THE WHALE FISHERY. 109 



"'6 In all yonr Dealings with the Indians to treat them with the greatest Civility: observing 

 not to Impose on their Ignorance, or to take Advantage of their Necessities. You are also on no 

 Account to serve them with spirituous Liquors. 



" ' 7 Not to fish for any other than Whale on this Coast. 



"'Dated on board His Majesty's sloop Zephyr, at the Isle of Bois, on the Labradore Coast, 

 the 21st July, 1765. 



"'JOHN HAMILTON; 



"The issue of November 18 reports that on account of this proclamation the vessels 'are 

 returning half loaded.' It was the custom with many early whalemen, especially from the imme- 

 diate vicinity of Boston, to go prepared for either cod or whale fishing, and in the event of the 

 failure of the one to have recourse to the other. All restrictions which are sustained by an armed 

 force are liable to be made especially obnoxious by the manner of the enforcement, and this was 

 no means a contrary case. It was not at all surprising, then, that the ensuing season's fishing was 

 only a repetition of the failure of that of 1765. 'Since our last,' says the News Letter, 'several 

 Vessels are returned from the Whaling Business, who have not only had very bad Success, but 

 also have been ill-treated by some of the Cruisers on the Labradore Coast.' Two ships had been 

 fitted out from London, the Palliser and the Labradore, for the express purpose of trading, fishing, 

 and whaling on the coast of Labrador and in the straits of Belle Isle. Capt. Charles Penn, who 

 came out in them as pilot, left the straits on the 9th of July on his way to Newfoundland. On his 

 passage lie went on board quite a number of whaling-vessels, and reported that they had met with 

 very poor success; had got only about twenty whales in the entire fleet. In consequence of this 

 failure some of them had, according to the time-honored practice, gone to fishing for cod, but had 

 been interrupted by an armed vessel and by the 'company's ships' (the Palliser and Labradore), 

 and their catch all taken away from them save what their actual necessities required. This was 

 done under the pretense that the whole coast was patented to ' the company,' and by virtue of 

 orders issued by Hugh Palliser, 'governor of Newfoundland, Anticosti, Magdalenes, and Lab- 

 radore.' Palliser's proclamation, which bore date of April 3, 1766, specified that all British 

 subjects whaling in that vicinity should choose places on shore where they should land, cut up 

 their blubber, and make oil as they arrived, but not to select any place which was used in the 

 cod-fishery. Whalemen from the plantation s might take whales on those coasts, but were only 

 permitted to land on some unoccupied place within the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to cut up and try 

 out their blubber ; and it was particularly specified that they were not to make use of any place 

 which was used by the British fishermen for the same or a similar purpose. Complaint having 

 been made of the provincial whalemen in regard to their waste interfering with the cod fishery, 

 they were enjoined that they must carry the carcasses of the whales at least three leagues from 

 the shore. No fishermen from the plantations were to be allowed to winter on Labrador. And 

 then Capt. John Hamilton, 'of H. M. sloop of war Merlin, Lieut. Gov. of Labradore,' &c., issued 

 his proclamation: 'This is to give Notice to all Whalers from the Plantations, that they are 

 allowed to fish for Whales only, on the Coast of Labradore, that if they are found to have any 

 other Pish on Board, the Fish will be seized, and they excluded the Benefit of Whale-fishery this 

 season ; and on no Pretence to trade with the Indians ; whatever they shall purchase will be con- 

 fiscated, and after this Notice their Vessels liable to be seized,' &c. Captain Hamilton's decree 

 bore the date of June 25, 1766. 



"The result of these arbitrary measures was. that the whalemen left those seas and went off 

 the Banks. The close of the season witnessed the return of the whaling fleet with but indifferent 



