WHALE FISHERY OF NEW ENGLAND 25 



on Johnny Cake Hill where regular Sunday services were held, at which 

 the following hymn was always sung by the congregation : 



"The ribs and terrors of the whale 



Arched over me in dismal gloom, 

 While all God's sun-lit waves rolled by 

 And left me deepening down to doom. 



"I saw the opening maw of hell, 



With endless pains and sorrows there; 

 Which none but they that feel can tell 

 Oh, I was plunging to despair 



"In black distress I called to God, 



When I could scarce believe him mine, 

 He bowed his ear to my complaints 

 No more the whale did me confine." 



The pulpit of this chapel was made to represent the prow of a whale- 

 ship, and was ascended by means of a rope ladder, which the minister, 

 who had been a harpooner in his youth, hauled up after him. Around 

 the walls of this little church can still be seen tablets erected in memory 

 of many whalemen who lost their lives at sea. There also was a daily 

 paper called The Whaleman, which gave the reports of the whaleships 

 and the whaling news. It has been said that New Bedford fathers 

 gave whales for dowers to their daughters, and that they had reservoirs 

 of oil in their attics to burn on gala occasions. 



It is a curious fact that three Morgans not long ago married three 

 Rotchs, three Rotchs married three Rodmans, and three Rodmans 

 married three Motleys. Among other well-known New Bedford whaling 

 families are the Hathaways, Swifts, Rowlands, Morgans, Stones, 

 Delanos, Rodmans, Seaburys, Giffords, Tabers, Grinnells, and Wings. 



Whaling was a tremendous financial gamble, and until a vessel came 

 home "clean" or "greasy," meaning empty or full, the success of the 

 voyage was not known. They tell a story of a New Bedford captain 

 who had been out for nearly four years, and as he came up to the wharf 

 the owners asked him what luck he had had. His reply was, "I didn't 

 get any whales, but I had a damn good sail." There is another tale 

 of a seaman whose vessel left New Bedford on the day of his mother's 

 funeral. Naturally he set sail with a heavy heart, and during his three 

 years' cruise he thought many times of his sorrowful father at home. 

 As the ship neared the docks he was met by his father with " Hurry up, 

 Jim, I want to introduce you to your new mother." There were many 

 changes at home during a long cruise, and sometimes even the fashions 

 had entirely changed. One whaleship captain described his surprise 

 at seeing for the first time the crinoline or hoop skirt. 



The real founder of New Bedford, and the pioneer of the whale 

 fishery at this port, was Joseph Russell, who sent his ships out in 1765. 

 Several years later the first ship was launched and was called the "Dart- 

 mouth," and this vessel is well known to history owing to the fact that 

 she was one of the ships that carried into Boston Harbour the tea 



