FROM DOLDRUMS TO STU'N'S'LS 35 



Finally, in 178 1, the English Admiral Digby was prevailed 

 upon to grant special permits which would allow twenty-four 

 whalers to make voyages without molestation. Not until 

 1783, however, when too late to be of much practical benefit, 

 were similar permits for thirty-five vessels secured from the 

 Continental Congress. 



In the meantime the war had proved ruinous. In 1784 

 Nantucket found herself with only twenty-eight whalers fit 

 for sea — and many of those had been repaired after the 

 close of hostilities. No less than 134 of her vessels had been 

 captured by the British, and 15 more had gone down at sea. 

 Some 1200 of her seamen had been lost and captured 5 and 

 in a total white population of 4,269, comprising about 800 

 families, there were 202 widows. 



All captured whalemen were given a choice between serv- 

 ing on a man-of-war and on a whaler. Because of the un- 

 speakable conditions then existing on men-of-war, the choice 

 was universally in favor of the latter j and in consequence 

 England was enabled to use her prisoners of war to man a 

 whaling fleet of respectable proportions. This fleet operated 

 mainly off the east coast of South America j and in view of 

 the peculiar character of the crews and of the distance from 

 a main base during wartime, the success attained must have 

 been unusually gratifying to the captors. John Adams, in 

 writing to the Council of Massachusetts in September, 1779, 

 recommended that an American naval vessel be commissioned 

 to destroy these enemy whalers and to recapture their crews. 

 Unfortunately, however, his advice went unheeded.^ 



After the conclusion of peace every effort was made to re- 

 pair the shattered fortunes of the industry. Massachusetts 

 granted a bounty of five pounds sterling per tun on white 

 spermaceti oil, sixty shillings per tun on brown or yellow 

 sperm oil, and forty shillings per tun on whale oil, provided 

 these products were landed in a Massachusetts port by vessels 

 which were owned and manned by residents of the state. But 

 the optimistic expectations aroused by this act were destined 



^ The best accounts of whaling during the Revolution are to be found in 

 Macy, O., "History of Nantucket," and in Starbuck, A., "History of the Amer- 

 ican Whale Fishery." 



