OLD WHALING DAYS. 201 



King William IV., instituted an Act for the registering of 

 British vessels,' 



" Thomas Ward, merchant, and William Ward, merchant, 

 both of the Town and Borough of Kingston-upon-Hull, 

 having made and subscribed the declaration required by the 

 said Act, and having declared that they are sole Owners in 

 the proportions specified on the back hereof, of the ship or 

 vessel called the Truelove, of Hull, which is of the burden 

 of 296!^ tons, and whereof John Parker is Master, and that 

 the said ship or vessel was built in Philadephia, in North 

 America, in the year 1764, as appears by the Certificate of 

 Registry granted at this port the igth of March, 1831, No. 

 1 6, now delivered up and cancelled." 



By the ship's papers it appears that James Gleadow, tide 

 surveyor at the Port of Hull, certified the following as the 

 dimensions of the barque : 



" One deck, three masts, length from main stem to stern 

 post, 96 feet ; breadth at the broadest part above the main- 

 wales, 27 feet J-inch ; depth of hold, 16 feet, 2 inches ; 

 square rigged, standing bowsprit, squared sterned, carvel 

 built, no galleries, no figure head." 



A ship called the Harmony, belonging to Hull, com- 

 manded by Captain J. Parker, was very much damaged by 

 the ice. Being full of whales, he had her rounded with 

 chains, and in that condition brought her safely home, 

 which caused her to be frequently spoken of as the Old 

 Harmony in Chains, to distinguish her from another vessel 

 of the same name. 



Dr. Scoresby, in his History of the Northern Whale 

 Fishery, says, " The first attempt made by the English to 

 capture the whale, of which we have any account, was 

 in the year 1594." 



