Early Days on Nantucket 47 



able parts of the whale, with clothing and other 

 things manufactured by the whites, they were 

 exceedingly profitable hands. The Nantucket 

 solution of the race problem is memorable in 

 connection with modern race problems. 



The success of this first whale fishery is manifest 

 from the fact that it not only persisted, but it grew. 

 From keeping men perched on top of tall spars, 

 "in order to observe the spouting of whales," 

 the Nantucket men began to go afloat in their 

 open boats. They went cruising offshore and 

 thus at once increased their opportunities and 

 acquired a skill and a venturesome habit of 

 thought, which were of the utmost importance. 

 The records show the results of their enterprise. 

 In 1726 twenty-eight boats saved eighty-six whales. 

 Captain Abishai Folger is credited with six, while 

 Captain James Johnson and Captain Shubael 

 Folger killed five each. The savings of the others 

 numbered from four down to one. 



It was in the stories of the offshore cruising 

 that the account of the red whaler hero, as told 

 in the last chapter, was found, and it was there, 

 too, that the adventure of the first white whaler 



