NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALE. 159 



but. two small whales. By February of the same year, the whalers at Yarmouth had taken 

 but one large whale, the baleen of which was eight or nine feet long. That spring, in order 

 to make up for this loss, a dozen vessels, carrying most of the men of Provincetown fitted out 

 for the fishery in Davis Straits. The following year was hardly more productive: for the 

 entire season's catch at Cape Cod was six small whales and one large one at Provincetown, 

 and two small ones at Sandwich. As a result, "many of the people of Provincetown were 



in straitened circumstances and nuicli distressed Many of them were without money or 



provisions. 



A note in the Boston Post Boy of February, 1739, confirms these statements: "We have 

 advice from Province-Town on Cape Cod, that the whaling season is now over with them, 

 in which there has been taken in that Harbor six small whales and one of a larger size about 

 six foot bone: beside which 'tis said two small whales have been killed at Sandwich which 

 is all that has been done in that business in the whole Bay. 'Tis added, that seven or eight 

 families in Province-Town, among whom are the principal inhabitants, design to remove .... 

 to Casco Bay in the spring" — as a result, we may infer, of the failure of the whale fishery. 



That so large a proportion of the whales caught at this time were small, is a fact of nuich 

 interest, and probably indicates that the adults had been nearly extirpated, for the largest 

 whales are ever the ones most keenly sought. The destruction of the adults of coiu'se pre- 

 vented a normal increase, and the small animals, too, were hardly allowed to reach maturity. 



It seems likely that right-v.hahng was practically abandoned at Cape Cod by 1750. Doug- 

 lass, in 1749, wrote of whales, that "formerly Cape Cod embayed them, but being much dis- 

 turbed. . . .they kept a good offing." He seems to have accepted the notion then prevalent, 

 that the animals had simply sought other waters. He speaks also of a whale, stranded back 

 of Cape Cod, that yielded 134 l^arrels of oil and a proportionate weight of lione. "This whale 

 was so fat that some poor people tried the muscular flesh, and made 30 bis. of oil." ' On 

 February 10, 1755, at Truro, the appearance of a whale in the bay was sufficient to call out the 

 greater part of the male population, so that it became necessary to adjourn until the following 

 day, a town meeting called to hear and act on the reply of a Rev. Caleb Upham, called to that 

 Parish." In 1757, the town of Eastham "chose a committee to prosecute the Harwich people 

 for carrying on the whale fishery at Billingsgate," ■' so that it is clear that the local industry 

 was still surviving at this date. But since there is certain evidence that Humpback Whales 

 were then pursued in those waters, it is unsafe to conjecture how far the Right Whale was 

 therein concerned. It further appears that in 1763 Billingsgate was incorporated with Wellfleet 

 and it was agreed that the two towns should equally enjoy the privileges of whaling and 



1 Freeman, F. History of Cape Cod, 1862, vol. 2, p. 623. 



- Freeman, F. History of Cape Cod, 1S62, vol. 2, p. 558. 



' Pratt, E. History of Eastham, Wellfleet, and Orleans, 1844, p. 70. 



