CHAPTER VI 



THE SOUTHERN FISHERY 



The capture of the Sperm Whale ^Commencement of a southern 

 fishery The voyages of Colnett, Beale, and Bennett. 



THE first Sperm Whale taken by American fisher- 

 men was captured in 1712 by a Nantucket whaleman 

 who had been blown out to sea by a strong northed}' 

 wind. 1 This led to an improvement in American 

 whale boats, which had been previously engaged if; 

 coastal whaling. In 1730 there were twenty-five 

 vessels of from thirty to fifty tons engaged in deep- 

 sea whaling./ The improved oil obtained from the 

 Sperm Whale induced whalers to endeavour to fit 

 out vessels exclusively for this fishing, and ultimately 

 originated the great southern fishery. The Ameri- 

 can whalers are said to have extended their opera- 

 tions as follow: Coast of Guinea 1763; Western 

 Islands 1765; coast of Brazil 1774. American 

 tradition says that the first whaler to cross " the line " 

 arrived home on the day of the Battle of Lexington 

 and Concord (iQth April, I775). 2 This, however, 

 does not agree with Burke's famous speech on 

 American affairs (1774), when he stated that 



1 Macy, " History of Nantucket," p. 44, 1836. 

 a Tower, " History of the American Whale Fishery," p. 28, 

 Philadelphia, 1907. 



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