HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN WHALE FISHERY. 19 



C— 1700 TO 1750. 



NANTUCKET ; LONG ISLAND ; CAPE COD ; SALEM ; BOSTON ; RHODE 

 ISLAND ; MARTHA'S VINEYARD, ETC. 



Immediately after the commencement of the eighteenth century the 

 town of Sherburne, * on the island of Nantucket, advanced rapidly to 

 the front rank among whaling ports. So plentiful was their prey almost 

 at their very doors, as it were, that nodifiiculty was at first experienced 

 by the islanders in obtaining all the oil they desired without going out 

 of sight of land. "The south side of the island," says a writer,t "was 

 divided into four equal parts, and each part was assigned to a company 

 of six, which, though thus separated, still carried on their business in 

 common. In the middle of this distance" (of about three and a half 

 miles to each division) "they erected a mast, provided with a sufficient 

 number of rounds, and near it they built a temporary hut where five of 

 the associates lived, whilst the sixth from his high station carefully 

 looked tow^ard the sea, in order to observe the spouting of whales." 

 When one was seen, the boats were launched and the chase commenced. 

 Sometimes, in pleasant weather, the whalemen w'ould venture nearly 

 out of sight of land. A capture once made, the whale was towed ashore 

 and the blubber "saved" after the manner of cutting in on board a ves- 

 sel. Try-works were erected on the beach, and the blubber, after being 

 cut up and sliced, was subjected to the process of "trying out." These 

 try- works were used for many years after exclusive shore-fishing had 

 ceased, the blubber of the wbales captured at sea being cut up into 

 square pieces and stowed into casks on board of the vessels. On the 

 return home this product was removed to the try-houses and the oil 

 extracted. This was substantially the method of carrying on the fishery 

 all along the coast. As the natural consequence of long-continued 

 practice, the inhabitants of Nantucket soon acquired great dexterity in 

 the pursuit. Says St. John : "These people are become superior to any 

 other whalemen."! In this business many Indians were employed, each 

 boat's crew being manned in part, some wholly, by aborigines, the most 

 active among them being promoted to steersmen, and even at times one 

 of them being allowed to command a boat. Under the stimulus of this 



* So called prior to 1795 ; since then better known as Nantucket. 



t Letters from an American farmer, J. Hector St. John Crevecceur. Within the past 

 twenty five years, when whales were seen oft" Southampton, the alarm was sounded by 

 means of a horn and boats were hastily manned in pursuit, and to tlie present day 

 boats and whaling craft are kept in readiness to start in pursuit of whales at a 

 moment's warning. 



t J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur. "Letters of an American Farmer." (Published 

 1782.) It is a somewhat disputed question whether St. John ever visited Nantucket 

 or not. If he never did, his description of customs, &c., is remarkably accurate for 

 hearsay evidence. 



