120 HISTOKY AND METHODS OF THE FISH KUIES. 



Court of tliis Colony, or from some Committee or committees or persons they shall appoint to 

 grant such leave;' and on the 24th of August, the day for adjournment of the court being near 

 at hand, it was further resolved, in view of possible damage liable to accrue to parties for want of 

 these permits, 'that the Major part of the Council for this Colony be, and they accordingly are, 

 hereby fully impowered to grant leave for any Vessell or Vessells to sail out of any port in this 

 Colony, on any whaling Voyage whatever, as to them shall seem fit & reasonable for the Benefit 

 of Individuals, and the Good of the Public, provided there be good & sufficient security given 

 that the Oil & Bone, &c., obtained oil said Voyage shall be brought into some Port in this Colony, 

 except the port of Boston, & such Permits do not interfere with any Kesolve or Recommendations 

 of the Continental Congress The power herein given to continue only in the recess of the general 

 court.'*" 



THE DEATH-KNELL OF AMERICAN WHALING. "The bells that called the hardy yeomanry 

 of New England to the defense of their imperiled liberties on the ever- memorable morning of the 

 19th of April rung the death-knell of the whale fishery, save that carried on from Nan tucket; the 

 rattle of musketry was the funeral volley over its grave.t Save from this solitary island, it was 

 doomed to annihilation. A few vessels were fitted out early in the war from other ports, but the 

 risk was so great and the necessity so small that the business was soon abandoned. With Nan- 

 tucket it was simply a case of desperation ; the business must be carjied on, or the island must be 

 depopulated; starvation or removal were the only alternatives of inaction. The receipt of the 

 news of the battle at Lexington and Concord, glorious as it was to the colonies at large, and 

 glorious as it may have been to the islanders whose religious principles were not rigidly opposed 

 to war in any form and under any circumstances, was to the majority of the inhabitants the 

 announcement of ruined fortunes, annihilated commerce, misery, privation, and suffering. With- 

 out the immediate circle of colonial assistance, knowing that they were cut off from aid in case 

 they were attacked, open to and defenseless at all sides from the predatory raids of avowed 

 enemies and treacherous, pretended friends, the only course left open to them to adopt was to be 

 as void of offense as possible and strive to live through the desperate struggle just about to com- 

 mence. Some of the people removed to New York and eventually established the whale fishery 

 there. Some removed to North Carolina and there formed a community remarkable for thrift and 

 hospitality; but the vast majority preferred to link their fortunes with those of their island home, 

 and with her sink or swim. Vessels from abroad turned their prows toward home and speeded on 

 their way, hoping to attain their port before English armed vessels could intercept them; those 

 already arrived were most of them stripped of their sails and rigging and moored to the crowded 

 wharves, or run high and dry ashore. 



"The petitions of parties for permission to fit out their vessels for whaling were almost 

 invariably complied with by the general court, bonds being given in about 2,000 that the cargo 

 should be landed at some port in the colony, excepting Boston or Nant ticket. | 



" * Mass. Col. MSS. Rev. Council Papers, series i, vol. ii, p. 17." 



"t The shipping of .Nantncket rendered Important ante-revolutionary aid to the colonies in (he importation of 

 powder, a service that was continued at in(ervals din-ins the war. The Earl of Dartmouth, in a letter to Licutenaiit- 

 Governor Colden, dated 7th September, 1774, says: ' My Information says that tin- 1'ollv. Capl" Hen jamin Uroadholp, 

 bound from Amsterdam to Nantucket, has among other Articles received on hoard, no less a quantity (ban (bred 

 Hundred thousand pounds weight of Gunpowder, & I have great reason to believe dial considerable quantities of 

 that commodity, as well as other Military Stores, are introduced into the Colonies from Holland, through the channel 

 of St. Eustatia.' (N. Y. Col. Rec., viii, p. 487.) St. Eustatia was captured by the English during the colonial war, 

 the chief grounds of the capture being the alleged supply to the revolting colonies of contraband goods." 



" t The following is the form of the bond : 



' 'Know all men by these presents that Nathaniel Macy &, Rich 4 Mitchell Jr both of Sherburn in the County of 

 Nantucket, arc Imldcii it stand (irmly bound unto Henry Gnrdner Esq of Stowo in theCouuty of Middlesex Treasurer 



