THE AMEMICAN WHALEMAN. 51 



CHAPTER IV. 



A brave, righteous Man first Settler of Nantucket. — Early English and 

 Dutch History of Whaling. — Bounties and Immunities granted by Brit- 

 ain. — Captain Wilkes's Picture of American Whaling. — Preparation to 

 weather the Cape. — Able Seamanship of our Whale Captains. — Con- 

 stant Vigilance of Captain B , and slight Toss of Whalemen. — 



Where the Whaleman shows to best advantage. — Run to 62° S. lati- 

 tude, and meet a favoring Gale. — The "Lay" and Pibre of a Cape 

 Yarn : Hinton's last Passage around. — The gieat icy Barrier, and Home 

 of Mother Carey. — A Gale of Wind in the Ice. 



The first white who settled the island of Nantucket was 

 Thomas Macy, a brave, righteous man, a hater of tyranny, 

 a contemner of religious bigotry, a hero in every particular 

 fibre of his being, right worthy of founding a comruunity so 

 virtuous, hardy, and adventurous, whose members by their 

 lives have made 'their desert island a monument of human 

 enterprise more enduring than bronze or marble. 



" Having my hand in," said the school-master, " I would 

 like to reach down into the ages and show you bow ancient 

 is our craft, and how honorable it was held above all other 

 commercial enterprises by the rulers of the Old World, and 

 how desirable was the business to the governments of great 

 nations. I would like to show you how princely bounces 

 to the merchant, and privileged exemption to the mariners, 

 have failed in hiring England's sea-dogs to hunt the grandest 

 of ocean's game. Thus you may realize what the American 

 has done, unaided save by his natural attributes, in winning 

 unexampled success in this grand and hazardous vocation. 



" That our craft excited a lively interest in the English at 



