THE AMERICAN WHALE FISHERIES 227 



more than twelve or fourteen men will be left at 

 home." After 1741 the whalers were interfered 

 with by French and Spanish privateers, and for some 

 years the voyages to the distant grounds were inter- 

 rupted ; at any rate, there are no records of the Davis 

 Straits fishery. The participation of England in the 

 war of the Austrian succession gave France ana 

 Spain an opportunity of preying on English and 

 English colonial commerce, and this was precisely 

 the time at which the New England whaling interests 

 were developing rapidly. This development was 

 naturally hindered by the presence of these privateers 

 off the North American coast. Under this pressure 

 of adverse circumstances the Davis Straits fishery 

 was entirely abandoned, the Western Isles fishery 

 seriously crippled, so that the bulk of the whalers' 

 operations was confined to the vicinity of the Grand 

 Banks and the Bahamas. 



In 1748 the colonial fishermen benefited by a 

 Bounty Act passed by the British Parliament. This 

 bounty amounted to twenty shillings per ton; Li 

 order to receive it the vessels had to be built ami 

 fitted out in the colonies, and to fish in Davis Strait 

 and the vicinity from May to August unless they 

 secured a full cargo or met with an accident. 



At first the colonial whaling vessels were manned 

 almost exclusively by colonists and Indians. As the 

 fishery developed the supply of hands became inade 

 quate, so that in 1750 the Nantucket vessels had to 

 secure men from Cape Cod and Long Island. 



The whaling industry gradually spread along the 



