72 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



tice bad made them familiar with it, aad a singleness of pursuit bad 

 kept them comparatively ignorant of any other occupation. But the 

 great problem was how to carry it on, eveu in the limited way to which, 

 by the destruction of their vessels, they were restricted. If they sailed 

 under American protection, the English captured and destroyed their 

 vessels and imprisoned their men; if they cleared with the sanction of 

 English safeguards, the Americans performed for them the same kindly 

 ofiQces. Between the upper and the nether millstones of war tbey were 

 quite ground to powder. In their extremity they learned that the En- 

 glish were inclined to be lenient toward them in the matter, and they 

 had quite reliable assurance that the leading men of the American Gov- 

 ernment looked compassionately upon the distressed situation of the 

 unfortunate islanders. 



Influenced by these considerations, the inhabitants sent Timothy 

 Folger, esq., to New York, to represent the condition they were in, and 

 solicit permission to carry on whaling without danger of capture from 

 British cruisers. They asked permits for twenty fishing-boats to fish 

 around the island, for four vessels to be employed in the whale-fishery, 

 for ten small vessels to supply the inhabitants with wood, and for one 

 to go to New York for some few supplies not obtainable elsewhere.* 

 Their petition was not so successful as they had wished. 



In 1781 Admiral Digby succeeded Admiral Arbuthnot in the com- 

 mand of the English fleet in these waters, and permission to whale was 

 asked of him,t and permits were issued for twenty-four vessels to pur- 

 sue the business unmolested by English armed cruisers.^ "This privi- 



*Macy, 113. 



tMr. Macy gives ns to anderetand that no permits were granted, bnt this must bo an 

 error; for Mr. Rotch (vide MS.), wbo was one of the committee the sucoeediug year 

 to obtain grants from the English, mentions an accusation made by Commodore 

 Affleck, of abuse of confidence in regard to the permits which were granted the year 

 hefore, and that scarcely a vessel could be found but had one of these documents. To 

 this Mr. Rotch replied: "Commodore Affleck, thou hast been greatly imposed upon in 

 this matter. I defy Capt. to make such a declaration to my face. Those Per- 

 mits were put into my hands. I delivered them, taking receipts for each, to be returned 

 to me at the end of the voyage, and an obligation that no transfer should be made or 

 copies given. I received back all the Permits except two before I left home, and should 

 probably have received those two on the day that I sailed. Now if any duplicity has 

 been practiced, I am the person who is accountable, and I am here to take the punish- 

 ment such pertidy deserves." Mr. Rotch's character as a man and a merchant stood too 

 high to be questioned, and the commodore, who a moment before was so violent, be- 

 came more genial, and replied, "You deserve favor," and assisted Mr. Rotch to obtain 

 it. The termination of this difficulty is but one example of the manner in which all 

 these slanders, from both English and Americans, were dispoEed of when the accused 

 could have an opportunity of confronting the accusers or those in authority. 



t The following is a copy of one of these permits, from Macy, ij. 115 : 

 " [l. s.] By Robert Digby, Esquire, Rear Admiral of the Red, and Commander-in-chief, 



&c., &c. 



" Permission is hereby given to the Dolphin brig, burthen sixty tons, Walter Folger 

 owner, navigated by Gilbert Folger as master and the twelve seamen named in the 



