152 The Story of the New England Whalers 



spite of the gloomy forebodings of Captain Swain. 

 On reaching the grounds, however, he became 

 convinced that Swain was very nearly right, but 

 with even greater confidence in his luck than that 

 which had animated the captain of the Amelia, 

 he put his helm astarboard and steered westerly 

 into the unknown seas. It is because he steered 

 into unknown waters that the enterprise of Captain 

 Gardner must be considered greater than that 

 of Captain Shields. By this venture Captain 

 Gardner found the "Offshore Grounds." At 

 the end of twenty-six months (whalers always 

 reckoned the length of their voyages by the number 

 of months) Gardner reached home with an inter- 

 esting, if not a very eventful, story of exploration, 

 and 2090 barrels of sperm oil, worth $61,555.73. 

 The Globe was the first ship to carry more than 

 2000 barrels of sperm oil to Nantucket. Some 

 years later this ship appears again in the annals 

 of the whalers because of a remarkable mutiny 

 among her crew. 



While Captain Gardner worked the Offshore 

 Grounds, Captain Joseph Allen, of the Maro y 

 a Nantucket ship, sailed (October 26, 1819) for 



