86 The Story of the New England Whalers 



products of which are scarcely capable of main- 

 taining twenty families. From the only harbor 

 which this sterile island contains, without natural 

 products of any sort, the inhabitants, by an as- 

 tonishing industry, keep 140 vessels in constant 

 employment. Of these eight are employed in 

 the importation of provisions for the island, 

 and the rest in the whale fishery; which with 

 an invincible perseverance and courage, they 

 have extended from the frozen regions of the 

 Pole to the coasts of Africa, to the Brazils, and 

 even to the Falkland Islands; some of those 

 fishing voyages continuing for twelve months." 



Here was an island thirty miles offshore that 

 was dependent on the mainland for its daily 

 bread, and yet there was not a gun mounted, 

 nor was there any other means of making a de- 

 fence if the enemy should come. And if a block- 

 ade were established, starvation or submission was 

 inevitable. 



As the reader will remember, Parliament was 

 considering a bill "to starve New England" into 

 subjection by " restricting colonial trade to British 

 ports" and placing an embargo "on all fishing 



