The Rise of American Whaling. 39 
they were restricted by the loss of their vessels. The 
story of Nantucket during the Revolution, as told by 
Macy, carries a powerful moral in the almost complete 
and helpless stagnation in a place where prosperity 
depended entirely on the success of a single industry. 
So great were the hardships, and so pressing was the 
need for whaling, as the only practicable means of 
gaining a livelihood, that in 1781 the British admiral 
at New York humanely granted the islanders permission 
to employ twenty-four vessels unmolested by the Eng- 
lish cruisers. Says Macy, ‘‘This privilege seemed to 
give new life to the people. It produced a considerable 
movement in business, but the resources of the island 
had been so diminished, that but a small number of 
vessels could take the benefit of these permits. Those 
who had vessels and were possessed of the means, fitted 
them out on short voyages, and had there been no 
hindrance it is probable that they would have done 
well; for the whales, having been unmolested for several 
years, had become numerous and were pretty easily 
caught.’’* But the vessels were interfered with by 
American privateers and several of them were taken 
and carried to port. In every case, however, they 
were quickly liberated when it was found that they had 
not been engaged in illicit trade. Again, in 1783, the 
Continental Congress granted permits for thirty-five 
vessels to engage in whaling,“ but there was hardly 
time to take advantage of the opportunity before the 
treaty was signed and the news of peace arrived in 
this country. 
Just as the fisheries had been an important issue in the 
days before hostilities began, so in the making of peace 
the settlement of the fisheries question was one of the 
main causes of contention. The Americans demanded 
the same freedom in fishing rights as had been enjoyed 
8 Macy, p. 120. 
*¢ Starbuck, p. 76. 
