A BRIEF 



HISTORY OF WHALING, 



WITH SOME OF ITS INTERESTING DETAILS. 



CHAPTER I. 



Whale Fishery. — Its Origin. — Where first carried on. — By whom. — 

 Whaling in the Northern Ocean by the Dutch and English. — Contentions 

 between them. — The Success of the Dutch. — Its Commencement in New 

 England. — " London Documents." — The first Whale Scene in Nantucket. 



— Boat Whaling. — The Number of Whales taken in one Day. — The 

 first Spermaceti Whale. — The Interest it excited. — Its supposed Value. 



— The first Sperm Whale captured. — New Life to the Business. — Whal- 

 ing in Massachusetts in 1771-75. — Burke's Eulogy on New England 

 Whalers. — Sperm Whaling in Great Britain. — Revived in France. — The 

 American and French Revolutions nearly destroyed the Business. — Loss 

 to Nantucket. — Its Commencement in New Bedford. — Tabular View of 

 the Number of Vessels engaged in Whaling, and Places to which they 

 belong. 



" No species of fishery, prosecuted any where on the surface 

 of the ocean, can compare in intensity of interest with the 

 whale fishery. The magnitude of the object of the chase, and 

 the perilous character of the seas which it frequents in all cli- 

 mates and latitudes, are features which prominently distin- 

 guish the whale fishery from all similar pursuits, and which 

 invest the details of its history with the strong charm insepa- 

 rable from pictures and verities of stirring exertion, privation, 

 16 (241) . 



