28 WHALE FISHERY OF NEW ENGLAND 



"slaver," who afterwards became Mayor of New Bedford, was selected 

 as commander of the fleet, and on Thanksgiving Day most of New 

 Bedford assembled on the wharves and saw fifteen of her once famous 

 fleet, which had for years been the homes of its seamen, sail forth never 

 to return. It must have been a very sad day for the city, and it may 

 be said that this event marked the beginning of the decline of the 

 industry at New Bedford. 



One captain insisted upon washing the decks of his ship every morn- 

 ing, using pulverized stones instead of sand, and another, to give the 

 fleet a warlike appearance, mounted a formidable "Quaker" gun, made 

 from a section of a spar. 



A second fleet sailed later in the year, making forty-five vessels in 

 all. Although the expedition cost the government about a quarter 

 of a million dollars, its success was only temporary. The captain of 

 the "Alabama" swore vengeance on New Bedford and destroyed or 

 captured every whaler he could find, and in the "Alabama" awards 

 that were made after the war New Bedford received a large share. 



Ten years later occurred the worst disaster that ever befell a whaling 

 fleet. Thirty-four whalers were caught in the ice in the Arctic regions 

 and sunk, and it is a curious fact that, while the loss reached one mil- 

 lion five hundred thousand dollars, not a single human life was sacrificed. 

 These three pictures of a series of five on the following page show the sink- 

 ing of the ships, the abandonment of their vessels, which had their flags 

 union down, and the eighty-mile sail through the ice-floes to the open 

 sea, where twelve hundred and nineteen men, women, and children 

 were taken home in the seven whalers that had not been lost in the 

 ice. It must have been very crowded, as each ship had to stow away 

 several hundred persons in addition to her own crew. There were 

 many sad hearts as they left their vessels and almost all of their belong- 

 ings, and started off in the small boats. The trip to sea and the trans- 

 shipment in the heavy swell must have been made with the utmost 

 care, otherwise many lives would have been sacrificed. The loss to the 

 New Bedford owners was so tremendous that they never really recov- 

 ered from the catastrophe, and many families had to economize for 

 years after. The Swifts, Rowlands, and Rotchs were among those who 

 lost ships. 



On one of the vessels in the first picture of this series was a large 

 quantity of the finest Manila cigars and also some rare Madeira wine, 

 that had been picked up in the Philippines the year before on instruc- 

 tions from the ship's owner. When the captain of this vessel reached 

 New Bedford and reported the loss of his command, the owner's first 

 question, after listening to the dismal tale, was whether his cigars and 

 wine had been saved. "All of it," came the reply. "Where is it?" 

 said the owner, looking more cheerful. "Well, you see, I drank the 

 wine and Mr. Jones, the mate, he smoked the cigars, and they cer- 

 tainly done us both good," replied the captain. 



The ship "Progress," shown in the last picture, forms an interesting 

 connecting link between the Stone Fleet and this 1871 disaster. 



