206 



MARINE MAMMALS OF THE NORTH-WESTERN COAST. 



farther north and south, became whaling -ports. The subjoined table gives the 

 number of American vessels annually engaged in the enterprise, with the amount 

 and value of oil taken each year from 1762 to 1770, inclusive: 



About 1774, f the fleet was augmented by still larger vessels, J some of which 

 crossed the equator, and obtained full cargoes upon that noted ground called the 

 "Brazil Banks," while others cruised around Cape Verde Islands or the West Indies, 



* Scoresby, in his account of the Whale- Fish- 

 ery of the British Colonies in America, states that 

 there were eighty vessels employed in the Amer- 

 ican fisheries during the year 1763. 



f History of Nantucket, p. 233. 



J St. John, in his Letters, published in 1793, 

 which have previously been referred to, thus de- 

 scribes the mode of whale -fishing at that time: 



' ' The first proprietors of Nantucket, or rath- 

 er the first founders of this town, began their 

 career of industry with a single whale-boat, with 

 which they went to fish for cod ; the small dis- 

 tance from their shores at which they caught it, 

 enabled them soon to increase their business, 

 and those early successes first led them to con- 

 ceive that they might likewise catch the whales, 

 which hitherto sported undisturbed upon their 

 banks. After many trials and several miscar- 

 riages, they succeeded : thus they proceeded, 

 step by step ; the profits of one successful en- 



terprise helped them to purchase and prepare 

 better materials for a more extensive one : as 

 these were attended with little costs, their prof- 

 its grew greater. 



"The south sides of the island, from east to 

 west, were divided into four equal parts ; and 

 each part was assigned to a company of sis, 

 which, though thus separated, still carried on 

 their business in common. In the middle of 

 this distance they erected a mast, provided with 

 a sufHcient number of rounds, and near it they 

 built a temporary hu.t, where five of the asso- 

 ciates lived, whilst the sixth, from his high sta- 

 tion, carefully looked toward the sea, in order 

 to observe the spouting of the whales. As soon 

 as any were discovered, the sentinel descended, 

 the whale-boat was launched, and the company 

 went forth in quest of their game. 



"It may appear strange to you that a vessel 

 so slender as an American whale-boat, containing 



