42 A History of the American Whale Fishery. 
the towns, and certificates from the selectmen stating 
kind and quantity of oil, and place where landed, were 
required in order to secure the bounty. 
The bounty was passed mainly to help the inhabitants 
of Nantucket in firmly re-establishing their one valuable 
industry. But in reality the working of the bounty was 
far less desirable than it had appeared. As a result of 
several years of doing without oil the use of tallow 
candles had become quite general among the people. 
There was also little demand for oil for lighting streets in 
towns or for lighthouses.” In short the demand for 
whale products was greatly limited, while at the same 
time the bounty gave an unnatural stimulation to the 
industry. Over-production was the result, and the 
hopes of advanced profits were only slightly realized. 
Scammon states that by 1787-1789 there were only 122 
vessels engaged in whaling from Massachusetts ports.” 
Dartmouth and New Bedford had fifty, Nantucket 
thirty-six and various Cape Cod towns, but mainly 
Wellfleet, had sixteen. In 1775 these same three impor- 
tant towns had had fleets of 80, 150 and 30 sails respec- 
tively. Starbuck, however, gives no record of vessels 
sailing from any Cape Cod town from 1786 until 1794. 
Hence it seems likely that Scammon has included many 
small craft not engaged in making regular voyages. If 
so, the contrast with pre-Revolutionary conditions is 
still more marked. 
The conditions of limited market and low prices were 
so unfavorable that some of the Nantucket whalemen 
went to Nova Scotia, settling the whaling town of Dart- 
mouth, opposite Halifax, under inducements from the 
English. Some accepted an offer of the French king to 
carry on a whaling business from Dunkirk. And still 
others, selling their vessels, abandoned a business in which 
they could see no hope of betterment.” 
™ Starbuck, p. 87. 
7 Scammon, p. 209. 
8 Starbuck, pp. 88-go. 
