The Rise of American Whaling. 37 
The colonial whale fishery in 1774, says Starbuck,” 
‘‘must have been in the full tide of success. There were 
probably fitted out annually at this time no less than 
360 vessels of various kinds, with an aggregate burden 
of 33,000 tons.” Of these at least 300 sail belonged to 
Massachusetts ports, according to the figures given in 
Jefferson’s report.” The rest were distributed among 
the different ports in Rhode Island, Connecticut and 
New York. The great superiority of Massachusetts 
towns in owning five-sixths of the total fleet is an inter- 
esting parallel to similar conditions three-quarters of a 
century later. 
Before the war there was thrift and happiness every- 
where in the American whaling world, but the approach- 
ing hostilities very early cast a shadow over the pros- 
perity of the fisheries in general. They were the first 
industry to feel the effects of the imminent war, for one 
of the first steps taken by England to repress the colonies 
was directed against the fishing interests of New England. 
Massachusetts was regarded as the hotbed of the revolu- 
tionary spirit, and that colony was also the center of 
the fishing industries. Hence, in 1775, “to starve New 
England,’’ Parliament passed the famous act restricting 
colonial trade to British ports, and placing an embargo 
on fishing on the Banks of Newfoundland or on any other 
part of the North American coast. 
Macy, quoting from a protest to Parliament against 
the passage of this bill, gives an excellent picture of the 
conditions in Nantucket at that time :* 
“The case of the inhabitants of Nantucket was par- 
ticularly hard. This extraordinary people, amounting to 
between 5,000 and 6,000 in number, nine-tenths of whom 
are Quakers, inhabit a barren island fifteen miles long by 
three broad, the products of which were scarcely capable 
Starbuck, p. 57. 
. © See Table IX, in Appendix I. 
SA Macy,.p: 82. 
