HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN WHALE FISHERY. 45 



Fishery from this and the neighbouring Maritime Towns,* amounting tc 

 near 100 Sail, have been very successful this Season in the Gulph of St. 

 Lawrence and Streights of Belle isle; having, tissaid, already made up- 

 wards of 9,000 Barrels of Oil." But this rosy-colored report was speedily 

 followed by another of a more somber hue. In August 22 the same 

 paper says: "Accounts received from several of our Whaliug Vessels 

 on the Labrador Coast, are, that they meet with Difficulties in regard to 

 their fishing, in Cousequence of Orders from the Commanding Officers 

 on that Station, a Copy of which are as follows: 



" Memorandum : In Pursuance of the Governor's Directions, all mas- 

 ters of Whaliug Vessels, and others whom it may concern, are hereby 

 most strictly required to observe the following Particulars, viz : 



" 1 To carry the useless Parts of such Whales as they may catch to at 

 least Three Leagues from the Shore, to prevent the Damage that the 

 neighbouring Fishers for Cod and Seal sustain by their being left on the 

 Shore. 



" 2 Not to carry any Passengers from Newfoundland or the Labra- 

 dore Coast to any Part of the Plantations. 



" 3 To leave the Coast by the first of November at farthest. 



" 4 Not to fish in auy of the Ports or Coasts of Newfoundland lying 

 between Point Richi and Cape Bonavista. 



" 5 Not to carry on any Trade or have any Intercourse with the French 

 on any Pretence. 



" In all your Dealings with the Indians, to treat them with the great- 

 est Civility: observing not to Impose on their Ignorance, or to take Ad- 

 vantage of their Necessities. You are also on no Acconut to serve 

 them with spirituous Liquors. 



" 7 Not to fish for auy other than Whale on this Coast. 



" Dated on board His Majesty's sloop Zephyr, at the Isle of Bois, on 

 the Labradore Coast, the 21st July, 1765. 



"JOHN HAMILTON." 



The issue of November 18 reports that on account of this proclama- 

 tion the vessels " are returning half loaded." It was the custom with 

 many early whalemen, especially from the immediate vicinity of Boston, 

 to go prepared for either cod or whale fishing, and in the event of the 

 failure of the one to have recourse to the other. All restrictions which 

 are sustained by an armed force are liable to be made especially obnox- 

 ious by the manner of the enforcement, and this was by no means a 

 contrary case. It was not at all surprising then that the ensuing season's 

 fishing was only a repetition of the failure of that of 1705. " Since our 

 last," says the News-Letter, " several Vessels are returned from the 

 Whaling Business, who have not only had very bad Success, but also 

 have been ill-treated by some of the Cruisers on the Labradore Coast." 



*It is impossible to apportion the vessels among their proper ports. The vessels. 

 from Cape Cod and the northward cleared at Boston; those from the Vineyard, at Nan 

 tucket ; those at Dartmouth, sometimes at Nantucket and sometimes at Newport. 



