HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN WHALE FISHERY. 27 



whales should pay a duty of every sixteenth gallon of oil to the govern- 

 ment, " exempting the whales that were killed at Sea by persons who 

 went on that design from auy duty or imposition." Governor Dongan 

 also claimed duty on drift-whales, and he also exempted those killed at 

 sea. " There was no pretence," under Dongan, " to seize such whales or 

 to exact anything from the fishermen on that account, being their 

 ancient right aud property. Thus the inhabitants had the right of 

 fishing preserved to them, and the Crown the benefit of all drift Whales, 

 and everything seemed well established between the Crown and the 

 People, who continued chearfully, and with success, to carry on the said 

 fishing trade." This state of affairs continued until 1696, when Lord 

 Corubury (afterward Earl of Clarendon) became governor. It was then 

 announced by those in authority that the whale was a " Royal Fish," and 

 belonged to the Crown ; consequently all whalers must be licensed "for 

 that purpose which he was sure to make them pay for, and also con- 

 tribute good part of the fruit of their labour ; no less that a neat 14th 

 part of the Oyle and Bone, when cut up, and to bring the same to New 

 York an 100 miles distant from their habitation, an exaction so griev- 

 ous, that few people did ever comply for it."* The result of this policy 

 was to discourage the fishery, and its importance was sensibly decreased. 

 In 1711 the New York authorities issued a writ to the sheriffs, direct- 

 ing them to seize all whales. This demand created much disturbance, 

 but the people, knowing no remedy, submitted with what grace they 

 could to what they felt was a grievous wroug, aud an infringement 

 upon their rights under the patent under which their settlement was 

 fouuded. Since that time, Mulford continues, a formal prosecution had 

 been commenced against him for hiring Indians to assist him in whaling. 

 He coucludes his petition with the assertion that, unless some relief 

 was afforded, the fishery must be ruined, since " the person concerned 

 will not be brought to the hardship of waiting out at sea many months, 

 & the difficulty of bringing into New York the fish, and at last paying 

 so great a share of their profit." 



Mulford, during the latter part of his life, was continually at logger- 

 heads with the government at New York. A sturdy representative of 

 that Puritan opposition to injustice and wrong with which the early set 

 tiers of Eastern Long Island were so thoroughly imbued, the declining 

 years of his life were continual eras of contention agaiost the tyrannies 

 and exactions of governors, whose only interest seemed to be to suck 

 the life-blood from the bodies of these unfortunate flies caught in their 



*It was these outrageously unjust laws that brought the government into the 

 notorious disrepute it attained with its outlying dependencies from 1675 to 1720. In 

 March, 1698, the council of Lord Cornbury declared certain drift-whales the property 

 of the Crown (which apparently meant a minimum amount to the King and a maxi- 

 mum share to the governor), " when the subject can make no just claim of having killed 

 them." One Richard Floyd having offered a reward to any parties bringing him informa- 

 tion of such whales, the council ordered an inquiry into the matter in order to prevent 

 such practices in the future. (Council Minutes, viii, p. 6.) 



