50 A History of the American Whale Fishery. 
Toward 1830, however, the generally prosperous condi- 
tions of the whaling interests began to be reflected in the 
larger number of ports from which vessels were regularly 
sent on whaling voyages year after year. Thus from 1830 
on, regular fleets were employed from Falmouth, Fall 
River, Lynn, Plymouth, and Salem, in Massachusetts; 
from Bristol and Warren, in Rhode Island; from Hudson, 
Greenport and Poughkeepsie, in New York; from Ports- 
mouth, New Hampshire; and from Stonington, Connecti- 
cut. From several of these ports the fishery had been 
carried on intermittently at different times for many 
years previous to 1830. By 1835 the number of ports 
had increased to nearly thirty, with fleets varying from 
two or three sail to nearly two hundred. In 1835, for ex- 
ample, the fleet from New Bedford and Fairhaven num- 
bered 178 vessels and in 1836 it was 208.8 In 1829 the 
combined total fleet was 203 sail, including ships, brigs 
and schooners. During the next five years the number 
more than doubled, there being 421 sail in the whaling 
fleet of 1834.° : 
The year 1835 marks the beginning of a period of 
almost phenomenal growth and prosperity in the whale 
fishery, the effects of which lasted for two decades—the 
culmination of the Golden Age of whaling. For a number 
of years previous to 1835 whaling had met with fairly uni- 
form success. New grounds where whales were very 
abundant had been successively opened. The industry 
had enjoyed settled and generally favorable conditions 
both at home and in foreign markets. Whalebone had 
eome to have an increasingly large use in various indus- 
tries and from being regarded as waste it was beginning 
to rank as an important product. The markets for oil 
were good, and in the years just previous to 1835 the 
prices had shown an upward tendency. Sperm oil was 
8 Starbuck, p. 702. 
® Hunt’s Magazine, XVI, p. go. 
