HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN WHALE FISHERY. 49 



so large a number of men that all were strict observers of the laws. 

 Self-preservation, if no more humane motive existed, militated against 

 the acts of which he complained. The whalemen were accustomed to 

 visit the coast for supplies, in many cases several times a year ; usually 

 on their arrival in those parts they stood in for some portion of the 

 coast and ''wooded;' 7 and it is hardly credible that they should wan- 

 tonly destroy the stores they so much needed, or make enemies on a 

 coast where they might at any time be compelled to land. The colo- 

 nial governors quite often made the resources under their control a 

 source of revenue for themselves, and the fact of the modification of 

 Palliser's first proclamation only under pressure of the King and Par- 

 liament would seem to indicate personal interest in keeping whalemen 

 from the colonies away from the territory under his control. 



It is quite evident that even with this modification the colonial fisher- 

 men did not feel that confidence in the St. Lawrence and Belle Isle fishery 

 that they felt when it was first opened to them; for a report from Charles- 

 ton, S. C, dated June 19, 17G7, states that on "the 22d ult. put 

 in here, a sloop belonging to Rhode Island, from a Whaling Voyage in 

 the Southern latitudes, having proved successful about 10 days before. 

 The master informs us, that near 50 New England vessels have been on the 

 whale fishery in the same latitudes, this season, by way of experiment."* 

 Over the open sea fortune-seeking governors could exercise no control, 

 and there our seamen probably felt they could pursue their game with- 

 out let or hiuderance. Whales at that time abounded along the edge 

 of the Gulf Stream, and there they continued to be found for some 

 years, shifting their ground gradually as their fierce captors encroached 

 more and more upon them to the vicinity of the Western and Leeward 

 Islands, the Cape de Verdes, the Brazil Banks, and beyond. Some few 

 whalemen, in spite of the restrictions, still visited the newly-opened 

 fishing-ground. 



The general results of the various voyages were on the whole good, 

 and other places began to feel the stimulus of a desire to compete. 

 Providence took part, and early in 17G8 several vessels were fitted out 

 from that port for this pursuit. New York, too, entered the lists, and 

 Mr. Robert Murray and the Messrs. Franklin fitted a sloop for the same 

 purpose, and she sailed on the 19th of April of that year.t The town 

 of Newport manifested great activity. 



It was currently reported in the colonies, during the early part of 

 1707, that the irksome restrictions upon whaling were to be entirely 

 removed; petitions to that effect had been presented to the home gov- 

 ernment, and a favorable result was hoped for, and early in 1708 the 

 straits of Davis and Belle Isle were again vexed by the keels of our 



v Boston News-Letter. 



t There seems to be no accessible report of this vessel's return, and hence the degree 

 of success or failure of her voyage is a matter of doubt. The people of Nantucket 

 ■were reported to have made £70,000 in 1707. 

 4 



