38 THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN 



were particularly active during the period of threatened hos- 

 tilities between France and America in 1 798-1 799, when they 

 seized a number of Nantucket whaling vessels for which no 

 proper indemnity was ever paid. The British, not to be out- 

 done in domineering conduct upon the high seas, extended 

 their peculiarly insolent policy of search and impressment j 

 and when opportunity offered they impressed whalemen as 

 well as merchant seamen. With the turn of the century came 

 some slackening in such depredations. But men-of-war, pri- 

 vateers, and full-fledged pirates continued to menace the seas 

 for another decade and more. 



In spite of losses and annoyances, however, the industry 

 displayed signs of vitality and moderate prosperity. Sperm 

 oil and spermaceti candles had routed the tallow candles of 

 the Revolution throughout American polite society j and as 

 a result the domestic demand was large and growing. Nan- 

 tucket, which always manifested a strong liking for the sperm 

 fishery, became even more than formerly the whaling center 

 of the United States. By 1807 the island had a fleet of 120 

 vessels, some of which were making voyages of ten to thirty 

 months. Eleven were whaling off the coast of Brazil, eleven 

 more were near the Cape of Good Hope, eighteen were in 

 the Pacific, and one had ventured as far away as the coast of 

 New Holland (Australia). Other ports were also active, 

 though on a smaller scale. New explorations were carrying 

 the whalers from both island and mainland ever farther and 

 farther afield. Before 1805 whales had been pursued in the 

 high latitudes of the South Pacific and South Indian Oceans, 

 in the vicinity of the Molucca Islands, and off the coast of 

 antipodal New Zealand. 



Then came the Embargo, which again eclipsed the fortunes 

 of the whalemen. Returning vessels, instead of being dis- 

 charged, overhauled, provisioned, and sent back to sea within 

 a few weeks, remained restless at anchor or tied up to their 

 wharves for indefinite periods. And the work of destruction 

 begun by the Embargo was completed by the War of 18 12. 

 Many of the American whalers in the Pacific were captured 

 either by the British or by Chilean and Peruvian pirates, who 

 had become greatly emboldened Sy the wartime conditions. 



