USA > Massachusetts > Nantucket County > The history of Nantucket County, island, and town : including genealogies of first settlers > Part 47
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As a result of these unnecessarily severe and discriminating measures, for they applied only to the Colonial whalemen, their vessels abandoned the fisheries in that vicinity and pursued their business off the Banks. The close of the season sent the whaling fleet home with a meager catch. It was a condition that could not long continue for England needed the Colonial product; her home fleets could not supply her market and London merchants to whom the Colonial trade was of great importance, joined with the Massachusetts Bay Colony in condemning the short sighted policy of the Pallisser regime. The pressure was too strong for resistance and the Governor was compelled to issue a supplementary. proclamation, which appeared in the Boston papers of January 1767, and was as follows:
"By His Excellency Hugh Palliser, Governor and Commander in Chief in and over the Island of Newfoundland, the Coast of Labradore and all the Territories dependent thereupon:
"Whereas a great many Vessels from His Majesty's Planta- tions employed in the Whale-Fishery resort to that Part of the Gulph of St. Lawrence and the Coast of Labradore which is within this Government; and as I have been informed that some Apprehen- sion have arisen amongst them that by the Regulations made by me relating to the different Fisheries in those Parts, they are wholly precluded from that Coast:
"Notice is hereby given, That the King's Officers stationed in those Parts have always had my Orders to protect, assist and en- courage by every Means in their Power, all Vessels from the Plan- tations employed in the Whale Fishery, coming wihin this Govern- ment; and, pursuant to his Majesty's Orders to me, all Vessels from the Plantations will be admitted to that Coast on the same Footing as they had ever been admitted in Newfoundland; the ancient Practices and Customs established in Newfoundland respect- ing the Cod Fishery, under the Act of Parliament passed in the 10 and 11th Years of William IIId commonly called The Fishing Act, always to be observed .*
"And by my Regulations for the Encouragement of the Whale Fishers, they are also under certain necessary Restrictions therein prescribed, permitted to land and cut up their Whales in Labradore; this is a Liberty that has never been allowed them in Newfoundland because of the Danger of prejudicing the Cod-Fishery carried on by our adventurer's Ships, and by Boat-Keepers from, Britain, law- fully qualified with Fishing-Certificates according to the aforemen- tioned Act, who are fitted out at a very great Risque and Expence in complying with said Act, therefore they must not be liable to have their Voyages overthrown, or rendered precarious by any Means, or by any other Vessels whatever. And
"Whereas great Numbers of the Whaling Crews arriving from the Plantations on the Coast of Labradore early in the Spring con- sidering it as a lawless Country are guilty of all Sorts of Outrages
*Duties on oil imported in British ships were remitted, the com- mander and one-third of each crew being British. Duties on fats, furs and tusks of seal, bear, walrus or other marine animal taken in the Greenland seas were also remitted. Under other acts imported materials used in outfitting were made non-dutiable and bounties were established, amounting in the aggregate to 40s. per ton. bounties and remissions did not apply to the Colonials.
These
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before the Arrival of the King's Ships, plundering whoever they find on the Coast too weak to resist them, obstructing our Ship Adventurers from Britain by sundry Ways, banking amongst their Boats along the Coast, which ruins the Coast-Fishery, and is con- trary to the most ancient and most strictly observed Rule of the Fishery, and must not be suffered on any Account; also by destroy- ing their Fishing-Works on Shore, stealing their Boats, Tackle and Utensils, firing the Woods all along the Coast, and hunting for and plundering, taking away or murdering the poor Indian Natives of the Country; by these Violences, Barbarities, and other notorious Crimes and Enormities, that Coast is in the utmost Confusion, and with Respect to the Indians is kept in a State of War.
"For preventing these Practices in future Notice is hereby given, That the King's Officers stationed in those Parts, are authorized and strictly directed, to apprehend all such Offenders within this Government, and to bring them to me to be tried for the same at the General Assizes at this Place; And for the better Govern- ment of that Country, for regulating the Fisheries, and for pro- tecting His Majesty's Subjects from Insults from the Indians, I have His Majesty's Commands to erect Block Houses, and establish Guards along that Coast.
"This Notification is to be put in the Harbours of Labradore, within my Government, and through the Favour of His Excellency Governor Bernard, Copies thereof will be put up in the Ports within the Province of Massachusetts, where the Whalers mosty belong, for their Information before the next Fishing Season.
"Given under my Hand at St. John's in Newfoundland, this First Day of August, 1766.
HUGH PALLISER.
By Order of His Excellency,
JNO. HORSNAILL."
It is quite easy to read between the lines and see that the Governor's proclamation had two material objectives-first to excuse himself with the home government for his discrimination against the Colonial fishery, and, second, to carry out what he well knew was the policy of the English Ministry to build up the fishery of Great Britain. That this was to be done at the expense of the New England Provinces, that had furnished the men and the money to conquer from the French the fisheries they sought to take advantage of, counted for nothing-the glory and enrich- ment of Great Britain alone was considered. While there might have been an occasional whaling captain who may have merited censure for lawlessness, in the very nature of the case such instances would be rare. Whalemen while pursuing their labors on the coast were obliged to replenish their supplies of wood, water and provisions. It is not at all likely they would wantonly destroy stores they might need or purposely make enemies of the natives with whom they . desired to trade.
Apparently the Provincial whalemen felt no encouragement to continue the fishery in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, even under the modified order of Gov. Palliser, for the Boston News Letter pub- lished a report from Charleston, S. C., dated June 19, 1767, stating that on "the 22. ult. put in here, a sloop belonging to Rhode Island,
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HISTORY OF NANTUCKET
from a Whaling Voyage in the Southern Latitudes, having proved successful about 10 days before. The Master informs us, that near 50 New England Vessels have been on the Whale-Fishery in the same Latitudes, this season, by way of experiment."* At that period whales were abundant along the edge of the Gulf Stream, the warmer waters being doubtless good feeding places. For sev- eral years, the fishery was good in those waters, but the aggressions of the whaling fleet eventually drove the whales to the Western and Leeward Islands, the Cape de Verdes, the Brazil Banks and further on. As a whole the business was successful.
It was rumored in the Colonies in the early part of 1767, that the offensive restrictions that had been placed on the Colonial whalemen were to be removed. Petitions praying for such im- provement had been presented to the home government and a favorable response was expected.t In anticipation of improved conditions early in 1768 New England whalemen again essayed the Belle Isle and Davis Straits fishery. Between fifty and sixty of them anchored in Canso harbor in April of that year, some of them bound to Davis Straits but the majority cruising in the vicinity of Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Two sloops from Nantucket, one commanded by Coleman and the other by - Coffin, were lost during the season in the Straits of Belle Isle, the crews of which were saved by Captain Hamilton, of the sloop of war Merlin, who also assisted in saving the sails, rig- ging and stores. The season was reported unsuccessful, however, in those waters, and up to the last of August many of the fleet had taken little or no oil.
Eighty whaling vessels of an average burthen of 75 tons sailed from Nantucket in 1768, and probably quite as many more from the other North Atlantic ports, their voyages being to Davis Straits, Straits of Belle Isle, Grand Banks and Gulf of St. Lawrence to the north-east, and to the Western Islands to the south-east. In the early part of the season the fleet to the south-east did not have much success, but later there was an improvement and by the middle of September the Western Islands fleet had taken on an average about 165 barrels. As vessels in the northern fleet spoken quite late in the summer were reported as have taken from 100 to 150 barrels each and in some cases as many as 200 barrels, it may
*As the name of the vessel and her home port are unknown and there seems to be no record of her catch, the degree of her success is unknown. It is reported that the people of Nantucket made £70,000 in 1767.
tIn October, 1767, a whaling-sloop, belonging to Nantucket, arrived at the bar off that port, on board of which were four Indians, who had had some dispute at sea, and agreed to settle it on their return. As the 'vessel lay at anchor the officers and crew-except three white men and these Indians-went ashore. The whites being asleep in the cabin, the Indians went on deck, divided into two parties, and, arm- ing themselves with whaling-lances, commenced the affray. The two on one side were killed immediately, the other two were unhurt. The white men, hearing the affray, rushed upon deck, and seeing what was done, secured the murderers. Boston News Letter.
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HISTORY OF NANTUCKET
be fair to assume that the northern fishery was equally successful. Of the 80 vessels sailing from Nantucket, only 70 returned, the remaining 10 being lost at sea or captured by the French.
"Between the years 1770 and 1775" says Obed Macy,* "the whaling business increased to an extent hitherto unparalelled. In 1770 there were a little more than one hundred vessels engaged; and in 1775 the number exceeded one hundred and fifty, some of them large brigs. The employment of so great and such an in- creasing capital may lead our readers to suppose that a corres- ponding profit was realized, but a careful examination of the cir- cumstances under which the business was carried on will show the fallacy of such a conclusion. Many branches of labor were conduct- ed by those who were immediately interested in the voyages. The young men, with few exceptions, were brought up to some trade necessary to the business. The rope-maker, the cooper, the black- smith, the carpenter-in fine, the workmen were either the ship- owners or of their household; so were often the officers and men who navigated the vessels and killed the whales. While a ship was at sea, the owners at home were busily employed in the manufactur- ing of casks, iron-work, cordage, blocks,and other articles for the succeeding voyage. Thus the profits of the labor were enjoyed by those interested in the fishery, and voyages were rendered. advan- tageoust even when the oil obtained was barely sufficient to pay the outfits, estimating the labor as a part thereof. This mode of conducting the business was universal, and has continued to a very considerable extent to the present day. Experience taught the people how to take advantage of the different markets for their oil. Their spermaceti oil was mostly sent to England in its un- separated state, the head matter being generally mixed with the body oil, for, in the early part of whaling it would bring no more when separated than when mixed. The whale-oil, which is the kind procured from the species called "right-whales," was shipped to Boston or elsewhere in the colonies, and there sold for country consumption, or sent to the West Indies."
*History of Nantucket, p. 68.
¡The almost universal method of payment of wages among Amer- ican whalemen was by "lays;" each officer and man being shipped to receive a certain portion of the earnings, less charges for advance money, clothing etc., as his pay. This made each one directly inter- ested in the outcome of the voyage. In the Collections of the Massa- chusetts Historical Society is the settlement of the ship Lion in 1807, (Second Series iii, vol. p. 19) which will serve as an example:
Dr.
To amount of charge .362.75 To Sundry accounts,
clearing ship, &c, (no charge against captain, · mate, and boy) 43.38
The share of the cap-
tain 1-18 2072.13
Mate 1-27 1381.41 Second mate 1-37 1008.06
2 ends men 1-48 each 1554.10
5 end men 1-75 each
2486.55
Cooper 1-60
621.64
Boy 1-120
310.82
5 blacks 1-80 each $2331.14
1 black 1-80 on 400 barrels 108.36
1 black 1-90 414.42
1 black 1-85 438.80
1 black 1-90 on all but 400 barrels Cr. 318.10 By 37,358 gals. body oil 19,766.14 By 16,868 gals head mat- ter. .17,849.73 By 1501% gals black oil 45.15
37,661.02
Remainder (coming to owners .. $24,252.74
#Bancroft says (Hist. U. S. v. p. 265) in 1765 the Colonists were not allowed to export the chief products of their industry, such as sugar.
(See next page)
Dr.
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HISTORY OF NANTUCKET
The waters frequented by whalemen at this time were much infested by French and Spanish privateers and pirates* and several whalemen were victims of their depredations. Three Dartmouth whaling vessels were taken by the Spaniards in the vicinity of the Western Islands. A Vineyard whaleman (Ephraim Pease) was also captured but his vessel was released after the crews of the other captured vessels were put on board of her.
Occasionally the whalemen got the better of the marauders. The News-Letter relates the following story of such a circumstance occurring in April, 1771. Two Nantucket whaling sloops, under the command of Isaiah Chadwick and Obed Bunker, lying at anchor in the harbor of Abaco, observed a ship off the mouth of the harbor flying signals of distress. Ever ready to help a brother mariner in trouble, which is a distinguishing trait of Anglo-Saxon seamen, one of the captains made up a boat's crew from the two sloops and hastened to render assistance. Reaching the vessel the captain boarded her to see what service he could render. his astonishment he was met by the officer in command who
To presented a pistol at his head and demanded that he should pilot the ship into the harbor. He assured the officer in charge that he was a stranger there but that he had a man in his boat who was acquainted with the port. The man was called aboard the ship and ordered in the same persuasive way to act as pilot. He recognized the potency of the argument and performed the desired service, anchoring the ship at a point where a point of land lay between her and the sloops. This done, the boat and crew were re- leased and were returned to their vessels. The Nantucket captains then held a consultation as to what could be done. It had been noticed that the crew of the ship all appeared to be armed. The boat's crew that boarded her observed a man in the cabin walking alone. The whalemen concluded that the ship had been seized by pirates and that the man in the cabin was the former captain, and plans were immediately made to capture the ship and her crew. An invitation was extended to the outlaw captain, his officers and passengers to dine on board one of the whaling sloops. The courtesy was accepted and the pirate captain and his boatswain with the original captain representing the passengers, boarded the sloop to accept the proferred hospitality. After a short stay the pirate
tobacco, cotton, wool, indigo, ginger, dyeing-woods, whalebone, etc., to any place but Great Britain-not even to Ireland. Save in the matter of salt, wines, victuals, horses, and servants, Great Britain was not only the sole market for the products of America, but the only store-house for its supplies. It would seem as though this could hardly have ap- plied to oil, for the Boston News-Letter of September 8, 1768, gives a report from London dated July 13, that the whale and cod fisheries of New England "this season promised to turn out extremely advan- tageous, many ships fully laden having already been sent to the Mediterranean markets." The jealousy or cupidity of the home gov- ernment at the success of the American fishermen seems to have been again aroused for during the same year an effort was made in Par- liament to revive the discriminating bounty to English whalemen.
*"Pirate" in those days seems to have been an interchangeable term, quite as likely to mean a privateer as a freebooter.
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HISTORY OF NANTUCKET
guest became uneasy and proposed to return to his own vessel, but the whalemen seized him and binding him securely frustrated his intention. The actual captain then explained the situation. The ship had sailed from Bristol (R. I .? ) to the coast of Africa, there had taken on a cargo of slaves for the West Indies, had disposed of them and was on the return voyage home with a cargo of sugar when the crew mutinied. Their intention was to become pirates a not unpopular business at the time. The whalemen told the boat- swain that if he would go aboard the ship and return with the
STRANDED SCHOOL OF BLACKFISH July 1874
former mate, who was in irons, and assist in recapturing the vessel every endeavor would be made to see that he was saved from the penalties of the law in such cases made and provided. The whal- ing 'captains intimated to him that there was a man-of-war within two hours' sail from which ample force could be obtained to over- power the mutineers. As a further precaution they told the boat- swain that when they had secured assistance from the man-of-war they' would display a specified signal.
The officer failed to return according to his agreement. Possibly he felt that he was "between the devil and the deep sea," with his
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HISTORY OF NANTUCKET
mutineer associates presenting the more imminent danger. One whaling sloop thereupon weighed anchor and stood toward the ship as though to pass on one side of her. As she drew up to the ship the mutineers shifted over their guns with the obvious intention of sinking the sloop as she passed. The whaling captain had an- ticipated just such action and as he neared the ship he suddenly changed his vessel's course and swept by on the other side and out of range before the mutineers could recover from their surprise and retrain their guns. The sloop stood away on her new course until out of sight of the ship and then tacked and setting the sig- nal agreed on with the boatswain, steered straight for the pirate. The crew of the ship sighting her and recognizing the signal, believed that she carried an armed force, and fled precipitately to the shore where they were speedily captured when their character became known. The whalemen boarded the prize, released the mate, and carried the ship into New Providence, where they were allowed a salvage fee of $2,500. The chief of the mutineers was hanged.
It was about this time that Benjamin Franklin, who was in London, was questioned by the English merchants regarding the cause of the difference in the sailing time of the Colonial merchant- men to Rhode Island and the English packets to New York. The difference in time, averaging something like fourteen days, was a cause of much annoyance to the English merchants who thought the destination might have much to do with it and seriously con- sidered withdrawing their vessels from New York and dispatching them to Rhode Island. In the dilemna they consulted Franklin, A Nantucket captain named Folger*, a relative of Franklin's, being then in London, the Doctor sought to learn his opinion. Capt.
Folger told him that the merchantmen from Rhode Island were commanded by men who were acquainted with the presence of a strong ocean current; and in their passage to America took advan- tage of that knowledge. The English captains had been repeatedly warned of this ocean stream and that in steering the course they did they were stemming a current running at the rate of three miles an hour, and that, if the wind was light the current would set them back faster than the breeze would send them ahead, but they were too self-sufficient to receive advice from Colonial seamen, so per- severed in their own course, losing from two to three weeks on every trip. By Franklin's request Captain Folger made a sketch of the Stream with directions how to use or avoid its currents, and this sketch, made over a century and a half ago is substantially the same as is found on the charts of today. "The Nantucket
*Works of Franklin, iii p. 353. Probably Capt. Timothy Folger. On p. 364 in a note, Franklin says :- "The Nantucket captains, who are acquainted with this stream, make their voyage from England to Boston in as short a time generally as others take in going from Boston to England, viz, from twenty to thirty days." Quite a number of Boston packets to and from England were at this time and for many years after commanded by Nantucket men. It will be remem- bered that Franklin's mother was a Nantucket Folger. tThe Gulf Stream.
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HISTORY OF NANTUCKET
whalemen," says Franklin (iii.364) "being extremely well acquaint- ed with the Gulph stream, its course, strength and extent, by their constant practice of whaling on the edges of it, from their Island quite down to the Bahamas, this draft of that stream was obtained from one of them, Captain Folger, and caused to be engraved on the old chart in London for the benefit of navigators by B. Franklin."* It was of little use-Ephraim was "joined to his idols"; English captains continued to sail the old course and lose valuable time.
In 1772, two whaling sloops from Nantucket, each having on board 150 barrels of oil, were captured off Matanzas by a Spanish brig and sloop.
RETURNS OF WHALING VOYAGES FROM 1715
It is impossible to get any accurate returns of the early voy- ages. 'Many of the facts are gleaned from the newspapers of the day and lack much in respect to fulness. Nantucket was essentially a sperm whale port for a long time. If bone was brought home there was little or no account made of it for the price was ex- ceedingly low and Nantucket whalemen did not care to be encum- bered with it. Up to the year 1843 it had not brought over 25 cents a pound and the average value for the 39 years previous to that was but about 14 cents a pound. Oil and bone were at times sold in foreign ports to pay shipping bills of which no account appears. Much of the catch was shipped home as freight and has failed to be recorded. Where one man or a firm answered as agent for several vessels and the consignment appears in the name of the agent it is not possible to know what vessel or vessels should be credited. Again it frequently happened that oil and bone shipped home was inventoried as so many "casks" of oil and "bundles" of bone. Casks contain from two to eight barrels, and bundles of bone vary in size. In such cases the estimate has been founded on 4 1/2 barrels of oil to the cask and 90 pounds of bone to the bundle.
Following is the record as far as compiled:
1715
Six sloops, of from 30 to 40 tons burden each, sailed from Nan- tucket, returning with cargoes totaling about 600 barrels of oil and 11,000 pounds of bone, valued in all at £1,100 sterling. This number was very likely quite constant for several years.
*Macy gives the following as the dates of the earliest occupation of the various fishing grounds by Nantucket whalemen additional to the Davis's Straits fishery .: Island of Disco, 1751; Gulf of St. Lawrence, 1761; Coast of Guinea, 1763; Western Islands, 1765; east of Banks of Newfoundland, 1765; Coast of Brazil, 1774. According to a local tra- dition, the first Nantucket whaleman who "crossed the line," arrived home from his voyage on the day of the battles of Lexington and Concord. The vessel was the brig Amazon, Uriah Bunker, commander. History of Nantucket p. 54.
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HISTORY OF NANTUCKET
1722
A Nantucket whaling sloop, of which Elisha Coffin was master, was lost at sea with all on board.
1723
The Boston News Letter mentions a whaling sloop, commanded by Nathan Skiff of Nantucket, that was captured in 1723 by the pirate Low, her captain killed, two Indians carried away and the balance of the crew set adrift in the two boats without any sustenance excepting water. They were so fortunate, however, as to reach Nantucket safely.
1730
Twenty-five vessels, of from 38 to 50 tons each, sailed from Nantucket, returning with 3,700 barrels of oil, valued at £7 per ton or £3,200.
1731
A whaling sloop from Nantucket, Capt. Thomas Hathaway, was lost with all on board.
1736
Names of captains appear but no home port is given but un- questionably some of them are from Nantucket. In August it is reported that a whaling schooner arirved at Nantucket from the northward with three large whales one of them "twelve-foot bone."*
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