208 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [4] 



Barnes. All of the ships came home full in 1808, the first with 900 

 barrels of whale oil, the second with 1,000, and the third with 1,200. 

 They were then sold to other ports and not much more was done until 

 1821, when they commenced anew by fitting out the shij) Carrier, 

 Obed Swain, of Nantucket, for the Pacific Ocean. She returned in 

 1823 with 2,074 barrels of sperm oil, having been absent twenty-eight 

 months. From this date the merchants of New Loudon put forth all 

 their energies and the town became the third whaling port in the United 

 States, and it may be proud of its record in the pnrsuit and develop- 

 ment of this branch of national industry, as well as of its opulent mer- 

 chants and capitalists, among w^hom are the Barnes, Browns, Billings, 

 Lawrences, Smiths, Hovens, Perkins, Debones, Funks, Fitches, Will- 

 iams, Hanus, and many others. 



The ship Thames, Capt. Eeuben Clasby, of Nantucket, sailed in Oc- 

 tober, 1822, from New Haven for the Pacific Ocean, having on board 

 the first missionaries for the Sandwich Islands. Revs. Mr. Bingham, 

 Williams, Charles Stewart, and others, with their wives. They landed 

 at Oahu and Lapina in May, 1823. The ship Helena, Capt. Naiah 

 Cofiin, of Nantucket, also sailed from New Haven for the Pacific. 

 Both ships came home with full cargoes of sperm oil from the coast of 

 Japan, but oil was worth only 38 cents per gallon and the ships were 

 sold to Sag Harbor. Stonington, Mystic, and Bridgeport came along 

 with a successful fleet of whalers, all of which have made quite as big- 

 claims as any of the older peoi)les in this service. 



New York, Hudson, Cold Spring, and Greenport have had their day 

 at New Zealand, Falkland Islands, and the Northwest coast. Pough- 

 keepsie, and Wilmington on the Delaware, have had their trials in the 

 game, but of comparatively recent date, and soon abandoned it. 



In 1820 Warren, R, L, fitted out the new ship Rosalie, Capt. David 

 Easton, of Nantucket. This ship was followed by some of the finest 

 that could be built or bought out of the China or cotton trade, until it 

 was but little behind her neighbors in Connecticut. Bristol followed 

 in 1827, with the Ganges, purchased in Boston, and the Bowditch, a 

 Boston East Indiaman, both ships being commanded by Nantucket 

 men. The Leonidas, Captain Lawton, came immediately after, and 

 large sperm w hale voyages were obtained by all these ships. Then 

 were added the famed Corinthian, and the Bah\nce, and James De- 

 wolf's teak ship, General Jackson. The Balance and General Jackson 

 were captured in the war of 1812, and the latter renamed for the hero 

 of New Orleans. She was one hundred and fifty years old when retired 

 from service, the other ninety years old. 



Providence, R. I., merchants added a few ships to the sperm whaling 

 grounds, and also to the Arctic fleet, among them tlie Liverpool packet 

 ship South America, the s])leiulid ship Brntus, »S;c. 



In 1820 Newport, R. I., fitted out her first, whale ships, Frederick 

 Augustus, Capt. Joseph Earl ; Robinson Potter, ('apt. Reuben Swain ; 



1 



