[5] NOTES ON THE WHALE FISHERY. 209 



Carrier, Capt. William Fitzgerald — all the captains hailing from Nan- 

 tucket. These ships went to the Pacific Ocean, and in due season re- 

 turned filled with sperm oil. From this beginning sprang quite a nu- 

 merous fleet of sperm whalers, which was maintained until the decline 

 of whaliug in 1850. 



As early as the year 1755 iSTew Bedford had a sloop or two engaged 

 in whaliug, and between that and 1765 two or three more were fitted 

 out from Dartmouth, as New Bedford was then called. In 1791 the ship 

 Rebecca, Captain Halsey, was sent into the Pacific. In 1795 the Eotches 

 and Kodmaus, having left their island home and selected New Bedford 

 as their future abiding place, employed a number of ships independent 

 of their French fishery ; but it was not until 1820 that the business as- 

 sumed any great proportions. In that year the whale fishery was taken 

 up and prosecuted with great spirit, the influx of new elements, both in 

 ownership and masters, not only from Nantucket, but every jjart of New 

 England, added greatly to the movement. After 1830 the great and 

 brilliant voyages of its Braganzas, Magnolias, George Howlands, Park- 

 ers, William Hamiltons, Emeralds, and Reindeers, gained in the Pacific 

 Ocean, gave to New Bedford a i)eriod of success, made it a tower of 

 streugth, and secured for its merchants a reputation not easily attained 

 at the present day. New Bedford still pursues the business with con- 

 siderable vigor in every part of the globe where it has been fouud re- 

 munerative. Fair Haven, opposite New Bedford, Westport, and Fall 

 River, have all come to number some of the finest shii)s in their fleets, 

 but, alas, all that spirit may be said to have gone into new channels, 

 more productive of success. Ichabod is written on the pillars of their 

 ports. 



Boston, in 1820, had her William Gray and Israel Thorndike, and 

 they fitted out for the Pacific Ocean the shijis Cadmus, Nathaniel C. 

 Gary, Beverly, Elias Suley, Hope, Jethro Cofiin, Palladium, Alexander 

 Macy, all the captains being Nantucket men. These ships all filled with 

 sperm oil and returned to Boston. Oil commanding but 33 cents* a 

 gallon, the owners became discouraged and sold the ships. The Bev- 

 erly was sold into the merchant service, and was burned at sea, off Per- 

 nambuco on a voyage to Peru with a valuable cargo, in 1826. The rest 

 of the fleet were whalers for many years after. But few other whale 

 ships have since been fitted at Boston, hardly enough to make mention 

 of, with the exception perhaps of the Herald and Charles Carroll, fitted 

 in 1833. 



Salem, Plymouth, Newburyport, Mass., Portsmouth, N. H., and Wis- 



* Sperm oil has since been sold as high as $2.40 a gallon. The oil of the ships above 

 mentioned was ijurchased here at Nantucket by Aaron Mitchell, and from its sale to 

 another firm, Messrs. Gardner & Swift, of this place, grew up the great lawsuit in 

 1826, known as the "Gardner and Swift case." Hon. Daniel Webster was retained by 

 the Quaker in this and all other business where said Gardner was a party, receiving 

 for his services a fee of $10,000. The old Quaker employed Mr. Webster in two ship 

 cases then in litigation at Nantucket with insurance ofdces. ' 



S. Mis. 46 14 



