226 A HISTORY OF THE WHALE FISHERIES 



neighbourhood. It will be understood from the pre- 

 ceding chapters that the Atlantic was fished for 

 Sperm Whales, the order of development of* the 

 grounds being Carolina coasts, Bahamas, West 

 Indies, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, Azores, Cape 

 t Verde Islands, and the coast of Africa, whereas in 

 Arctic waters it was the Right Whale which was 

 sought. This development was very gradual; 

 according to Macy the Nantucket whalers extending 

 their operations as follows: coast of Guinea 1763; 

 Western Islands 1765 ; coast of Brazil 1774. 



The chief product of the fishery in the seventeenth 

 and opening decades of the eighteenth centuries was 

 whale oil. When Sperm whqiing was commenced 

 whalebone was not consideredito be of much value. 

 The oil trade naturally developed at first between 

 the colonial ports (as they then were) ; in 1720 there 

 is record of an export of a cargo of Nantucket whale 

 oil in London, but whether that was the first venture 

 is l iot certain. 



With the development of whaling which followed 

 the enterprise of the deep-sea whalers, the export 

 trade in whale products grew rapidly since the 

 whalers obtained far more than was required to meet 

 the limited colonial demand. There is evidence 

 about 1730 of a regular export trade in train and 

 whale oil and whalebone to England and British 

 West Indian ports. In 1737 a dozen vessels were 

 fitted out at Provincetown for the Davis Straits 

 fishery, some of them of one hundred tons burthen. 

 " So many men are going on these voyages that not 



