48 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



"But the breeze brings the schooner, after a somewhat blind chase. Provincetown Harbor 

 is reached next morning, and the whale landed at the try-works. There is no room here for further 

 detail or description. The captain is at this very moment cruising for whales off Grand Menan, 

 with a better Provincetown schooner than lie had last year. But he lia.s taken 90 barrels in Mas- 

 sachusetts Bay the present season " 



COAST OF RHODE ISLAND AND NKW YORK. 



Whales have frequently been taken by vessels soon after starting on their voyages from New 

 Bedford and other ports, and sometimes schools of whales are seen close inshore. Of late years 

 no organized effort has been made to engage in shore whaling, though during the last century the 

 coast of Long Island was a favorite place for this fishery. 



The. following clippings mention the capture of a right whale at Newport, and the appearance 

 of a school of whales at the entrance of Long Island Sound: 



"The whale, which for several days had been sporting in our river, was captured on Monday 

 last in fine style by a boat's crew of young men from Newport. Mr. Oliver Potter laid the boat 

 alongside as the whale came up, and Mr. Thomas White fastened the harpoon into her side. After 

 running the boat some distance she was lanced and carried into Newport. The whale is of the 

 right sort, about 44 feet long, and rated at 70 barrels of oil. A number of gentlemen of this town 

 have made arrangements to gratify the curiosity of those who may wish to see this creature of 

 the deep, and it will be exhibited for several days in a convenient place at Fox Point." 



"A Connecticut paper, dated August 1C, 1873, states that the skipper of the sloop Annie, of 

 Saybrook, Conn., reports a large school of whales in close proximity to home. Monday, while 

 midway between Southeast Point, Block Island, and Moutauk, a school of whales, numbering 

 probably thirty-five, was seen from the Annie's deck, gamboling near the Block Island shore, 

 whence they had been lured, it is supposed, by the prospect of a good feeding ground. In the 

 school very few finbacks or humpbacked whales were to be seen. The majority were large whales, 

 some of them being not less than 70 feet in length. Boatmen report it as a common occurrence 

 to see two or three finbacks in company in the race, but the appearance of so many large whales 



is a new experience." 



COAST OF NKW JERSEY. 



The only record we have of shore-whaling on this coast is that furnished by Mr. Earll, who, 

 while visiting the coast in 1880, learned that between 1810 and 1820 Oapt. John Spragne, of 

 Manahawkiu, with a crew of seven men, followed whaling exclusively for a few years, with fair 

 results. They had a camp and try- works on the shore, and were -provided with a whale-boat, in 

 which they put off from the beach whenever a whale was seen. 



COAST OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



The whale-fisheries of Beaufort seem to have been prosecuted continuously for a long period 

 of years, and the oldest inhabitants are unable to give any information of their origin. There 

 has never been any extensive business, and the fishing has been confined wholly to small boats 

 going out from the shore, with the exception of two vessels run during a few months each. The 

 first was the Daniel Webster, 24.15 tons, that fitted out for whaling in the winter of 1874-'7f>, with 

 a crew from Proviucetown, Mass., but after three mouths' cruising she gave it up and returned to 

 Proviucetown, having taken nothing. The next vessel, the Seychille, 47.07 tons, came to Beaufort 

 in the winter of 1878-'79, but was lost in the August storm of 1879, having taken nothing. 



