36 A History of the American Whale Fishery. 
In 1767 the report was circulated in the colonies that 
the irksome restrictions on whaling were to be removed 
entirely. Early in the spring of 1768, therefore, there 
was increased activity in the whaling fleet, and vessels 
again visited Davis Straits. During the year Nan- 
tucket sent out eighty vessels averaging seventy-five 
tons burden and “probably as many more from Cape 
Cod, Dartmouth, Boston, Providence, Newport, Warren, 
etc., most of them to the northern fishery.’’*” This year 
marked the beginning of the unprecedented prosperity 
that whaling interests enjoyed during the years imme- 
diately previous to the Revolution. 
Macy, in writing of this period in Nantucket, says :* 
“The employment of so great and such an increasing 
capital may lead our readers to suppose that a corre- 
sponding profit was realized, but a careful examination 
of the circumstances under which the business was 
carried on will show the fallacy of such a conclusion. 
Many branches of labor were conducted by those who 
were immediately interested in the voyages. The 
young men, with few exceptions, were brought up to 
some trade necessary to the business. The ropemaker, 
the cooper, the blacksmith, the carpenter, in fine, the 
workmen were either the shipowners or their house- 
holds; so were often the officers and men who navigated 
the vessels and killed the whales. While a ship was at 
sea, the owners at home were busily employed in the 
manufacture of casks, iron work, cordage, blocks and 
other articles for the succeeding voyage. Thus the 
profits of the labor were enjoyed by those interested in 
the fishery, and voyages were rendered advantageous, 
even when the oil obtained was barely sufficient to pay 
for the outfits, estimating the labor as part thereof. This 
mode of conducting the business was universal . y 
57 Starbuck, p. 50. 
8 Macy, p. 233. 
