40 THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN 



Master, discovered the great Off-Shore Grounds, including 

 hundreds of square miles in mid-Pacific. Two years later 

 another Nantucket vessel, the ship MarOy followed hard upon 

 the heels of the English Syren in opening up the prolific 

 Japan Ground. And in 1823 the Swan^ likewise flying the 

 house-flag of the great English firm of Enderby, found ex- 

 cellent hunting on the Seychelles Islands Grounds, stretching 

 from Madagascar to the Persian Gulf. 



But these more distant grounds gave up their rich harvests 

 only after exacting a heavy price in the form of longer and 

 longer voyages. And such voyages demanded larger and 

 stauncher vessels, with more width of beam and greater cargo 

 capacity. Not only was it essential to carry provisions and 

 equipment for many consecutive months: it was equally nec- 

 essary to have space in which to stow away the captured oil 

 and bone. Consequently ships and barks of 200 tons to 500 

 tons, carrying three or four whaleboats and crews of thirty 

 men or more, rapidly supplanted the smaller schooners and 

 brigs. Only in the short-voyage Atlantic fishery were the 

 latter able to hold their own. The typical American whaler 

 now rounded out the list of characteristics which were to dis- 

 tinguish her for the next half-century — the boats swung con- 

 spicuously from heavy wooden davits, the square lines (mer- 

 chant seamen insisted derisively that whaling vessels were 

 built by the mile and sawed off in the desired lengths), the 

 large crew, the men at the mast-heads, the brick try-works on 

 deck, the smoke-blackened sails, and the equipment for cut- 

 ting-in and trying-out. 



On these foundations the superstructure of expansion was 

 quickly erected. By 1821 Nantucket had more than regained 

 her pre-war position j and by 1825 every whaling port along 

 the coast of New England, Long Island, and Martha's Vine- 

 yard was in the full flush of strenuous activity. The demand 

 for whaling products was again increasing, and this time at 

 an accelerated rate. The United States was entering upon a 

 period of unexampled prosperity which enabled a growing 

 percentage of its citizens to use the superior but relatively 

 high-priced spermaceti candles. After the removal of Napo- 

 leon to St. Helena, the European markets recovered their 



