VI 

 A LONG PERIOD OF DEPRESSION 



THE Nantucket whaler of widest repute at 

 the end of the War of the Revolution 

 was William Rotch. Manifestly he was 

 a sincere Quaker and a typical whaleman of his 

 day, for he would take no part in the fighting, 

 and he would not let anything, not even repeated 

 and enormous losses, interfere with the prosecu- 

 tion of his business enterprises. Thus, as noted, 

 he was one of the men who went to New York 

 to secure fishing permits from the British admiral. 

 With Samuel Starbuck he went to Philadelphia 

 to intercede with the American Congress for 

 licenses to send ships to sea with British permits 

 also on board, and he succeeded in that design. 

 And when the Massachusetts privateers took a 

 couple of whale ships into port for sailing under 

 British licenses, he was one of the committee sent 

 from Nantucket to argue before the court at 

 Boston for the release of the captured vessels. 

 H 97 



