158 ALLEN: NEW ENGLAND WHALEBONE WHALES. 



for the rayseing of Salt Petre to supply the province"! l Nothing more seems to be known of 

 this interesting 'projection,' and it is doubtful if anything came of it. 



Employment of Cape Cod Indians. So important was the whale fishery in these years 

 that it probably constituted the chief employment of many colonists as well as Indians during 

 the winter season, from November till May. So in 1724-25, during the Indian wars, some of 

 the friendly Indians from Cape Cod were enlisted, but with the express understanding that 

 they be discharged in time for the commencement of the whaling in the fall. "Accordingly 

 in 1724, Lieutenant-Governor Dummer, of the Massachusetts Bay, writes to Colonel West- 

 brook; 'Upon Sight hereof you must forthwith dismiss Cpt. Bournes Comp y of Indians & send 

 them hither in one of the Sloops, That so they may lose no Time for Following the Whale Fish- 

 ery, w ch is agreeable to my Promise made to them at enlisting.' In a postscript he adds: 

 ' Let Capt. Bourne come with them to see them safe return'd.' And again, in 1725, the Secre- 

 tary writes: 'His Hon r Having promised the Indians enlisted by Cpt. Bourne (being all those 

 of the County of Barnstable) to dismiss them in the Fall that so they attend their Whale Fish- 

 ing; directs that you as soon as you have opportunity to send them up to Boston, in Order to 

 their Return Home, & let none of them be detained on any Pretense whatsoever.'" It is 

 gratifying to find at least this slight evidence that our forefathers occasionally dealt truly with 

 their Indian neighbors. 



Decline of the Cape Cod Whaling. The end of the first quarter of the eighteenth century 

 seems to have marked the decline of shore whaling on the coast of New England. Relentless 

 pursuit for nearly a century had finally killed or driven off the whales that frequented our 

 shores. Thus, in the Boston News-Letter of March 20, 1727, is the following very significant 

 item: "We hear from the Towns on the Cape that the Whale Fishery among them has failed 

 much this Winter, as it has done for several Winters past, but having found out the way of 

 going to Sea Upon that Business, and having had much Success in it, they are now fitting out 

 several Vessels to sail with all Expedition upon that dangerous Design this Spring, more (its 

 tho't) than have ever been sent out from among them " (quoted by Starbuck, 1878, p. 31). 



The whalers, as always with seamen, believed that the whales had merely moved to other 

 grounds, and consequently were ready to follow them. As a matter of fact, however, it is 

 probable that the Right Whales of the western North Atlantic were so very greatly reduced 

 in numbers that they have never been able to recover their former abundance. A similar 

 relentless pursuit had nearly exterminated them in the eastern part of the North Atlantic. 



Of the decline of the whale fishery on our coasts, various echoes are found in items (quoted 

 by Starbuck, 1878, p. 32-34) from files of the Boston News-Letter during these years. Thus 

 in the season of 1737-8, the local whalers at Provincetown had killed up to January 5, 1738, 







1 Mass. Col. MSS., Maritime, vol. 4, p. 72-73; quoted by Starbuck, 1878, p. 30-31. 



2 Mass. Col. MSS., vol. 2, p. 297; quoted by Starbuck, 1878, p. 31. 



