148 The Story of the New England Whalers 



American naval expedition, under Commodore 

 Biddle, visited Yeddo, hoping to open trade rela- 

 tions. On the arrival of the naval ships, Mac- 

 Donald and the survivors of the two wrecked 

 whale ships were warned never to return to the 

 country, and then all were sent off to Commodore 

 Biddle. The stories told by these whalemen, in 

 connection with what Biddle learned, determined 

 the American government to send another ex- 

 pedition (that under Commodore M. C. Perry) to 

 Japan later, with the results well known to all. 



From the earliest days of the deep-sea whale 

 fishery the boys of America sat by the hearth and 

 listened, wide-eyed and breathless, to such tales as 

 these whenever a whale ship came to port. They 

 gazed upon the curios, wooden swords that were 

 edged with sharks' teeth, and spears that were 

 pointed with human bones, which the whalemen 

 brought to fortify their stories. And then they read 

 such items as the following, taken from a New 

 York paper printed in April, 1831 : 



" HUDSON, N.Y., March 29. 



" Huzza for the Mansfield. The gallant ship Alex- 

 ander Mansfield which fitted out at this port last May 



