HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN WHALE FISHERY. 23 



Hathaway master, in 1731. These losses were a serious matter for a 

 small whaliu^-port, where nearly all the inhabitants were related by 

 birth or marriage. In the year 1742 still another sloop, commanded by 

 Daniel Paddack, was lost while on a whaling- voyage, with all on board. 



An increase in the business brought with it an increase in the number 

 and size of the vessels employed. Schooners were added, and the size of 

 the vessels increased to between 40 and 50 tons. Whales began to 

 grow scarce in the vicinify of the shore, and still larger vessels were 

 put into the service and sent to the "southward" as it was termed, 

 cruising on that ground till about the first of July, when they returned, 

 refitted, and cruised to the eastward of the Grand Bank during the re- 

 mainder of the whaling season, unless, as was often the case, they filled 

 sooner. Vessels for this service were generally " sloops of 60 or 70 tons ; 

 their crews were made up, in part, of Indians,"* there being generally 

 from four to eight natives to each vessel. 



But the time came when Nantucket did not furnish men enough to 

 man the whaling-vessels which the islanders desired to fit out, and Cape 

 Cod, and even Long Island, were called in to supply the deficiency of 

 seamen. It naturally occurred that, with the limited colonial demaud, 

 the business became at times overdone, the market glutted, and what 

 oil was sold was disposed of at too low a price to be as remunerative as 

 the islanders thought it should be. The people began to think of another 

 market. For a series of years they had made Boston their factor, sell- 

 ing there their oil-and drawing from thence their supplies.t Probably 



period named at least nine vessels Avith their crews had been lost, and these facts must 

 have been well known to him. There is on file at the State-bouse in Boston (Domestic 

 Relations, vol. 1, p. 181), a petition to the general court from Dinah Coffin, of Nantucket, 

 setting forth that "her Husband, Elisha Coffin did on the Twenty .^Seventh Day of 

 April Annoq Dom : 1722 Sail from sd Island of Nantucket in a sloop : on a whaling 

 trip intending to return in a month or six weeks at most. And Instantly a hard & 

 dismall Storm followed; which in all probability Swallowed him and those with him 

 up : for they were never heard of." She prays that she may now (1724) be allowed to 

 marry again. 



* Zaccheus Macy writes (Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., iii, p. 157), " It happened once, when 

 there were about thirty boats about six miles from the shore, that the wind came 

 round to the northward, and blew with great violence, attended with snow. The men 

 all rowed hard, but made but little headway. In one of the boats were four Indians 

 and two white men. An old Indian in the head of the boat, perceiving that the crew 

 began to be disheartened, spake out loud in his own tongue and said, ' Momadlch- 

 cliatw auqiia sarshkee sarnke-e pinchee eynoo sememoochkee chaqitaiiks wihchee pinchee eynoo;' 

 which in English is, 'Pull ahead with courage; do not be disheartened; we shall not 

 be lost now; there are too many Englishmen to be lost now.' His speaking in this 

 manner gave the crew new courage. They soon perceived that they made headway ; 

 and after long rowing they all got safe on shore." In 1744 a Nantucket Indian struck 

 a blackfish, and was caught by a foul line and carried down and drowned. — (Boston 

 News-Letter.) 



T It would be inferred that the shipment made in 1720 did not prove entirely satis- 

 factory. The Boston News-Letter reports that Captain Churchman arrived at Ports- 

 mouth, Eng., December 8, 1729, from New England for Loudon, with a cargo of log- 

 wood and oil. 



