34 A History of the American Whale Fishery. 
must be attributed to it.” In addition to the advan- 
tage of usually profitable markets, the colonial whalemen 
could benefit from a royal bounty provided for by an 
act of Parliament in 1748. The bounty amounted to 
twenty shillings per ton, but in order to receive it the 
vessels must be built and fitted in the colonies and must 
remain in Davis Straits or vicinity from May until August, 
unless they met with accident or secured a full cargo 
before that date." It does not appear, however, that 
the bounty had any marked effect on the colonial in- 
dustry either in increasing the tonnage employed or in 
adding to the Davis Straits fleet. 
In 1755 the colonial whalemen were greatly restricted 
by an embargo laid on the ‘“‘Banks’’ fishermen, during 
the preparations for the expedition against Nova Scotia, 
though, as Starbuck says,” “‘the risk of capture by French 
drivateers was so great that it of itself must have quite 
effectively embargoed many of them.” The embargo 
was continued in 1757 in spite of the fact that in the 
previous year the colonists had been subject to a duty 
for the support of a frigate to defend the Banks fishery. 
This same year, 1757, however, the people of Nan- 
tucket were given permission to pursue their whaling 
voyages, as the result of a petition to the Massachusetts 
general court. One of the main reasons for granting 
their request was that ‘“‘their livelihood entirely depends 
on the whale fishery.’ 
When the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Straits of Belle 
Isle were opened to the colonial fishermen in 1761, the 
whalemen very quickly took advantage of the oppor- 
tunity to share in the wealth of that fishery. But their 
hopes of good profits were not realized, for in the same 
year Parliament not only levied a duty on imports of 
whale products from the colonies, but also prohibited 
*! Starbuck, p. 37. 
© Starbuck, p. 38. 
8 Starbuck, p. 30. 
