The Golden Era of Whaling. 49 
impetus which it had needed. New life was given to the 
business and the ascendency of whaling prosperity was 
fairly begun. 
The Nantucket fleet had numbered only twenty-three 
sail at the close of the war in 1815.5 By 1819, however, 
there were sixty-one ships and brigs employed,® and by 
1821 the fleet had increased to eighty-four.’ The success 
of the fishery from Nantucket was an important factor 
in stimulating the industry at other ports. For over a 
century Nantucket had been the leader in the realm of 
whaling ventures. When the Nantucket fishermen made 
profitable voyages, merchants from other ports were quick 
to follow their example. In fact the whale fishery, per- 
haps more than any other industry, was at all times easily 
stimulated and easily depressed. This period was no ex- 
ception to the rule. For two or three years about 1820 
there were over a score of ports sending out whale ships 
more or less regularly, mainly from Southern New Eng- 
land and New York points. Other places entered the 
field during the years following, though from many of 
them the fishery was carried on intermittently for some 
time. Nantucket and New Bedford far outranked all 
other places in the magnitude of their whaling interests. 
While Fairhaven; New London, Sag Harbor and West- 
port were employing gradually increasing fleets each year. 
Between 1820 and 1835 was an uneventful period in 
the whaling business, marked mainly by stable conditions 
and by steady but gradual growth. In 1820 the Pacific 
whaling was extended to the coast of Japan, and within 
the next few years the whalers were going to all parts of 
the South Pacific and Indian Oceans. There were hardly 
a half dozen ports from which whaling was regularly 
pursued in 1820. During the early twenties the num- 
ber of important whaling ports was not greatly increased. 
5 Macy, p. 205. | 
® Macy, p. 209. 
‘Macy, p, 2254 
