FROM DOLDRUMS TO STU'N'S'LS 47 



was New Bedford during the forties and fifties, when her 

 favorite industry was plunging ahead full sail, with stu'n's'ls 

 set and "every stitch of canvas drawing." Like her, too, 

 though in smaller degree, were the other whaling ports. 



Every branch of the fishery was in full career: full sail 

 was everywhere the order of the day. And it is this period 

 of maximum activity which must serve to characterize both 

 the best and the worst in American whaling. These mid-cen- 

 tury decades drew into themselves the heart and essence of 

 the whaleman's calling. All preceding whaling was but prep- 

 aration and launching: all later hunting was only aftermath 

 and derelict. 



