History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 18

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1818

USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 18

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Our harbor became a rendezvous for privateers, and many prizes were brought here and valuable

1 That part of Dartmouth which became New Bedford was known as the Acushena country. The village which was afterwards known as Cushnet (the name is spelled in half a dozen different ways in the old records) formed one of the three territorial divisons of Dartmouth, and was thus recognized for all the purposes of municipal arrangements and taxation. The other two were Ponagansett (Dartmouth) and Coak- sett (Westport).

"Cushenag" was taxed " for the publicke charges of the countrey, as they were ordered by the Court for this yeare, respecting the officers' wages and charge of the magistrate's table, £1 10 00." This was the terri- tory in the neighborhood of the Acushnet River. "The farmes against Road Iland" were also taxed. These " farmes" were upon that part of the territory afterwards called Dartmouth which bordered upon the province of Rhode Island .- Old Colony Records, 1661.

HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

cargoes landed, either to be stored in our warehouses or forwarded into the interior.

It was to punish the people of the town for their offenses in fitting out and harboring privateers, and to destroy the shipping and valuable stores which were collected here, that Maj .- Gen. Grey, under orders from Sir Henry Clinton, made the raid of Sept. 5 and 6, 1778, which destroyed a large portion of the property of the village and inflicted a blow which crippled it for years. This event, which is the most prominent one in our local Revolutionary history, is faithfully portrayed in Chapter VIII. in this work.

But at last the war was ended. When the news came to this little village that the ship "Bedford," Capt. William Mooers master, had arrived in the Downs on the 23d day of February, 1783, the very day of the signing of the preliminary treaty of peace, and had straightway proceeded to London with her cargo of five hundred and eighty-seven barrels of oil, displaying there for the first time the United States flag, with its Stars and Stripes, then the people of the village believed that peace with its blessings had come, and they were ready to begin again the work of re- building the town. This ship " Bedford" was built by Ichabod Thomas on North River, Pembroke, and delivered to Joseph Roteh, at Bedford, Jan. 13, 1772, as appears by the receipt, which is still extant. She was named by the owner for his adopted town, and sailed from this harbor before the war.

It was a remarkable coincidence that the war, which had been precipitated in the destruction of the tea in Boston Harbor, thrown overboard from the " Dartmouth," a ship owned by Francis Rotch, of this same village, and built in 1767 at the foot of Middle Street, should have associated with its close the advent in English waters of the ship " Bedford" as the first vessel floating the American flag in any British port. The names of the mother-town and of the village are thus made memorable in our Revolu- tionary history.

Our municipal existence as a separate town oe- curred in 1787, when both New Bedford and West- port were by acts of ineoporation severed from the old township of Dartmouth.

To show how carefully our fathers protected, even in their legislation, the feelings of the minority in matters of domicil and local government, let us quote a sentence from the aet : " Provided, nevertheless, that any of the inhabitants now dwelling on the above-de- scribed lands, who are or may be still desirous of be- longing to the town of Dartmouth, shall at any time within two years from the passing of this act, by re- turning their names into the secretary's office and signifying their desire of belonging to said Dartmouth, have that privilege, and shall, with their polls and estates, belong to and be a part of the said town of Dartmouth."

New Bedford was required to pay all its arrears of taxes to Dartmouth, and its proportionate part of the

unpaid beef tax, so called, together with its propor- tion of all other debts. It was provided that the town's stock of powder and other town's property should be estimated and divided, and that New Bed- ford should pay to Dartmouth for the workhouse standing within the line of New Bedford.

The population of New Bedford, according to the next eensus taken in 1790, was three thousand three hundred and thirteen ; Dartmouth had two thousand four hundred and ninety-nine ; and Westport, two thousand four hundred and sixty-six.

The leading business men of this period were Wil- liam Rotch, Sr., the wealthiest man of the town, esti- mated to be worth over one hundred thousand dol- lars, his son William Roteh, Jr., and his son-in-law, Samuel Rodman. Then followed the various mem- bers of the Russell and Howland families, Thomas Hazzard, Jr., and the Hathaways, who were all " well to do." There were others without the pres- tige of wealth, but yet of great influence in the town, such as Caleb Congdon and Abraham Smith, and not to be omitted, the Davis family, famous for its Quaker preachers. The wealthy people were models of in- dustry and economy ; actuated by a sense of duty, they thought it necessary to show an example of prudence, diligence, and unostentation to others, and their influence in this regard was of the greatest benefit to the community. Their style of living was plain and rational.

In 1795 there was a Congregational meeting-house at the Head of the River and another in the Bedford village. Dr. West officiated at each on alternate Sundays.

At this time there was one doctor, Ebenezer Perry, the son of a physician, and called a "safe doctor," who charged sixpence a visit. There was only one lawyer in the village, Thomas Hammond, rarely found in his office, and concerning whom tradition says that shooting and fishing were his favorite pur- suits. There was one schoolmaster, Cornelius Wing, and one schoolmistress, Temperance Jennings. Mr. Wing was preceded by William Sawyer Wall, of English birth, a person much beloved, and who ex- erted a great influence in the community. He was first and foremost in the educational and scientific efforts of that day, and his name appears as the first president of the Dialectie Society, the earliest literary association of the town, and which did much for its culture, refinement, and scholarship.

At the elose of the war of the Revolution our people sought to regain their prosperity and commercial im- portance. Although crippled in resources they were not disheartened, but sought with their old vigor to re-establish their fortunes by their former pursuits upon the seas. They looked to the broad oceans, common and free to all men as the air itself, to yield them rich harvests as they had in the past.

But there were other difficulties besides the replace- ment of the vessels which had been burned by the

NEW BEDFORD.

British or had rotted in disuse. The British govern- ment, as if to distress us even after peace, imposed a heavy alien duty upon oil, which rendered it impos- sible to realize a profit from the prosecution of the business. Her policy was to force this industry to her own harbors. For a time it seemed successful, and many Nantucket and New Bedford whalemen made their voyages from English and French ports. But the persuasiveness and address of William Rotch, Sr., secured to us, first from France and then from Great Britain, the privilege of sending our oil to those countries free of duty, thereby enabling him -- as one of his biographers has said-to carry on the business with the highest profit and to benefit his neighbors.

The success which attended the efforts of our citi- zens may be judged by the statement of vessel ton- nage owned and sailing from this harbor in January, 1804. The total number of registered vessels was fifty-nine, amounting to thirteen thousand six hun- dred and twenty-one tons; and of enrolled vessels there were five thousand five hundred and twenty-five tons ; making an aggregate of nineteen thousand one hundred and forty-six tons. The freighting business was quite important at that time. There were thirty ships and brigs, averaging two hundred tons burden, owned and fitted here, employed in general freighting, making their voyages to Europe, South America, and the West Indies.

But the work of developing this industry of the whale fishery during the early years of the nineteenth century was slow and difficult. The embargo came and ruined many of our merchants ; and prior to that, in 1807, in consequence of the Berlin and Milan De- crees and the Orders in Council, there were thirty ships laid up in New Bedford on account of the hazards attending them at sea.

There was no marked improvement in this business until after the close of the war of 1812. The politics of the inhabitants of New Bedford from the close of the Revolution to the war of 1812 was Federalist, and they had given bitter, decided, and partisan expres- sion to their opinions in opposition to this latter war. This may perhaps have been influenced by the severe reverses experienced in business. Many of our ships in the Pacific were captured ; and while a few were recaptured by Porter and Downes, most of them were destroyed or used as transports by the British.

After the termination of this war, the whale fishery, especially as prosecuted at New Bedford, advanced with great rapidity and wonderful success.

But before proceeding to the local development of this industry, I desire to sketch briefly, in chronolog- ical order, the seas and oceans which had been opened in the pursuit of whales. As early as 1770, Nantucket had sought the "right" whale off Disco, in Green- land, going as high as 81º north latitude. In 1774, New Bedford had sent vessels to the Falkland Islands. In 1784 we find our New England whalemen taking seals and whales around Patagonia and in the Southern 1

Ocean. In 1789 they are about Madagascar and the Cape of Good Hope. In 1791 the whaleships entered the Pacific Ocean. We are told that the vessels were small, poorly fitted, and insufficiently prepared for the long and often boisterous passages around Cape Horn. But in one thing they excelled,-in the character of the men who engaged in these perilous voyages. History cannot point to an enterprise prose- cuted with more vigor and courage, with more hardi- hood and intelligence, than that displayed by the pioneers in the Pacific whale fishery. I cannot for- bear mentioning the name of one whom you all re- member ; for his genial, courteous manners, his kind and obliging heart, his clear comprehension and prompt decision endeared him to us who knew him in his old age, and assured us that the commendation bestowed upon him seventy years ago for "his pru- dence, courage, and fortitude" were richly deserved. The whale fishery has produced many noble men, but none more praiseworthy than that hero and veteran of the sea, Edmund Gardner.

It is asserted that the ship " Rebecca," of New Bed- ford, owned by Joseph Russell & Sons and Cornelius Howland, named for Joseph Russell's oldest daugh- ter, the grandmother of our esteemed fellow-citizen Daniel Ricketson, was the first American whaleship that doubled Cape Horn. She sailed from this port Sept. 28, 1791, under command of Joseph Kersey, and returned with a full cargo of sperm oil, obtained on the coast of Chili, on the 23d February, 1793.

In 1800 our whalers were cruising on the coast of Peru and around the Gallapagos Islands. In 1818 they were on the "Off-shore ground." In 1820 they had captured whales on the coast of Japan. In 1836 our vessels were taking oil on Kodiak, the northwest coast of America ; and in 1848 the bark "Superior," of Sag Harbor, Capt. Roys, passed through Behring Strait and opened up to us the vast wealth of the Arctic grounds.

There are many incidents connected with the earlier voyages which deserve a permanent record, and the narrative would prove an entertaining one. I will recall one or two of the " good voyages," as they were called, of forty years ago. In October, 1838, the ship " William Hamilton," of New Bedford, owned by I. Howland, Jr., & Co., commanded by William Swain, brought home a cargo of four thousand and sixty barrels of sperm oil; her entire catch during the voyage, including the shipment from the Western Islands on her passage out, being four thousand one hundred and eighty-one barrels of sperm oil.

Capt. Daniel Wood, remembered by many in this audience, a fine specimen of our whaling-masters, whose clear judgment and inrpartial decisions fitted him, after active service upon the ocean, to act as port warden in settlements between owners and under- writers, brought to New Bedford in the year 1833, in the old ship " Braganza," nearly four thousand bar- rels of sperm oil; and George B. Worth, another of

HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

those generous, large-hearted old sailors, brought in the " Magnolia" to her owners three thousand four hundred and fifty-one barrels. But in those days of large " catch" there were low prices.

In the prosecution of the whale fishery New Bed- ford has surpassed all other places that have engaged in the business, and her increase in wealth from this cause was rapid and large. From the year 1820 until the year 1857 her prosperity and her accumulation of wealth were continuous almost without exception.

Space will not permit the detail of figures showing this wonderful increase of material prosperity. A few must serve to illustrate our progress,-

On the 1st day of August, 1835, our tonnage was .... 73,982 On the 1st day of August, 1845, our tonnage was .... 116,569

At this last-named date New Bedford was the fourth tonnage district in the United States,-New York, Boston, and New Orleans alone exceeding it. There was more than double the amount of registered ton- nage owned in New Bedford that there was in Phila- delphia.

During the year 1844 there were brought into New Bedford,-

Sperm oil

54,309 barrels. =

Whale oil.

102,992

157,501

Whalebone 978,592 pounds,

which at the prices of that time-low as compared with the present-yielded a total value for the whaling of the year of $3,063,324.15.

About this time our people thought that the popu- lation, business, and commercial importance of the town entitled it to receive the municipal organization of a city, and New Bedford received its city charter in 1847. The town government had existed sixty years. The population had increased from three thousand to fifteen thousand. Fairhaven, which had been organized as a separate town in 1812 from the territory of New Bedford, had at this date a popu- lation exceeding four thousand, which swelled the aggregate of population residing upon the original territorial limits to over nineteen thousand.

The whaling industry of New Bedford reached its highest point, in capital, in vessels, and tonnage, in 1857. Its fleet of three hundred and twenty-nine ships and whaling outfits was worth more than twelve million of dollars and required ten thousand seamen.

The largest importations of oil and bone were in 1851 and 1853. The quantities of each, with the prices realized from their sale, were as follows :

1851.

99,591 barrels sperm oil, at $1.2714 per gallon.

$3,991,980.75

328,483 barrels whale oil, at .451 4 per gallon

4,682,114.56

3,966,500 pounds whalebone, at

.3415

1,368,442.50

$10,042,537.81

1853.

103,077 barrels sperm oil, at $1.2434 per gallon

$4,050,539.56

260,114 barrels whale oil, at 5,652,300 pounds whalebone, at

.5816 per gallon

4,762,524.77

.3412

1,950,043.50

$10,763,107.83

I have mentioned the prominent merchants who were identified with the prosecution of the whale fishery in its carlier years. There are other names which should not be omitted, since the men who took the places of the pioneers achieved much of the suc- cess. John Avery Parker, George Howland, Isaac Howland, Jr., Humphrey Hathaway, John and James Howland, and William C. Nye were men of great business sagacity, financial skill, painstaking indus- try, and unquestioned integrity. The large fortunes left behind by many of them show how fully these qualities had been exercised and how abundantly rewarded. From 1824 to 1830 there were new count- ing-rooms opened, representing what was then called the "middling interest," and, occupied by Abraham Barker, David R. Greene, Joseph Bourne, Alfred Gibbs, and others. These men boldly claimed a share of the whaling business, and aided materially in making its progress continuous and rapid. We have also active whaling merchants of the present day, possessing the venturesome business enterprise of their predecessors.

Two events, although comparatively recent, must be mentioned in order to render complete the history of our fishery,-the depredations by the rebel cruisers during the war of the Rebellion and the loss of our Arctic fleet in 1871.

Early in our civil war the torch of the rebel cruisers carried dismay in our whaling fleets. In the summer of 1862 the Confederate steamer " Alabama," under command of Admiral Semmes, in the vicinity of the Azores, burned many of our vessels, and during the war the "Florida" and "Sumter" added to the de- struction. But the great loss occurred in June, 1865, when the "Shenandoah," having recruited at Mel- bourne for an Arctic cruise, entered into Behring Strait. Here the unsuspecting whalemen, pursuing their vocation amid the ice and fogs of that frozen region, were suddenly met by a danger which they could neither resist nor avoid. This armed steamer, the "Shenandoah," Capt. Waddell, was in their midst, and the work of destruction was rapid and thorough. Twenty-five ships, most of them of large size, were captured and burned, besides four others captured but bonded by the privateer for the purpose of furnishing transportation to some friendly port for the eight hundred sailor prisoners, who with sad hearts, fifteen thousand miles from home, had seen their burning ships, with the products of their toil and danger and their prospective hopes of success, sinking beneath the waves.

Among the incidents of this rebel raid should be mentioned the praiseworthy action of Capt. Ebenezer Nye, of the " Abigail," after the loss of his ship, in saving, as far as possible, the fleet from destruction. The "Milo" had been captured and bonded, and had received on board a large number of prisoners. Dur- ing the following night Capt. Nye organized an ex- pedition of two boats, and at early dawn left the

NEW BEDFORD.

" Milo." While the "Shenandoah" was pursuing her piratical work, these brave men, following along the fields of ice, pulled north in their open boats one hundred and eighty miles, and there found a number of defenseless whalers, giving them the information which saved them from capture. It was a gallant act, prompted by the humanity and executed with the cool determination of the hardy sailors.

Fifty whaling vessels were captured by the rebel cruisers, of which forty-six, with outfits and cargoes, were burned. Of this number twenty-eight sailed from and were owned in New Bedford. The loss of ships and outfits belonging here exceeded one million of dollars, and of oil and bone on board four hundred thousand dollars.

Following is a list of whaling vessels destroyed by the " Alabama" and other rebel cruisers during the Rebellion, with the amount of oil on board. All ex- cept the first three named were captured by vessels fitted out from the British dominions.

IS6I.

Sperm. Whale. Bbls. Bbls.

Schooner John Adams, Provincetown)

Schooner Mermaid,

215

Brig Parana,

1862.

Ship Benjamin Tucker, New Bedford

350

Bark Eben Dodge,

clean

Bark Elisha Dunbar,

Ship Levi Starbuck,

Bark Virginia,

Ship Ocean Rover, Mattapoisett 710 50

Schooner Altamaha, Sippican. clean

Ship Ocmulgee, Edgartown .. 250

Schooner Courser, Provincetown clean

Schooner Weather-Gage, Provincetown.

Bark Alert, New London.

1310

1863.

Bark Lafayette, New Bedford. 170

Bark Nye, 350

150

Schooner Kingfisher, Fairhaven. 170

Brig Kate Cory, Westport. 155

Schooner Rienzi, Provincetown 75

920

160

1864.

Bark Edward, New Bedford 100

Bark Golconda, =

1037

650

1037

750

1865.

Bark Abigail, New Bedford

Ship Brunswick, New Bedford

200

Bark Congress, 66

360

Ship Euphrates,

320

Ship Hector,

275

Ship Hillman,

200

Ship Isaac llowland, New Bedford 160

480 300

Bark Jireh Swift,

400

Bark Martha (2d), 46

200

Ship Nassau,

100

Bark Nimrod,

110

Ship Sophia Thornton, .clean

400

Ship William Thompson, New Bedford.

250

Bark Favorite, Fairhaven. 300

200

Bark Covington, Warren 100

Bark Catherine, New London.

200

Ship General Williams, New London 200

Bark Edward Carey, San Francisco. 275

Brig Susan Abigail, = clean

Bark William C. Nye,

150

Bark Ilarvest, Honolulu. 300

Bark Pearl, .6 .clean

1710

4100

Sperm. Whale. Bbls. Bbls.

25 New Bedford vessels.

2 Fairhaven vessels 210

1 Maltapoisett vessel. 470

I Sippican vessel clean

1 Westport vesse] 155

I Edgartown vessel .. 250

6 Provincetown vessels. 290

1 Warren vessel

100

3 New London vessels 400

3 San Francisco vessels 275

150

2 Ilonolulu vessels. 300

46 vessels. 5192

5060

But the most memorable of all the disasters which have attended this perilous business was that of Sep- tember, 1871, when in a single day thirty-three ships were abandoned in the Arctic Ocean, hopelessly crushed or environed in the ice. This large fleet of the most costly ships in the service, caught between the jaws of the ice floes, drifted with the westerly gales until the immense fields of ice reached the shore, when they were crushed like egg-shells. It was a sad and terrible calamity, not merely in its loss of property, but more in the hardship and suffering of twelve hundred shipwrecked men. Hemmed in" by the ice which lines the shores of a barren country, where neither food nor fuel could be obtained, these men well knew that if driven upon the beach, ten or eleven dreary winter months must elapse before as- sistance could reach them, and that in the long inter- val death would come to most of them by starvation or cold. In their peril an expedition of three boats was fitted out under command of Capt. Frazier, of the "Florida," to go south over the ice, and if possible find vessels in the open sea. The written appeal for relief which these shipwrecked captains sent to who- ever it might reach was full of touching, pathetic eloquence. It was the appeal of brave men in dis- tress to brave men who could realize the fearful peril.

A toilsome and anxious journey of seventy miles between packs of ice brought the little expedition to the open sea south of Icy Cape, and there the sight of ships gladdened their hearts. It needed no appeal for succor, no promise of reward, for the warm hearts of brother-sailors were ready to save their comrades, although at the heavy loss of an abandonment of their own voyages and the earnings of a year. Capt. Fra- zier returned to the wrecks off Point Belcher with the joyous tidings of relief, and these twelve hundred men, taking with them in boats such provisions as they could carry, made their way over and through the ice fields to the rescuing vessels without the loss of one of their number.

Of the thirty-three vessels crushed or abandoned, twenty-two belonged in New Bedford, and were val- ued, with outfits, without the oil and bone on board, at one million and ninety thousand dollars.

Whaling reached its culminating point in 1856 or 1857. Since then it has declined, and now our fleet numbers only about one-third of the vessels it once did. There have been disasters in connection with this pursuit. The captures by the English in the war of 1812, the captures by rebel cruisers, and the loss

2742 4150

710

Bark Waverly, 50

200

Bark Gypsey,

Bark Isabella,

HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

of the Arctic fleet were heavy blows. Natural causes, which need not be mentioned, have led to its depres- sion, almost to its downfall. But the historical fact which interests us is that New Bedford has been built up by the whale fishery. A large share of the wealth of to-day comes from this source. It has made our community what it is.

This large accumulation of wealth has been obtained by the well-directed enterprise and persevering in- dustry of the people of New Bedford, and belongs to the people of New Bedford. The capital of non-resi- dents has not aided us. It has been drawn from the broad fields of the ocean with much toil and manifold dangers, with perils from the ice and fogs and storms of frozen regions, and exposure and disease under the

hot burning sun of the equator. It has been a cre- ation of wealth by the skill of the merchant and the hardy daring of the sailor, and not a mere exchange of wealth. Without surveys of the seas and bays which it made its cruising-grounds,-for our brave sea- men went in advance of exploration,-without boun- ties, without aid from government, but contributing largely to it in its consumption of dutiable articles, and overcoming European competition, the people of New Bedford obtained the control of the whale fish- ery, and made their city the great whale-oil market of the world. Few parallels can be found in this or any country of such successful enterprise.

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History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 18

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1818

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1818