2l6 FOLLOW THE WHALE 



the sperm hunters had reached the Guinea coast by 1763 and in 1767 

 a fleet of fifty whalers actually made an experimental trip to the 

 Antarctic, a story which, it is to be hoped, will one day be told in 

 full. Then came the War of Independence, as it is called in British 

 history books, or, as it is otherwise known, the Revolution. 



Despite the tremendous historical significance of this affair and 

 the heritage of recrimination that it bequeathed to all subsequent 

 generations of English-speaking people, it was really neither a revo- 

 lution nor a war in the strict sense, but it was certainly more nearly 

 the latter than the former. It was a family quarrel and it retained 

 undertones of gentlemanhness that amounted almost to chivalry. For 

 instance, in what other war did the belligerents agree to allow a party 

 of the one part to carry on his business unmolested, and even permit 

 him to trade with a party of the second part? This, nevertheless, was 

 the strange arrangement that was reached regarding Nantucket. 



When the trouble first started, however, the British singled out the 

 whaling fleet for special attention and swooped upon it on the high 

 seas. Being unarmed and in many cases even unaware of the outbreak 

 of hostilities, the whalers succumbed, and their vessels were either 

 carried off as prizes, sunk, or burned. Nantucket suffered most se- 

 verely, and as her entire economy was by that time dependent upon 

 whaling, the plight of the island became desperate. The Nantucketers 

 appealed as Quakers to the Society of Friends on both sides, and 

 their desperate plea was recognized. In 1781 the British issued them 

 a permit for twenty-four whalers to proceed to the fishing, and two 

 years later Congress granted them the right to clear thirty-five ships. 

 Nevertheless, by the end of hostilities the business was completely 

 ruined and only three old ships were left on the island. 



Meanwhile, the mainland ports had fared little better, and the 

 colonial whaling industry was prostrate. Nor did the end of hostili- 

 ties bring an end to the whalers' woes, for Britain clamped a prohibi- 

 tive duty on whale oil, thus virtually closing the only overseas outlet 

 and making it necessary to market the whole of the proceeds of the 

 enterprise in the new republic, which offered a very limited demand. 

 Prices dropped precipitately, and had it not been for the Nantucket- 

 ers, driven by dire necessity, the whole industry might well have 

 died away. They, however, started to build ships again, and in the 

 meantime pressed smaller boats into service. They also agitated the 



