170 ALLEN: NEW ENGLAND WHALEBONE WHALES. 



was allowed on every barrel of whale oil and one shilling on every pound of whalebone. The 

 efTect of this act is not apparent. 



Whaling in Connecticut. — That whaling was begun or contemplated on the Connecticut 

 shores shortly previous to 1650, is evidenced by a minute in the Colonial Records, (Public 

 Records of Conn., 1850, vol. 1, p. 154), showing that the General Court at Hartford, on May 

 25, 1647, resolved that "Yf Mr. Whiting w*^ any others shall make tryall and p''secute a de- 

 signe for the takeing of Whale, w^'^in these Ubertyes, and if vppon tryall w^'^in the terme of 

 two yeares, they shall like to goe on, noe others shalbe suffered to interrupt them, for tearnie 

 of seauen yeares." 



This method of granting monopolies, we are informed, was the customary mode of encour- 

 aging enterprise at that early day.^ Of Mr. Whiting's project, however, nothing further is 

 known. It is probable, nevertheless, that whales frequently came into the eastern end of 

 Long Island Sound, and there can be little doubt that the settlers on that part of the Connecti- 

 cut sea board engaged at times in their pursuit. Caulkins ^ notes the mention of "a whale- 

 boat" in an enumeration of goods at New London before the end of the seventeenth century. 

 The same author quotes an old memorandum of January 13, 1717: "Comfort Davis hath 

 hired my whale boat to go a whaling to Fisher's Island, till the 20th of next month, to pay 

 twenty shillings for her hire, and if he stays longer, thirty shillings. If she be lost, and they 

 get nothing, he is to pay me £3, but if they get a fish, £3, 10s." It is to be inferred that the 

 expectation was not for a very large catch — "if they get a fish," the owner of the boat seems 

 to think they shall have done as much as could reasonably be expected. 



Probably Right Whales did not penetrate far into the Sound, but came now and then to 

 its eastern end. Although Stonington and New London at about the middle of the nineteenth 

 century became important whaling ports, their vessels of course cruised far from the home 

 waters. No doubt local whaling declined here as elsewhere in eastern New England in the 

 latter half of the seventeenth century. Linsley mentions that just previous to 1842 a school 

 of Right Whales appeared in the waters off Stonington, whither one of them was later brought, 

 while a second was killed by whalers from Montauk, Long Island. This would indicate that 

 boats were still kept in readiness for the occasional appearance of the whales, but the industry 

 had long since ceased to have local importance. 



Yield of Oil and Baleen. 



According to CoUett (1909, p. 95) the amount of first quality oil yielded by this species 

 varied from ten to thirty barrels in case of those captured of late years among the Hebrides. 

 These amounts seem small, however, in comparison with those elsewhere recorded, which 

 probably include the total amount of oil obtained. 



1 Caulkins, F. M. History of New London, Conn., 1852, p. 638. 



