CHAPTER IX. 
PRESENT STATUS AND FuTURE PROSPECTS. 
On January 1, 1906, the whaling fleet of the United 
States numbered forty-two vessels, with an aggregate 
tonnage of 9,878 tons. By way of comparison, the 
Nantucket fleet from 1771-1775 numbered 150 vessels, 
having a tonnage of 15,075 tons. The number of vessels 
at the beginning of the year was the same for the two 
years previous, but the tonnage figures represent the 
highest mark reached since January 1, 1900, when the 
figures for the fleet were forty-eight vessels, and aggregate 
tonnage 10,478. The increase in tonnage from 1905 to 
1906 was owing to the addition of new vessels, a 294- 
ton bark from Norwich, a 390-ton brig from New Bedford 
and a 180-ton schooner from San Francisco. While the 
three vessels lost or withdrawn aggregated only 270 tons. 
The most notable feature of the year was the reappear- 
ance of Norwich, Conn., as a whaling port after a lapse 
of seventy years. Since Boston dropped from the list 
in 1903 vessels had been registered only from the three 
ports, New Bedford, San Francisco and Provincetown. 
During the last thirty-five years the only other instances 
of a new port being added to the list were Stonington, 
-Conn., which sent one or two vessels yearly from 1878 
to 1893, and Hartford, Conn., which sent one vessel in 
1887. The Stonington case represented a lapse of 
seventeen years, while Hartford had never before been 
a whaling port. The Norwich instance is, therefore, 
noteworthy, but it means practically nothing as to the 
status of the whole industry. 
The main fleet, as in previous years, was divided among 
New Bedford with twenty-four vessels; San Francisco, 
