248 HISTORY AND DETAILS OF WHALING. 



others emulated the example of that monarch ; so that, before 

 the French revolution, that nation had forty ships in the 

 service. 



" The revolutionary war of the American colonies, and the 

 wars of the French revolution, nearly destroyed this flourish- 

 ing branch of marine enterprise in both countries. Just pre- 

 vious to the war, Massachusetts employed in this service three 

 hundred vessels and four thousand seamen, about half of whom 

 were from Nantucket alone. During that war, fifteen vessels 

 belonging to this island were lost at sea, and one hundred and 

 thirty-four were captured by the enemy. The loss of life in 

 prison ships and elsewhere, and the immense loss of property, 

 show that Nantucket paid as dearly in the struggle for liberty 

 as any portion of our country. 



"It was not until the year 1792, many years after the com- 

 mencement of the enterprise in Nantucket, Cape Cod, Mar- 

 tha's Vineyard, and other places on the sound, that the atten- 

 tion of the people of New Bedford was turned towards the 

 whale fishery." * 



From this date until the present time, no permanent ob- 

 struction, with the exception of the war of 1812-1815, has 

 occurred to impede the gradual and increasing interest given 

 to this enterprise, and which now assumes commanding com- 

 mercial importance, and develops unrivaled energy in its 

 prosecution. 



The number of vessels in this country employed in the whale 

 fishery far exceeds that of all others engaged in the same 

 pursuit. 



The following tabular view will present to the reader the 

 number and class of vessels engaged in the whale fishery, 

 belonging to their respective places in the United States, as 

 reported in the " Whaleman's Shipping List and Merchant's 

 Transcript" for October, 1856 : — 



* Christian Review, vol. xii. 



