the world-girdling 

 range of activities required for the effective cancellation of 

 gains and losses within a given season. Consequently the 

 price of oil fluctuated widely and unpredictably, as is indi- 

 cated by the random figures which chance to be available: ^ 



1772 to 1775, £44 to 45 



The risks and difficulties which beset the fishery, however, 

 were not sufficient to halt its steady growth; and progress and 

 expansion were particularly marked during the decade pre- 

 ceding the outbreak of the Revolution. Under the Grenville 

 Ministry England finally gave up the long and disappointing 

 struggle to force the British whalers into successful compe- 

 tition with the Dutch. The duty on whale products from 

 the colonies and the bounty on British whalers were removed 

 at the same time, and every encouragement was given to the 

 industry in North America. This action at once stimulated 

 the technique and scope of colonial whaling operations. Im- 

 proved methods and types of equipment were carried to the 

 point of increased efficiency, and larger and more seaworthy 

 vessels visited fresh and more distant whaling grounds to 

 meet the steadily enlarging demand. 



The best picture of the state of the industry just before 



8 No complete price statistics for this early period are available. These 

 figures, coming at irregular intervals, have been taken from three independent 

 sources, viz., Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, Series i, Volume 

 III, p. 161; Macy, Obed, "History of Nantucket," p. 54; and Scammon, C. M., 

 "Marine Mammals of the Northwestern Coast," p. 206. The prices are in 

 English terms of pounds sterling per tun of eight barrels, rather than the 

 later American terms of dollars per barrel or cents per gallon. 



