USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, vol 2 > Part 2
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In the early stages of the whaling business sloops of only forty or fifty tons were employed. These vessels ventured out to sea in the summer months only, and no further than the Capes of Virginia and Cape Hatteras, and took especial care to return to port before the equinoctial gales in September. They were generally suc- cessful in taking sperm whales, and brought home the blubber and tried it out on shore. As their experience increased larger vessels were employed, and they ventured. as far as the bay of Mexico. And finally, during his life, ships ventured around Cape Horn to the Pacific ocean for sperm whales.
Joseph Russell first established a sperm oil factory in New Bedford. The building stood on the north side of the square at the foot of Center street. The art of refining spermaceti in those days was known to but a few men, and kept by them a profound secret. Joseph Russell employed a Mr. Chaffee for a number of years to do his refining at a salary of $500 per year-an enormous sum for those days. While at work he was shut up by himself, and no one was allowed to be present, that no one should steal his wonderful art.
Joseph Russell was a shrewd, enterprising man. At one time he carried on an extensive mercantile business. In 1770, in company with his son Barnabas, he owned in addition to his whaling vessels several trading with southern ports and the West Indies. They kept a store at the foot of Center street, and imported their goods from London. The Revolutionary War put an end to their prosperity. Their vessels were taken and their losses by the depreciation of the Continental money left them at the close of the war with but little beside their real estate.
The ship "Rebecca" was the first ship built in New Bedford. She was launched in the spring of 1785. George Claghorn, who afterward built the frigate "Constitution," the pride of our navy, was the master carpenter. The "Rebecca" was owned by Joseph Russell and his sons, Barnabas and Gilbert. The timber of which she was built was largely cut in the southwesterly part of the town. She measured about 175 tons, which was considered so immensely large that she was the wonder and admiration of the surrounding country. People from Taunton, Bridgewater and all of the neighboring towns came to New Bedford to see the big ship. There was a woman figurehead carved for her and when it was about being put upon her a member of the Society of Friends remonstrated against so vain and useless an ornament, and she went to sea without it. A mock funeral service was held and the figurehead of "Rebecca" was buried in the sand. Joseph Russell's sons were the prime movers in the ceremony.
The owners of the "Rebecca" had some difficulty in finding a man of sufficient ex- perience to trust with the command of so big a ship. James Haydon was finally selected for her captain, and Cornelius Grinnell her first mate. She sailed on her first voyage to Philadelphia, from there to Liverpool. Mr. Grinnell was her captain on the second voyage, and he commanded her for six years.
The "Rebecca" was the first American whaleship to double Cape Horn. She was commanded by Captain Kearsley and made a successful voyage, obtaining a cargo of sperm oil on the coast of Chile, returning in about twelve months. The "Rebecca" finally made a disastrous end. She sailed from Liverpool for New York in the autumn of 1798, commanded by Captain Andrew Gardner, and was never heard from.
Joseph Rotch came here from Nantucket in 1765, realizing the greater opportunities for the whaling industry here, and purchased a large tract of land. William Rotch came later, bringing with him his son, William Rotch, Jr. They were men of great wealth and built stately mansions with
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beautiful surroundings, "fair as gardens of the Lord." They brought their ships likewise. Several of the vessels of the Rotch fleet achieved great fame. It was the ship "Dartmouth," named by Dartmouth men, that carried the tea into Boston harbor that was thrown over by Revolutionary patriots. It was the ship "Bedford" that was the first to display our flag in British waters. The credit has sometimes been given to the ship "Maria." As a matter of fact the credit belongs to the old ship "Bedford" of this port. It was surpassingly strange that not only the newspapers but Mrs. Farrar, a granddaughter of elder William Rotch, in her "Recollections of Seventy Years," and Mrs. P. A. Hanaford, published the erroneous statement. "I have often heard the old gentleman tell with pride and pleasure," wrote Mrs. Farrar, "that the 'Maria' was the first ship that ever unfurled the flag of the United States in the Thames." Yet the records show that on the date the flag was displayed in the Thames the "Maria" was lying at the wharf at Nantucket. " a rare book, published at the time, contained the following :
The ship "Bedford," Captain Mooers, belonging in Massachusetts, arrived in the Downs on the 3d of February, passed Gravesend on the 3d, and was reported at the custom house on the 6th inst. She was not allowed regular entry until some consul- tation had taken place between the commissioners of the customs and the lords of council, on account of the many acts of Parliament in force against the rebels of America. She was loaded with 487 butts of whale oil, is American built, manned wholly by American seamen, and wears the rebel colors. This is the first vessel that has displayed the thirteen rebellious stripes of America in any British port. The vessel is at Horseledour, a little below the Tower, and is intended to return immediately to New England.
In a letter to Hezekiah Barnard, dated at New Bedford, 8th mo., 3d, 1842, William Rotch, Jr., thus speaks of the "Bedford" and her voyage:
In 1781 Admiral Digby granted thirty licenses for our vessels to go after whales. I was then connected with my father and Samuel Rodman in business. Considerable oil was obtained in 1782. In the fall of that year I went to New York and procured licenses from Admiral Digby for the "Bedford," William Mooers, master, and I think the "Industry," John Chadwick, master. They loaded. The "Bedford" sailed first, ar- riving in the Downs, February 23, the day of the signing of the preliminary treaty of peace between the United States, France and England, and went up to London, and there displayed for the first time the United States flag. The "Industry" arrived after- wards, and was, I suppose, the second to display it. The widow of George Hayley, who did much business with New England, would visit the old "Bedford" and see the flag displayed. She was the sister of the celebrated John Wilkes.
William Rotch, Jr., might have added to his notice of Mme. Hayley that a more intimate connection with the Rotches than a visit to the ship was contemplated, for Mme. Hayley was at one time betrothed to Francis Rotch.
Even if the "Maria" is deprived of the erroneous fame attributed to her, she yet remains the most interesting vessel, perhaps, that ever sailed from this port. She was built for a privateer at Pembroke, Massachusetts, in 1782. She was purchased by William Rotch, and taken to Nantucket, from whence she made a voyage to London with a cargo of oil. After the voyage she was employed in whaling, and was owned by Samuel Rodman. It is a tradition that she was a bridal present from Mr. Rodman's father- in-law, Mr. Rotch, on the occasion of the marriage of his daughter. In all she made twenty-seven voyages, and is credited with having taken about 25,000 barrels of sperm oil, whale oil, and many thousand pounds of
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whalebone. It is said that in 1859 $250,000 stood to her credit. She had been of but little expense to her underwriters.
On July 4, 1785, when the "Maria" sailed for London with a cargo of oil, Mr. Rotch and his son Benjamin went in her as passengers to induce the English government to permit the establishment of the whale fishery in England. Mr. Rotch had several interviews with the leaders of the government, and, getting no satisfaction, he went to France and had an interview with the King, which resulted in establishing the industry at Dunkirk. Returning to England in the "Maria", Mr. Rotch had the satis- faction of telling the English they were too late, France having accepted the offer of which England was slow to take advantage.
When the "Maria" was fifty years old, she had made four voyages to London, thirteen to Brazil banks, then a famous whaling ground; one to the Indian ocean, one to the Falkland islands, and eighteen to the Pacific ocean. In 1836 the "Maria" sailed, but returned, having been struck by lightning. In 1838 she was changed from a ship to a bark, and in 1849 sailed for the Indian ocean. While on this cruise the bark's career was nearly ended. She was seized by the natives of the Johanna islands. Captain Morris, then in command, was imprisoned. The bark was after- wards released and spared the fate of burning, which was frequently dealt by the natives in those times.
The "Maria" sailed for this port September 29, 1859, on what was destined to be her last voyage under the American flag. She was then seventy-seven years old, and had been owned by Mr. Rotch and his descend- ants all the time. To avoid the risk of capture by rebel cruisers she was sold February 24, 1863, at Talcahuano, Chile, to Burton & Trumbull, and her name was changed to "Maria Pachaco." She was used as a coaler until 1866, when she was fitted for whaling under command of David Briggs, of Dartmouth, Massachusetts. She continued under the Chilean flag in the whaling and coal carrying business until 1870. Then she was used as an oil receiving ship until 1872, when she took fire and was con- demned. With her breaking up at Vancouver Island, her strange eventful history was brought to a close.
The War of the Revolution nearly destroyed the whaling business, and when peace was restored there was great rejoicing, and then came a stunning blow. Great Britain, as William W. Crapo tells us, had enacted a law which in effect prohibited the importation of American caught oil into the kingdom. The purpose of the law was apparent. The New England catch was in excess of the demand for home consumption, and unless there was an outlet for the surplus, which had been largely through London, there could be no extension of the industry; and, with the surplus thrown upon a market which did not require it, the return would be unre- munerative, which would lead to reduction of the fleet and the possible abandonment of the enterprise. Great Britain did not pass the law for the purpose of protecting an existing British industry, nor to encourage or promote a new British industry. Far from it. The words of Edmund Burke in his famous speech in Parliament a few years before, when remon- strating against the war with the colonies, were still ringing in the ears of the Britons. He told them of a people living on the New England coast, few in number, who surpassed in maritime adventure and daring the
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people of every nation in Europe. With rare and impressive eloquence he had portrayed their marvelous triumphs on the ocean. He said they were a people whom equinoctial heats did not disturb, nor the accumulated winters of the poles. That there was no ocean that was not vexed with their vessels, and no climate that did not witness their toil. He spoke of them as people still "in the gristle," as it were, and not yet hardened in the bone of manhood. England was ambitious to be the mistress of the seas, and she feared that the new nation, should it become strong and powerful, might some day challenge her sovereignty of the ocean. Hence she would throttle and destroy at the outset an industry that bred such a race of seamen.
William Rotch went to London. He interviewed the leading public men of that time. He met members of Parliament and urged the repeal of the obnoxious law. He was received with coldness. After long and vexatious delay the matter was referred to the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Hawksbury. Realizing that he could not obtain the annulment of the law Mr. Rotch still hoped that some agreement would be reached whereby to secure the continuance of the New England whale fishery. He suggested that an English port be designated where American whaleships could enter to make repairs and to purchase the equipment and supplies for their voyage, thereby furnishing employment to English workmen and profit to English tradesmen, and on the completion of the voyages such vessels might reenter that port and discharge their cargoes, which would be sold and distributed by English merchants who would receive a liberal compensation for their service. Mr. Rotch had in mind, if this concession was granted, that the ships owned in Dartmouth and Nantucket would still fly the American flag and be manned with American sailors.
The concession was not granted,-Lord Hawksbury scornfully saying- "Mr. Rotch, we do not want your ships. England builds ships. What we do want are your men." And so he went to France. He met there mem- bers of the Ministry and explained to them what he wanted to accomplish, and asked for certain privileges and protection. They were granted to him by the government. At Dunkirk he established a business for the marketing of American oil, which he placed in charge of his son Benjamin. Returning to this country he ever afterwards lived in New Bedford, which had separated from the mother town, and never ceased his efforts for the success of the whaling industry for the community to which he had at- tached himself.
In the succeeding generation the prominent whaling merchants were John Avery Parker and George Howland, Sr. They were able men, with full knowledge of all matters pertaining to the fishery. They were enter- prising, venturesome, efficient and successful. They added many ships to our fleet, and they greatly increased the wealth of the town.
Among the men of that period who had an important part in our special industry was Isaac Howland, Jr., the founder and active manager of the firm which bore his name. His firm is remembered by the magnitude of it operations and the gainful results. The remarkable house founded by Isaac Howland, Jr., is represented and crystallized in the famous Hetty Green. Isaac Howland, Jr., was a little man, weighing only ninety-five pounds. He found it the greatest hardship and toil to accumulate the first thousand dollars. When there were small schooners trading from the
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West Indies, before the seizures which led to the French spoliation claims, the sailors wore silk stockings into port on the Howlands' ships. Isaac Howland, Jr., bought these stockings from the men, washed and ironed them, and resold them at a good profit. This is a feeble structure on which to build a fortune of forty or fifty millions. He could neither read nor write. His one object was money, money, money. He had one daughter who married the famous Uncle Gideon Howland. Uncle Gideon lived on the corner of School and South Water streets. He died in 1847, leaving about $800,000. .
Edward Mott Robinson, the father of Hetty Green, came here penni- less, and married Abby Howland, one of Gideon's daughters. The other daughter was Sylvia Ann Howland, who never married. Robinson was a strange man. He lived a sad and miserable life, and he had few redeeming qualities. Many stories are told of him. One day a young man offered him a cigar. He examined it and asked what it cost. Upon being told that it cost ten cents he handed it back with the remark: "I buy mine two for a cent. If I smoke that one I will have my taste cultivated for good ones, and I don't want that." Of George Howland, Sr., Mary Jane Howland Taber wrote:
He was particular about the names of his ships. There was the "George and Susan," and the "George Howland," and the "Ann Alexander," the name of an Irish friend who was traveling in this country, and the "Corinthian," supposed to refer to Paul's epistles, and the "Golconda," a pleasant association of ideas with the diamond mines of Hindustan, and when he bought of Stephen Girard a merchant vessel named "Rousseau," it was with the intention of fitting her for a whaler and changing her name. As soon as she arrived in this port he had the figurehead of the "infidel" chopped off and thrown into the mud of the dock, where perchance it still reposes. While casting about in his mind for an unexceptional name he was told the name could not be changed. Once "Rousseau," always "Rousseau." He declared he was very much tried, which in worldly parlance might mean very angry, or pretty mad, and talked of sending the ship back to Philadelphia, though of course he was aware that could not be done. This devil's bark proved very lucky, and always made what the sailors call greasy voyages, but when her great catches were reported her owner puffed out his cheeks and emitted a contemptuous "pooh." When he was obliged to speak the name he purposely mispronounced it "Rus-o," and to this day you will hear people speak of the old "Rus-o." She had the longest life of any known ship, lasting from 1801 to 1893. The bracket which supports the bust of George Howland, Jr., in the Free Public Library, is a part of the carved scroll which usurped the place under the bowsprit of the great Frenchman's figurehead, and has ploughed most of the oceans of the globe.
The Golden Age .- In what might be called "The Golden Age" of New Bedford, its whaling vessels in number and tonnage exceeded the combined fleets of all other whaling ports, and New Bedford became known as the foremost whaling port of the world.
In 1845 New Bedford was the fourth tonnage district in the United States, the others being New York, Boston and New Orleans. The reg- istered tonnage of New Bedford at that time was nearly double that of Philadelphia. Seven hundred and thirty-six vessels of all kinds were em- ployed in the business, with a tonnage of 233,262. The greatest import ever received in one year was in 1845, being 158,000 barrels of sperm oil, 272,000 barrels of whale oil, and 3,000,000 pounds of whalebone. The prices then ruled at eighty-eight to ninety and one-half cents for sperm oil; thirty- two and seven-eighths to thirty-six and one-half cents for whale oil; and thirty-three and five-eighths to forty cents for whalebone. The whaleships
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owned in New Bedford would have made a line ten miles in length. The whaleboats which they carried would have extended six miles if strung out in a line, and there were 10,000 strong sailors to man them.
The present generation knows from tradition that New Bedford once ranked among the whaling cities, but there are few, if any, who know what this industry meant in dollars and cents. The literature of the subject has been devoted to the romance, and to certain statistics dealing with vessels employed, dates of sailings and catches; but in this practical day there is no doubt a desire to know what there was in it from the dividend point of view.
An old report on the whale fishery, compiled by James Arnold and made to the National Convention for the Protection of American Interests about the year 1843, recently came to light. It is the property of Frank E. Brown, and gives statistics which have never been compiled elsewhere, and which furnish information on one phase of our historic industry which is of exceeding interest. James Arnold, it may be said, was a son-in-law and partner of William Rotch, Jr., and a famous merchant prince, a "captain of industry," to employ the vernacular of the day. Boston people remem- ber him as the giver of the "Arnold arboretum," and his benefactions to his home city were numerous. There is hardly an institution or charitable society but has its "James Arnold fund." Mr. Arnold made his report from tabular schedules kept at New Bedford. The whole number of vessels employed in the national whale fishery was estimated at 650, tonnaging 193,000 tons, manned by 16,000 officers and men. Of these vessels it was estimated that 360 were employed in the spermaceti and 290 in the common whale fishery.
The total cost of fitting the fleets was $10,610,060. This labor and material was for ordinary outfit, and not for ships requiring repairs, often involving the cost of a new ship. On the basis of these estimates Mr. Arnold estimated the whole value of the ships and outfit as they sail at $20,120,000.
The length of voyages in the sperm fishery at that time was three years, and on the right whale ships twenty months. The proceeds or imports from the fishery in 1841 were $7,359,022, on which the officers and crews would draw for their services on the voyage about thirty per cent., or $2,207,706. These figures show the volume of business and its profits in a form which has not been presented elsewhere. Roughly figured, and based on three-year voyages, they show annual proceeds to the owner on an investment of $20,120,000 of $5,151,316, exclusive of interest and insurance charges and depreciation.
Just a word about the men who were masters and officers of the New Bedford ships in those days. A race of men had been nurtured and trained on these ships who were daring and skillful, with keen, perceptive faculties in pursuit of the big game. They were also able navigators and seamen, upright and careful managers of the property entrusted to them. They were gathered from the town or from the surrounding country. Naturally there was a fascination to the youthful mind. They were the heroes of the port, and they looked to pass the grades of promotion speedily, and in due time to walk the deck as master. And this, those of them who were of the right stuff, really did.
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The position of competent master of a good ship was one to be envied. Even if it did cause for a time separation from home ties and family sur- roundings, it was a position of honor and trust and great responsibility. The master was in charge of life and property, and his word was law, and where he willed he could go. On his discretion and good judgment turned success or failure to many besides himself, on sea and shore. His draft in foreign ports for supplies or requirements bound every individual owner in the ship for the full amount of his disbursements. In this respect the power entrusted to him illustrates the inconsistencies of our human nature ; close, careful men, who on shore would not trust their neighbor with a small portion of their property, who distrusted everyone's judgment and integrity, would placidly repose in the power of a master who was to sail the world around, and had the right to make drafts in any quarter that might easily absorb their all. To the honor of the men who commanded ships and accepted such trusts be it said that instances wherein they were unfaithful to the confidences reposed in them were rare indeed.
The business was an almost perfect instance of cooperative work. The owners furnished ship and all the necessary outfits and advances. Captain, officers and crew took these from their hands, and furnished their capacity and energy to procure the cargo, each man on board to receive a certain pro rata or share, called "lay," of the net result, the distribution being in the proportion of two-thirds to the capital invested, and one-third to labor ; in the latter ability, readily recognized, commanded the highest reward.
No member of a whaleship's crew, from the captain down, received fixed wages. If the ship takes no oil, or disaster overtakes her, the crew have nothing but their existence and labor and pains. Officers and crew are shipped with the promise of a certain percentage of the catch. A captain receives a lay ranging from a tenth or twelfth to a fifteenth, according to his success in previous voyages, which means that one barrel of oil in every ten to fifteen taken is his share. In the case of a foremast hand his lay ranges from one hundred-and-fiftieth to one two-hundredth. The ordinary whaler carries a crew of thirty-five men. The mate receives a lay from an eighteenth to a twenty-fifth, according to agreement. The second mate receives a thirty-fourth, the third mate a forty-fifth, boat-header a fifty- fifth, four boatsteers from a hundred and eighteenth to a hundred and seventh-fifth, cooper a sixty-third, steward a ninetieth, cook a hundred and twentieth and half the slush, green hands from a hundred and seventy-fifth to a hundred and eighty-fifth, boy a two-hundredth, one seaman and one seaman carpenter each a hundred and sixty-fifth, three ordinary seamen each a hundred and seventy-fifth.
As illustrating the aspect of life along the water front of New Bedford during the days when the whaling industry was in its prime the following from "The Mercury" of March 30, 1838, is quoted: "We have the satisfac- tion today of announcing the safe arrival at this port during the last two days of no less than nine vessels employed in the whale fishery, richly freighted with cargoes amounting in the aggregate nearly to 20,000 barrels of sperm and whale oil, and valued at the present prices at more than . $260,000. A considerable portion of these cargoes have been already dis- posed of, and for the quantity remaining to be put on the market, even higher rates will probably be obtained, in consequence of the recent advance
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