Early Days on Nantucket 45 



lish the industry. Some Basques were brought 

 over to go whaling. Some individual French 

 Canadians thus made some money. But when 

 the king ceased giving the encouragement, the 

 fishery ended. The difference between the 

 French Canadians, with their subsidy, and the 

 Nantucket people, with their schoolmaster, seems 

 particularly well worth the attention of the pa- 

 triotic Americans who are now interested in sea- 

 faring matters. 



Under the lead of Ichabod Paddock the south 

 shore of the island (more whales were seen off 

 the south than the north shore) was divided into 

 four beats, or districts, each about three and a half 

 miles long. To each beat six men were assigned. 

 A hut was built at the centre of each district for 

 the shelter of the crew during stormy weather, and 

 a tall spar with a "crow's nest," or lookout perch, 

 at the top was erected on a sand dune near each 

 hut to give a wide range to the eyes of a man who 

 was kept on the perch at all times during the day, 

 and possibly during moonlit nights. 



These crews "carried on their business in com- 

 mon." They united their labor and means to 



