106 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



were carried away into captivity. In 1760 another vessel was captured by a French privateer of 

 twelve guns and released after the commander of the privateer had put on board of her the crew 

 of a sloop they had previously taken nearly full of oil and burned. The captain of the sloop, 

 Luce, had sailed with three others who were expected on the coast. The day after Luce was taken 

 the privateer engaged a Bermudian letter of marque and was beaten. During this engagement 

 several whalemen in the vicinity made their escape. In the same month (June) another privateer 

 of fourteen guns took several whaling vessels, one of which was ransomed for $400, all the prison- 

 ers put on board of her, and she landed them at Newport.* In 1762 another Nantucket sloop was 

 taken by a privateer from the French West Indies, under one Mons. Palanqua, while she was 

 cruising in the vicinity of the Leeward Islands.'' 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD AND NANTUCKET WHALERS. "At Martha's Vineyard whaling did 

 not seem to thrive so well as at the sister island of Nantucket. The very situation of Nantncket 

 seemed favorable for the development of this and kindred pursuits; in fact, the situation made 

 them necessities. While the Vineyard was quite fertile and of considerable extent, Nantucket 

 was comparatively sterile and circumscribed. At the Vineyard a livelihood could be attained 

 from tilling the earth, at Nautucket a large portion of that which sustained life must be wrested 

 from the ocean. A constant struggle with nature, and a constant surmounting of those obstacles 

 incident to their location and surroundings, developed within the Nantucketois a spirit of adventure 

 which was carefully trained into channels of enterprise and usefulness. Hence, the early history 

 of whaling on Martha's Vineyard was not that ultimate success that it was on Nantucket, and 

 while the year 1775 found the latter with a fleet of 150 vessels with a burden of 15,000 tons, the 

 former at the same period could count but 12 vessels and an aggregate of 720 tons. 



" In 1752 Mr. John Newman and Timothy Coffin built a vessel of 75 tons, but she was also 

 destined to a brief existence. On her second voyage whaling she was captured near the Grand 

 Banks by the French, and Captain Coffin, her commander, lost his life, his vessel, and his cargo. 

 In the same year (1752) John Norton, esq., with others, purchased a vessel of 55 tons for the 

 carrying on of this business, and, like her contemporary, she failed to survive her second voyage, 

 but was cast away on the coast of Carolina, Capt. Christopher Beetle being at the time in command. 

 Mr. Norton immediately chartered a vessel to get his own off, but on their arrival on Carolina, 

 his vessel was gone, with her sails, rigging, and appurtenances, and he out of pocket a further 

 sum of $500 to the wrecking party. Eight years later (1760), Esquire Norton, with others, built 

 the sloop Polly, 65 tons burden. On her third whaling trip to the southward she too was lost, 

 and by her destruction perished Nicholas Butler, her captain, and thirteen men. Repeated losses 

 had reduced Norton to somewhat straitened circumstances, and, selling what property he had 

 left, he removed to Connecticut, where he died. 



"It is impossible to separate in the accounts of whaling at this time the share which Boston 

 took in it from that taken by other ports. The reports which may be found in the current papers 

 rarely gave the name of the port to which entering or clearing vessels belonged. In fact the 

 majority of the reports are merely records of accidents, and it is very rarely indeed that the 

 ainount cf oil taken by returning whalers is given.' 



"In 1762 a whaling schooner, commanded by - - Bickford, was totally lost on Seil (?) 

 Islands. The crew, fourteen in number, were taken off by a fishing vessel." 



LONG ISLAND WHALERS. " Of the Long Island fishery the only record accessible is the 

 meager one regarding Sag Harbor. Easthampton, Southampton, and their more immediate neigh- 

 bors seem to have been supplanted by this younger town.f Probably prior to 1760 vessels had 



"'These vessels were from several whaling ports." " t Sag Harbor wns scttloil in 1730." 



