go A History of the American Whale Fishery. 
New Bedford; oftentimes he was acquainted, either per- 
sonally or through report, with the social standing or busi- 
ness qualifications of every man on his vessel; and also 
that he remembers the first foreigner—an Irishman—that 
shipped with him, the circumstance being commented 
on at that time as a remarkable one.” The Spanish, 
Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, English, Scotch, 
Irish, in fact men of almost every country in Europe, 
from Africa and Asia, from the Sandwich Islands, from: 
New Zealand and other Pacific islands, were to be found 
in the whaling fleet during the days of its greatest pros- 
perity. After the development of deep-sea whaling the 
vessels made a quite general practice of touching at the 
Azores or Cape Verde Islands to obtain supplies and 
complete their crews, if full crews had not been shipped 
at the home port.® 
The great variety of nationalities represented in the 
fleet gave the whaling ports, and especially New Bedford, 
a foreign air, for more or less of the foreigners were in 
port the greater part of the time. In fact a part of 
New Bedford near the south end of Water Street became 
known locally as Fayal, from the large number of Portu- 
guese, from that and other ports, living in the vicinity. 
Even at the present day the mere casual observer on the 
street can not fail to notice the unmistakable sturdy 
figure and swarthy skin of the “Western Islanders,” 
making an important element in the population. 
It is still true that the Americans in the whaling fleet 
are generally the officers, while the crews are made up of 
the different nationalities of foreigners. So great has 
been the change in the industry where once “New Eng- 
land’s best sons were trained.”’ 
Sometimes the men in the crew have been paid regular 
wages at so much per month, but the more common 
37 Goode, p. 220. 
38 Scammon, note, p. 255. 
3 Ricketson, p. 55. 
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