324 The Story of the New England Whalers 



In 1853 the product of bone reached 5,652,300, 

 the record amount. The price was then 34^ 

 cents; it had been 50 during the year before. 

 The highest income received by the whalers in 

 any one year was in 1854, when the take sold 

 for $10,802,594.20. That was therefore the flood- 

 tide year of the fishery. The catch of 1857 sold 

 for $10,491,548.90, and the years 1853 to 1857, 

 inclusive, paid the whalers $51,063,659.59. The 

 catch of each year sold for about 50 per cent of 

 the estimated investment in the fleet. 



In the year after the Superior showed the way 

 to the fishery north of Bering's Strait, 154 ships 

 entered those waters. Starbuck estimates that 

 this fleet was worth $4,650,000; the catch sold 

 for $3,419,622. 



Among the more profitable voyages noted in 

 the record are the following: 



The ship Sarah, Captain Frederick Arthur, of 

 Nantucket, sailed for the Pacific on May 26, 1827, 

 and reached home on April 19, 1830, with 3497 

 barrels of sperm oil, the largest amount ever 

 brought home by a Nantucket ship in a single 

 voyage. It sold for $89,000. In 1838 the New 



