78 A History of the American Whale Fishery. 
duration, and often did not return to port for months at a 
time. If they did return to port the lying idle there was 
little better than risking capture by Southern privateers. . 
The Atlantic whalers felt the effects of war very early in 
the struggle, Southern privateers capturing vessels as 
early as 1862. The feeling of the whalemen toward the 
Southern depredations is illustrated in a quotation from 
the ‘‘Shipping List,” for January 13, 1863. Inthe annual 
review for 1862 it says ‘That Southern pirate, Semmes, 
has already made frightful havoc with whaling vessels, 
and his piratical ship—the Alabarna—threatens to be- 
come the scourge of the seas.’’ These operations were 
carried on throughout the war, especially by the famous 
Alabama and the Shenandoah. The latter entered Ber- 
ing Sea late in the war, captured and burned twenty-five 
vessels, mainly large ships, and took four others for pur- 
poses of transportation.* No less than fifty whaling 
vessels were captured or destroyed during the war— 
more than half of which were owned by New Bedford 
merchants. Many other vessels were sold—forty to the 
government for the famous Charleston stone fleet—and 
others were transferred to the merchant marine. On 
January 1, 1861, the whaling fleet had numbered 514 
vessels with an aggregate tonnage of 158,745 tons. Five 
years later, January 1, 1866, there were 263 vessels with a 
tonnage of 68,535 tons—a decline of almost 50 per cent 
in the number of vessels and of over 60 per cent in the 
tonnage. At least half of this decline was the direct 
result of the war. 
At the end of the war the depleted stocks of whale 
products, and the prevailing high prices greatly aided in 
reviving the industry. Vessels that had been lying idle 
at the wharves were again fitted and sent out, while some 
new ships were added to the fleet. It seemed as if 
prosperity would once more smile on the industry, but 
18 Pease, p. 31. 
