MASSACHUSETTS: NANTUCKET DISTRICT. 



The whale fishery, which has now died out at Nautucket, but which was formerly the chief 

 source of the wealth and prosperity of the town, began in lf>90, iu boats from the shore. In 1712 

 the first sperm whale was taken by a vessel accidentally blown a considerable distance from the 

 land, and a new and powerful impetus was given to the business. In 1715, an old record* tells us, 

 six sloops, 38 tons burden, obtained about COO barrels of oil and 11,000 pounds of bone, worth 

 1,000. But, if we may believe the statement of Zaccheus Macy, these vessels must have beeu 

 employed near shore. Macy says: t 



"In the year 1718, the inhabitants began to pursue whales on the ocean in small sloops and 

 schooners from 30 to 45 tons." 



From the old record cited above we learn the tonnage, and the amount of the fares, and their 

 value, from 1730 to 1785. The summary is as follows : 



1730. 25 sail, from 38 to 50 tons, obtained annually about 3,700 barrels, at 7 per ton . . 3, 200 



1748. 60 sail, from 50 to 75 tons, obtained 11,250 barrels, at 14 19,684 



1756. 80 sail, 75 tons, obtained 12,000 barrels, at 18 23,600 



N. B. Lost ten sail, taken by the French, and foundered. 



1770. 120 sail, 75 to 110 tons, obtained 18,000 barrels, at 40 100,000 



From 1772 to 1775. 150 sail, from 90 to 180 tons, upon the coast of Guinea, Brazil, and 

 the West Indies, obtained annually 30,000 barrels, which sold in the London 



market at 44 to 45 167,000 



N. B. 2,200 seamen employed in the fishery, and 220 in the London trade. 



Peace of 173. 7 sail to Brazil, from 100 to 150 tons, obtained 2, 100 



5 to the coast of Guinea (iOO 



7 to the West Indies... 560 



3, 260 



At 40 per ton 16,280 



N. B. No duty exacted iu London. 



1784. 12 sail to Brazil, obtained 4,000 



5 to the coast of Guinea 400 



11 to the West Indies 1,000 



5,400 



At 23 to 24 14,, I iOO 



N. B. The price fell by the exaction of a duty in London of 18. 30 sterling per ton. 

 1785. Now at sea: 8 to Brazil, 2 to the coast of Guinea, 5 to the West Indies. 



The number of vessels engaged in the fishery in 1807, is recorded in the following language:: 



"The rest (forty-one) of the (forty-six) ships are employed in the whale fishing, viz: Eleven on 

 the coast of Brazil, eleven at the Cape of Good Hope, one on the coast of New Holland, and 

 eighteen in the Pacifick Ocean." $ 



The absorbing attention paid by the Nautncket people to the pursuit of whaling, seems to 

 have caused a partial neglect of other branches of the fisheries. The cod and mackerel vessels 

 accumulated incidentally, so to speak, during the prosperity of the whaling business. With the 

 decline of whaling, the people naturally turned their energies to other branches of the fisheries. 



Fish seem to have been abundant in the waters about the island. Bluefish were plenty from 

 the first settlement of the island until the year 17G4, when, for some reason, they suddenly disap- 



*Progress of the Whale Fishery at Nantucket, written in the year 1785, Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc., Ill, 1st series, 

 1794, p. 161. 



tA short journal of the first settlement of the Island of Nantucket, with some of the most remarkable things that 

 have happened since, to the present time. By Zaccheus Macy, 179:?. Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc., Ill, 1st series, 1794, pp. 

 157-159. 



{Notes on Nantucket, August 1, 1807, Coll. Mass. Hist, Soc., Ill, 2d series, pp. 29, 30. 

 17 G B F 



