172 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



1756. 



Eighty vessels, of an average of 75 tons burdeu, pursued the busi- 

 ness from Nantucket this year. Of these, three, commanded respect- 

 ively by Christopher Coffin, Peleg Coffin 2d, and Nathan Daggett, were 

 lost, and six others, under Captains Henry Coffin, Jonathan Coffin 2d, 

 Seth LIussey, Nathaniel Coleman 2d, William Barnard, and Josiah 

 Gorbam, were captured by the French. (One of those captured was 

 said to have had GOO barrels of oil on board.) The returning vessels 

 brought in 12,000 barrels of oil, valued at £18 per ton, £27,000. In 

 September, Captain Smith entered at Boston from Davis Straits. 



1T57. 



Capt. Nathaniel Woodbury, in a whaling-sloop from Nantucket, was 

 captured by the French privateer Revenge, about the middle of August, 

 east of the Grand Bank. He had no oil on board at the time, and his 

 vessel was restored to him with the warning that another privateer was 

 cruising in that viciuity. Woodbury immediately made the best of his 

 way to Nantucket, arriving there early in September. 



B75§. 



Two whaling-sloops were captured this year by a privateer brig from 

 Mississippi, and the sloop Industry, Isaiah Eldredge, master,* was cap- 

 tured by a French privateer. 



1760. 



A whaling- vessel from Nantucket was captured by a French privateer 

 sloop of 12 guns, but released after the Frenchman had put on board of 



her the crew of sloop , Luce master, which they had taken full 



of oil a few days before, and burned. Another privateer, mounting 14 

 guns, took several whalemen ; one of them was ransomed for $400, and 

 the crews of all put on board of her and lauded at Newport. Sloop 

 Polly (G5 tons), of Martha's Vineyard, owned by John Norton, esq. and 

 others, made a voyage from that port. The sloops Goodluck, Dolphin, 

 and Success, owned by Jos. Conkling, John Foster, and others, are said 

 to have sailed from Sag Harbor, in this pursuit, to Disco Island. 



1761i 



Ten vessels, of from 70 to 90 tons burden each, cleared from Massa- 

 chusetts for the St. Lawrence fishery. Names of captains engaged in 

 the fishery, so far as are now known, t John Clasby, Seth Folger, 



Jenkins, Dunham, Allen, Pease, Thomas 



Gibbs, John Akin, Ephraim Delano, Thomas Nye, Shearman. 



* Probably from Dartmouth. 



t From the log of the Betsey. See Ricketsoti's History of New Bedford. 



