685 A. EF. Verrill—The Bermuda Islands. 273 
Governor Heydon and Council reported to the Bermuda Company, 
June 22, 1669, that according to the husband’s account, in 1664, 44 
hogsheads of “whale oyl with blubber” and ‘400 weight of ftins ” 
[bone] were sent to London in the “ Elias”; in 1666, 117 hhds. of 
oil ; in 1667, 474 tuns of oil. Im all, 131 tuns of oil had been sent 
in four years. 
Governor Coney, in 1685, reported to the Royal Committee that 
about fourteen whales had been killed that year, but no account of 
the oil had been made to him, for the people claimed it as their own 
property. He stated that a large whale was then worth £80. 
After the Bermudas became a crown colony, in 1685, the whale 
fishery was carried on with greater activity than before, especially 
as the cultivation of tobacco had become unprofitable and was rap- 
idly abandoned, about 1700. But during most of the 18th century 
a special license to carry on this fishery was required, for which a 
considerable fee was charged by the governor. The fishery did not 
become free till the time of Governor Brown, 1782, or about the 
close of the Revolutionary War. Perhaps this measure was due 
partly to the poverty of the people and the lack of other commer- 
cial resources, at that time, for the war caused very hard times in 
Bermuda, as did the subsequent war with France. 
However, the continuous killing of the whales, during the 18th 
century and later, gradually reduced their numbers, so that for the 
past fifty years they have been rarely captured. In fact, for forty 
or fifty years, the Sperm Whale has apparently been much more 
frequently taken than the Hump-back. 
As the Hump-back is a migratory whale, visiting the West Indies 
in winter and the New England coast in summer, the fishery at Ber- 
muda was not the only cause of its decrease in numbers. Probably 
the New England whale fishermen killed as many, and perhaps 
many more, than the Bermudians.* ‘This was certainly the case. with 
the Biscay Whales, which were formerly taken in large numbers off 
the New England coast, but apparently only in small numbers at 
Bermuda. 
* From 1765 to 1770, there were from 100 to 125 American vessels engaged in 
whaling, taking from 11,000 to 19,000 bbls. of oil annually. From 1771 to 1775 
the average annual number was 304 vessels, tonnage 27,840, sperm oil taken 
39,390 bbls.; other whale oil 8,650 bbls. In 1839, 557 American vessels, mostly 
from New England, were engaged in this fishery ; in 1842 the number was 652 ; 
in 1846, 675 ships, 35 brigs, and 22 schooners, with a total tonnage of 233,189 
tons. 
