134 



ALLEN: NEW ENGLAND WHALEBONE WHALES. 



1712. An item in the Boston News-Letter for Dec. 8, 1712, tells us that on the 25th of 

 November, "six men going off the Gurnet Beach in a whale boat at Duxberry after a whale, 

 by reason of the Boisterousness of the sea, oversetting the Boat, they were all drowned " 

 (Justin Winsor: History of Duxbury, Mass., 1849, p. 86.) 



1724. Winsor (History of Duxbury, Mass., 1849, p. 86) notes on December 3d, "a whale 

 captured off the beach." 



1736. In March, a large whale was captured at sea by a vessel from Provincetown, 

 and its blubber brought into that port for trying out. That this was a Right Whale is evidenced 

 by the amount of oil, estimated at over 100 barrels (Boston News-Letter, Apl. 1, 1736). 



Starbuck (1878, p. 158) quotes the Boston News-Letter of Mar. 18th, that a whale 

 was "lately killed near Cape Cod" that would make its owners 1,500. He adds that this 

 must have been either an extraordinary whale or a surprising inaccuracy, implying a yield 

 of at least 2,500 pounds of whalebone and about 290 barrels of oil at prices then current. 

 This supposed yield is very nearly that of the Arctic Bowhead Whale, and it is to be regretted 

 that more data are not available for determining if a straggler of that species may not have 

 occasionally followed the polar current thus far to the south (see also a record under the year 

 1843). 



1755. On February 10th, of this year, a town meeting, at Truro, to hear and act upon the 

 reply of a Rev. Caleb Upham, in response to a call to this parish, was by vote adjourned to 

 the following day, "inasmuch as many of the inhabitants are called away from the meeting 

 by news of a whale in the bay." This incident shows the importance of the occasional cap- 

 tures of whales at that time, and that the people were in readiness to pursue them whenever 

 they appeared. 



1800. On April 10th, a number of whales appeared on the north side of Nantucket two or 

 three miles off the land. Several boats were at once sent in pursuit, and succeeded in killing 

 two and towing them ashore. The larger made thirty-one, the smaller (evidently a calf) but 

 sixteen barrels of oil. April 19th, nine days later, a 30-barrel whale was killed and brought into 

 the harbor (O. Macy: History of Nantucket, 1835, p. 150). These whales were doubtless 

 Right Whales, not only because of the amount of oil they yielded but because they could be 

 floated ashore. 



1822. Under date of March 28th, the Nantucket Inquirer notes that four smacks were 

 engaged in whaling off Long Island in the early part of that month, and had brought to land 

 at Spermaceti Cove a 50-barrel whale. A second was reported to have been captured at the 

 same time. In the Inquirer of April 4th, it is stated that "another large whale has been taken 

 near Sandy Hook." Again, under date of May 9th, "A whale was struck, in Boston Bay, a few 

 days since, by a Cape Cod vessel, but broke the tow line and escaped." These records with 

 little doubt, apply to the Right Whale. The first, because of the large yield of oil, could be 



