38 A History of the American Whale Fishery. 
of maintaining twenty families. From the only harbor 
which this sterile island contains, without natural pro- 
ducts of any sort, the inhabitants, by an astonishing 
industry, keep an 140 vessels in constant employment. 
Of these, eight were employed in the importation of 
provisions for the island and the rest in the whale 
fishery.’ It was this same measure which inspired 
Burke to his famous speech on ‘“‘Conciliation,”’ and one of 
his most eloquent passages is where he refers to the 
daring exploits of the American whalemen. 
The beginning of actual hostilities effectually put a 
stop to the whale fishery, except from Nantucket. Early 
in the war a few vessels were sent out from other ports, 
but the risks were so great that the business was quickly 
abandoned. With Nantucket, however, it was a case 
of necessity to keep up their whaling operations. The 
whale fishery was practically the only business available 
for them, for their constant following of this single pur- 
suit had kept them comparatively ignorant of any other 
way of gaining a living.* There were no other resources; 
the business had to be carried on or the island be depopu- 
lated; ‘‘starvation or removal were the only alternatives - 
of inaction.’”’ Some of the people did remove to New 
York, eventually establishing the whale fishery there, 
but most of them preferred to remain even in the face 
of great hardships. 
The history of whaling during the Revolution is merely 
a chronicle of a constant struggle against adverse con- 
ditions by the Nantucket islanders. Early in the war 
British ships made several forays along the New England 
coast, capturing and burning vessels and cargoes, and 
destroying other property at Nantucket, Martha’s Vine- 
yard, and Dartmouth. The question at Nantucket was 
not so much to make whaling profitable as it was to 
carry on the business at all in the limited way to which 
% Starbuck, p. 72. 
