300 



HISTORY AND METHODS OF TOE FISHERIES. 



all directions, giving the boats, which are instantly lowered, a good chance to ' get fast.' The har- 

 poon frequently kills the fish ; if not, a few darts with the hand-lance dispatch it. As soon as it 

 is dead the prize almost invariably sinks, and if the ship is close at hand, it is towed to the ves- 

 sel at once; but if a considerable distance away, it is either made fast to the ' loggerhead ' at the 

 stern of the boat, or a buoy is tied to it and left, to be afterwards recovered, the boats still con- 

 tinuing the chase. In this way quite a number are captured from one school."* 



The following list of arrivals, though incomplete, will give an idea of the quantity of black-fish 

 oil, in addition to their regular cargoes, brought home by some of the whaling vessels : 



HISTORICAL NOTES AND STATISTICS OF THE BLACKFISH FISHERY OF CAPE COD. The 

 following items, gathered from various sources, show the importance of the blackfish fishery dur- 

 ing the past one hundred and fifty years : 



1741. 



In May, 1741, we are told a Spanish privateer, under Don Francisco Lewis, captured and 

 carried away a whaling sloop from Barnstable. The season was unfavorable for whaling on the 

 capes, but late in the summer and the early fall of 1741 the inhabitants were cheered by the 

 advent of great numbers of blackfish and porpoises. By the end of October they had killed one 



SCAMMON: Marine Mammalia, p. 87. 



