42 THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN 



but for only two years during the period 1 847-1860 did the 

 annual statements of the Whalemen^s Shtppng List show less 

 than 600 vessels and 190,000 tons. And even in 1850, one 

 of the two lowest years, there were between 18,000 and 

 20,000 whalemen actually at sea.^ New Bedford kept up 

 her process of steady expansion, both absolutely and in pro- 

 portion to the other ports, until in 1857 she controlled prac- 

 tically one-half of the entire American industry — 329 of the 

 6S5 vessels, 10,000 of the 20,000 seamen, and $12,000,000 

 of the $20,000,000 to $25,000,000 invested capital.'^ 



Throughout these decades of ripening activity the economy 

 of the individual vessel underwent surprisingly little change. 

 The increased production of the fishery as a whole was se- 

 cured through a multiplication of vessels of the same type, 

 rather than through any essential improvements in rig, hull, 

 size, type of equipment, or methods of capture. Just before 

 the Civil War the average whaler was perhaps nearer 400 

 tons than 300 tons, and her crew had increased from about 26 

 men to about 30 men. There had been some tendency, too, 

 to favor the bark rig at the expense of the full square-rigged 

 ship. But from the standpoint of technology, methods pur- 

 sued, and equipment employed, there had been no important 

 change. In general, whaling craft and whaling gear remained 

 standardized J and, with the true conservatism of the sea, whal- 

 ing methods and whaling customs were neither lightly cast 

 aside nor readily improved. The whaler of i860 captured 

 her oil and bone and brought her cargo into port in much the 

 same manner as had her predecessor of 1830. In fact, in 

 many instances she was the selfsame vessel. For the life of 

 a whaler, heavily constructed out of irreproachable timber, 

 might well be a long one. 



Only two exceptions to this prevailing uniformity of method 

 and equipment attracted the professional attention of whale- 

 men. One was the recrudescence, during the forties and fif- 

 ties, of the boat-whaling which had flourished in the early 



" See the issues of the Whalemen's Shipping List for January of the appro- 

 priate years. 



^ Figures published in 1889 by Pease, Z. W., and Hough, G. A., in a booklet 

 entitled, "New Bedford, Massachusetts: Its History, Industry, Institutions, and 

 Attractions." 



