44 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



" History of New Bedford" is published a portion of a log-book of the 

 whaling-sloop Betsey, of Dartmouth, in 1761. The early portion is 

 missing, the first date commencing July 27. These small vessels usually 

 sailed in pairs, and, so long as they kept in company, the blabber of the 

 captured whales was divided equally between them. Hence the reports, 

 in which the captains' names are always given instead of the names of 

 the vessels, which rarely occur, often return the vessels in pairs, with the 

 same quantity of oil to each. The following are a few extracts from 

 this journal as published: "August 2d, 1761. Lat. 45.54, long. 53.57. 

 Saw two sperm-whales; killed one. — Aug. Gth. Spoke with John Clas- 

 bery ; he had got 105 bbls. ; told us Seth Folger had got 150 bbls. Spoke 

 with two Nantucket men; they had got one whale between them; they 

 told us that Jenkins & Dunham had got four whales between them, and 

 Allen & Pease had got 2 whales between them. Lat. 42.57. — Sunday, 

 August 9th. Saw sperm-whales; struck two, and killed them between 

 us, (naming their consort. — August 10th. Cut up our blubber into 

 casks ; tilled 35 hhds. ; our partner filled 33 hhds. Judged ourselves to 

 be not far from the Banks. Finished stowing the hold. — August 20. 

 Lat. 44 deg. 2 min. This morning spoke with Thomas Gibbs; had got 

 110 bbls; told us he had spoke with John Aikin, and Ephraim Delano, 

 and Thomas Nye. They had got no oil at all. Sounded ; got no bot- 

 tom. Thomas Gibbs told us we were but two leagues off the Bank." The 

 Betsey probably arrived home about the middle of September. In 1 762 

 she apparently made another voyage, though the journal up to the 2d 

 of September is missing. On that date they spoke " Shubel Bunker 

 and Benjamin Paddock." On the 3d of September they "Knocked 

 down try-works."* On the 15th they spoke Henry Folger and Nathan 



Coffin. 



About this time a new element entered into antagonism with colonial 

 whaling in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and vicinity. Scarcely had the 

 colonists aided to wrest this fishery from the French, when the Euglish 

 governors, in their turn, strove to keep our vessels from enjoying its 

 benefits. In the News-Letter of Augusts, 1765, is the following state- 

 ment: "Tuesday one of the sloops which has been on the Whaling Busi- 

 ness returned here. We hear that the Vessels employed in the Whale 



whale-fishery of New Bedford. It is well authenticated hy the statements of several 

 eoteniporaries, lately deceased, that Joseph Russell had pursued the business as early 

 as the year 1755." From what particular portion of the then town of DartmoutL (which 

 also included what is now known as New Bedford, and Fairhaven) he fitted out his 

 vessels, is uncertain. At that time the land on which stands the city of New Bedford 

 was unpopulated hy the whites, and not a single house marked the spot where, within 

 less than a century thereafter, stands the city from which was fitted out more whaling- 

 vessels than from all the other American ports combined. 



* In other words, took them down. From this it is evident that some vessels were 

 prepared for trying out their oil on board. 



The News-Letter of July 26, 1764, states that one Jonathan Negers, of Dartmoutha 

 while whaling, was so injured by a whale's striking the boat that he died a few day, 

 after. 



