WHALE-LAND AND ITS CUSTOMS. 129 



Government, wishing to block the ports of 

 Savannah and Charleston and several less impor- 

 tant entries to southern harbors, decided upon 

 the novel plan of sinking a large number of 

 abandoned, stone-laden vessels in these ports. 

 The whaler, because of its peculiar model, was 

 especially adapted to this purpose, and twenty- 

 four of the forty-five crafts which formed the 

 Stone Fleet were bought and refitted at New 

 Bedford. Fifty cents a ton was offered for 

 stone, and many a wall was torn down, and many 

 a cobblestone heap and roadside accumulation 

 levelled to furnish forth the necessary weightings. 



The whalers were from three hundred to four 

 hundred tons burthen, and were always built of 

 the best material. A fair price for such a ship 

 was about $22,000, and her three years' outfit 

 cost about $20,000 more. Besides all the neces- 

 sary provisions for officers and men, there were 

 added casks for the oil, spare sails, cordage, 

 and boats. 



Such a vessel carried about thirty-two men. 



America is at present more actively engaged 

 in whale fishery than any other country, San 

 Francisco being one of its most important ports. 

 The whale is now sought almost exclusively for 

 the bone, for which no adequate substitute has 



