A Long Period of Depression 101 



bounty to save the fishery from extinction. The 

 legislature granted 5 a ton on white sperm oil, 

 3 on yellow sperm, and 2 on whale oil "that 

 may be taken or caught" by vessels "owned and 

 manned wholly by the inhabitants of this Com- 

 monwealth." 



The whalemen promptly fitted out their ships 

 then, and brought home so much oil that the 

 burden of the bounty became too great, and at 

 the same time the market was depressed so far 

 that the ships were worse off than they had been 

 before the bounty was given them. 



As early as 1764, while yet the whalemen were 

 subjects of Great Britain, the British authorities 

 had contemplated establishing a whale fishery at 

 Halifax or Quebec, but had been unable to in- 

 duce the whalemen to migrate. They said that 

 Quebec was not a suitable location; it was too 

 far from the sperm grounds. As for Halifax, it 

 had a military government, something heartily 

 detested by all Americans, and what was of more 

 importance, they had "so invincible an aversion 

 to the loose habits and manners of the people, 

 that nothing could induce them to remove thither p 



