104 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



Advised that his Excell^ give permission for all whaling Vessells belongs to s d Il d to pursue their 

 Voyages, taking only the Inh ts of s d Island in s d Yessells and that upon their taking any other 

 persons whatsoever with them they be subject to all the Penalties of the law in like manner as if 

 they had proceeded without Leave.'"* 



THE GULF OP SAINT LAWRENCE AND STRAITS OF BELLEISLE FISHERY. "In 1761 the 

 fishery of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the Straits of Bellisle was opened to our whalemen, 

 and they speedily availed themselves of its wealth. This was the legitimate result of the conquest 

 of Canada and the cession of territory made by France to England at the conclusion of the war, 

 a result which the colonists had labored hard and spent lives and treasure unstintedly to attain, 

 but of the benefit of which they were destined to be defrauded. A duty was levied on all oil and 

 bone carried to England from the colonies, and by another oppressive act of Parliament they 

 were not allowed to find for this product any other market. The discrimination between the 

 plantations and the mother country was made the more marked since at this time the residents of 

 Great Britain were allowed a bounty from which he provincials were debarred. Against these 

 injustices the merchants of New England, and those of London engaged in colonial trade, respect- 

 fully petitioned. They represented that 'in the Year 1761 The Province of Massachusetts Bay, 

 fitted out from Boston & other portst Ten Vessels of from Seventy to Ninety Tons Burden for 

 this Purpose. That the Success of these was such as to encourage the Sending out of fifty Vessels 

 in the Year 1762 for the same trade. That in the Year 1763 more than Eighty Vessels were 

 iniploy'd in the same manner.f That they have already imported to London upwards of 40 Ton 

 of Whale Finn: being the produce of the two first years. That upon Entring of the above Finn, 

 a Duty was required and paid upon it, of thirty one Pound ten shillings W Ton. That the 

 weight of this Duty was render'd much heavier by the great reduction made in the price of Dutch 

 Bone since the commencement of this trade from. 500 to 330 V Tou.' They represent further 

 that the reason for the conferring of bounties upon vessels in this pursuit from Great Britain was 

 to rival the Dutch, 5 but in spite of this encouragement there was not enough oil and bone 

 brought into England by British vessels to supply the demand. They also reasoned that Parlia- 

 ment could not intentionally discriminate between the various subjects of the Crown, granting 



" * Mass. Col. MSS., Maritime, vi, p. 371. Martha's Vineyard appeal's to be ignored in the order." 



"tAs already explained, Boston was the port of entry for many of the Cape towns and its own immediate viciuity." 



" t According to the following doggerel there were seventy-five whaling captains sailing from Nantueket in 1763: 



Whale-List, by Thomas Worth, M. 1763. 



Out of Nantueket their's Whalemen seventy-five, 

 But two poor Worths among them doth survive : 

 Their is two Eamsdills & their's Woodbnry's two, 

 Two Ways there is, chnse which one pleaseth you, 

 Folgers thirteen, & Barnards there are four 

 Bunkers their is three & Jenkinses no more, 

 Gardners their is seven, Husseys their are two, 

 Pinkhams their is five and a poor Delano, 

 Myricks there is three & Coffins there are six, 

 Swains their are four and one blue gaily Fitch. 

 One Chadwick, Cogshall, Coloman their's but one. 

 Brown, Baxter, two & Paddacks there is three, 

 Wyer, Stanton, Starbnck, Moorse is four yon see, 

 But if for a Voyage I was to choose a Stanton, 

 I would leave Sammy out & choose Ben Stratton. 

 And not forget that Bocott is alive, 

 And that long-crotch makes up the seventy-five. 

 This is answering to the list, you see, 

 Made up in seventeen hundred & sixty-three." 



" } The Dutch from 1759 to 1768 sent to the Greenland fishery 1,324 ships, which took 3,018 whales, producing 146,419 

 harrols of oil and 8,785,140 pounds of bone. (Scoresby.) Great Britainin the same time sent about one-third the 

 number of ships." 



