ea A History of the American Whale Fishery. 
venture, if ever tried, probably amounted to little, since 
there is no further reference to whaling until many 
years later. It seems probable, however, as Starbuck 
asserts" that the first really organized prosecution of the 
whale fishery by Americans was made by the settlers 
at the eastern end of Long Island. Howell” states 
that the town of Southampton, on the southern shore 
of Long Island, was founded in 1640 as an offshoot 
from the colony at Lynn, Mass., and that almost from 
the very first the settlers recognized the possibilities of 
deriving revenue from the taking of whales. Accord- 
ingly, in 1644, the town was divided into four wards 
of eleven persons each, whose duty it was to attend to 
all drift whales cast ashore in their ward. Whenever 
a whale was secured, it was customary to select by lot 
two persons from each ward to cut it up. Every inhab- 
itant was to share equally in the division, except the 
cutters, who had a double portion for their labor. This 
cooperative industry may be regarded as the direct 
ancestor of the famous system of a “‘lay’”’ or share of the 
catch in vogue over a century later. 
That the practice of taking only drift whales cast 
ashore soon gave place to active pursuit of whales and 
killing from boats is shown by a number of old records. 
Thus, in 1672, the towns of Easthampton, Southampton 
and Southwold, at the eastern end of Long Island, in a 
memorial to the court at Whitehall, N. Y., stated that 
they had “‘spent much time and pains . . . in settling the 
trade of whale fishing in the adjacent seas, having 
endeavored in it above these twenty years past.’’™ 
According to this statement boat whaling must have 
commenced as early as 1650. In 1668 several inhabitants 
of Easthampton formed a company and entered into 
an agreement ‘“‘binding certain Indians to go to sea 
1 Starbuck, p. 9. 
1 Howell: History of Southampton, p. 179-180 
Starbuck, p. 11. 
