NEW BEDFORD.
BY HERBERT L. ALDRICH.
No visitor to the shore of Buzzard’s Bay has really done his duty, or shown due respect to the inhabitants, who has not learned to say in one breath, and without a break or hesitation,—
Nashawena, Pesquinese,
Cuttyhunk and Penekese,
Naushon, Nonamesset,
Onkatonka and Wepecket.
old whalers and barrels of oil.
These are the names of the islands along the south entrance to the bay which Bartholomew Gosnold, the English navigator, named for his queen the Elizabeth Islands when he entered the bay in 1602. Fortunately his attempt to substitute his own English names for these of the Indians was futile. When Gosnold landed at Cuttyhunk in the early summer of that year he found it densely wooded and abounding in game. To-day there is hardly a tree there. In the west part of this island is a pond of fresh water, in the waters of which is a considerable island, and it was on this that these adventurers built the first habitation in this section of New England of which there is any authentic account. There they were, in a sense, safe from the Indians and from wild animals.
When Gosnold prepared to return to England in his vessel, the “Concord,” with a cargo of native products, such as sassafras, cedar, etc., those who had planned to remain and settle returned with him, fearing that they might not share in the expected profits. But they could not take back with them the cellar to the house they had built, and what little vestige of the hole that still remains in that island within an island is to-day pointed out as the spot where the first white settler’s house was built hereabouts. Unfortunately for the picturesqueness and poetry of this historic incident, modern civilization has utilized the island as a hen-yard, and the historic cellar as a chicken-roost.
fish markets along the wharves.
The real history of Southern Massachusetts began in June, 1664, when the General Court of the Plymouth Colony passed an order that “all that tracte of land called and known by the name of Acushena, [1] Ponogansett, and Coaksett, is allowed by the court to bee a townshipe, and said towne bee henceforth ... called and knowne by the name of Dartmouth.” In November, 1652, Wamsutta and his father, Massasoit, had signed a deed conveying to William Bradford, Capt. Standish, Thomas Southworth, John Winslow, John Cooke, and their associates all the land lying three miles eastward from a river called the Coshenegg to Acoaksett, to a flat rock on the western side of the said harbor, the conveyance including all that land from the sea upward “so high that the English may not be annoyed by the hunting of the Indians, in any sort, of their cattle.” The price paid for this tract was, thirty yards of cloth, eight moose-skins, fifteen axes, fifteen hoes, fifteen pairs of breeches, eight blankets, two kettles, one cloak, two pounds wampum, eight pairs stockings, eight pairs shoes, one iron pot, and ten shillings in other commodities. This immense tract had twenty miles of sea-coast, not to mention harbors, etc., and represents, besides the present township of Dartmouth, New Bedford, Fairhaven, Westport, and Acushnet. [2]
the head of the river.
In a brief article it is impossible to give more than the cream of the whole story of the growth and existence of this settlement. It experienced the vicissitudes of Indian depredations and wars. In the King Philip war it was nearly obliterated, only the little settlement of Apponegansett surviving. But at the return of peace the settlers took up their old avocations, and gradually, but surely, made the old town of Dartmouth. The story of nearly every other outlying settlement in those days is the story of this one, so that all that concerns us are the historical events peculiar to this.
relics of the last century.
These early inhabitants combined tilling the soil and extracting the wealth of the sea, only, however, as shore fishermen, and an occasional off-shore whaling voyage in small boats. One event in early history shows that the people were possessed of something more than the traditional courage and bold seamanship for which southern Massachusetts was ever famed, and shows a spiritual courage as well as that deliberate manly determination to overcome all physical obstacles to existence with which the early settlers were permeated.
new station of the old colony railroad.
custom house.
This was the dispute between the General Court at Plymouth and the town authorities regarding a settled minister. A good two-thirds of the people were Friends, and one of their number provided for their spiritual wants without compensation. Those remaining were mostly Baptists, who also had among them a quasi minister who acted as pastor. But the General Court at Plymouth wanted the settlers to have their kind of a minister; so in 1671 they ordered the settlers to raise £15 by taxation “to help towards the support of such as may dispense the word of God.” But as the settlers were satisfied with their own ministers they refused to obey the order. Fortunately they were far away from the court. Then about that time King Philip’s war broke out, and absorbed the whole attention of the court; although time enough was found to warn the people that the calamity of war was due to the “lack of a dispenser of the word of God” among them. But no sooner had the war ended than the old dispute was taken up just where it was left off. The court pleaded and persuaded, then commanded, and finally threatened; but year after year the colonists continued doing as they pleased, regardless of the court. Finally, in 1722, as a last resort, the court ingeniously combined the provincial and ministerial tax, £181 12s. in all, with the intention of providing a minister by that means. The town called a meeting, and, after promptly voting the provincial tax of £81 12s., as promptly refused to raise the extra £100, which they recognized as the ministerial tax in a new garb. Such defiance led to the arrest of the selectmen, and they were imprisoned at Taunton. This thoroughly aroused the town. A meeting was immediately held, and £700 was unanimously voted to support the selectmen. This enormous sum for those days was used partly to support the selectmen and their families, but mostly to send an embassy to England to seek redress from the King and his council. In this the colonists were successful, for not only were the selectmen ordered released from prison, but the province of Massachusetts Bay was ordered to remit the obnoxious taxes which it had in vain tried for thirty-one years to collect. It was not until about this time that what is now New Bedford was settled. Joseph Russell had been practically the sole inhabitant. He was succeeded by his twin sons John and Joseph. The latter lived near the heart of the site of the present city, and is regarded as its real founder. For some time vessels of all classes had fitted out in the Apponegansett river, but he sent his from the Acushnet. His merchantmen sailed all over the seas. At the same time he fitted out whaling vessels. These whalers were small sloops and schooners, which only went off-shore, captured a whale or two, then returned to try out the oil. In connection with this business Mr. Russell had built try works, and he started a sperm-oil factory. The infant whaling industry began about 1760 to attract a boat-builder, then a carpenter, a blacksmith, and so on until gradually there became quite a little settlement. Larger vessels were built, voyages were extended to some two or three weeks, and sometimes to as many months, the seas being scoured from Newfoundland to Virginia for whales.
grace episcopal church.
The year 1765 was an eventful one, as it brought Joseph Rotch, a man of means and experience, from Nantucket,—or Sherburn as it was called up to 1790,—to carry on the whaling business here; and his vessels, together with those of other new-comers, materially increased the size of the little fleet sailing from the Acushnet river. The settlement had now become quite a little village, and needed a distinctive name, as it had always been regarded as a part of the village of Acushnet; so it was christened Bedford, and in after years the New was added to distinguish it from the Bedford near Boston.
looking down union street.
Being deeper, broader, and a safer harbor than the Apponegansett, the Acushnet river gradually absorbed most of the fleet that had sailed from there, so that the little fleet of a few vessels in 1765 had become one of fifty vessels in 1773. Among these vessels was one owned by Mr. Rotch,—the “Dartmouth,”—which will be remembered as long as the American republic stands, for it was this vessel that took the tea to Boston which was thrown overboard at the time of the famous Tea Party in 1773.
unitarian church, union street.
mandell’s house, hawthorne street.
But the Revolution put a stop to a continuance of this marvellous growth, and during the following eight years in the struggle for liberty, decay, fire, and the English did fatal destruction to the vessels in Buzzard’s Bay. Mr. Rotch returned to his off-shore island home, taking his vessels with him, and one or two other merchants followed his example and moved away. What vessels remained after these desertions were moored along the wharves. But the people did not settle down in idleness to wait for the war to be over. While the women were working for the soldiers, in providing them clothing, etc., the men young and old proved that their sea-training in the catching of whales was invaluable in manning the little navy of the colonies. With such men behind him, John Paul Jones scoured the ocean and even defied the English in their own harbors, and the little navy became a powerful and dangerous foe to the proud mistress of the seas. Not the least destructive vessels of the brave American navy were the whaling vessels from Buzzard’s Bay made over into men-of-war. The frequent and astonishing victories of these vessels caused many valuable prizes to be brought into the bay, and the natural consequence was the raid of Major Gen. Gray, accompanied by the ill-fated Andre, on the fourth day of September, and the day following, in 1778, by which nearly the whole town of Bedford was laid in ashes and property to the value of over half a million of dollars destroyed, together with seventy vessels, including eight large ships with their cargoes, and four privateers.
residence of mayor rotch.
At the first whisperings of peace, Capt. Moores, of the good ship “Bedford,” with a cargo of oil, set sail for London, and first displayed to the defeated English, in their great metropolis, the stars and stripes of the infant republic of the western world. This promptness of Capt. Moores is a fair sample of the manner in which the village of Bedford grasped the return of peace and rushed into its former industries. The greater part of the village had been rebuilt; the vessels that survived the war—most of them as men-of-war—were refitted, and whaling and commerce resumed, although it was years before whaling fairly got on its feet again. This was owing to the lack of a market for oil, as England and France had passed laws practically prohibiting its importation. Some merchants were forced to live in French or English territory and sail under those flags, in order to pursue whaling with any profit.
In 1787 the General Court of Massachusetts incorporated the town of New Bedford, and in 1847 it became a city. The census of 1790 reported a population of 3,313 in the new town. But there was nothing at this time to cause the town to grow, nor was there until 1804, when, through the intercessions of William Rotch, Sr., Great Britain remitted her alien duty on oil. From that year New Bedford began to assume her distinctive character as the whaling port preëminent of the world. The stock in trade to begin with was no meagre one, as it consisted of fifty-nine vessels of 19,146 tons’ burden, about thirty of them being brigs and ships employed in the merchant service with Europe, South America, and the West Indies. This fleet suffered terribly from the impressment of seamen, then the embargo, and finally by the second war with England, during which many vessels were captured. This over, the place began in earnest its distinctive career.
fish island.
seamen’s bethel and sailor’s home.
merchants’ and mechanics’ bank.
A few words as to the history of whaling in America. Capt. John Smith makes mention of catching a few whales on some of his voyages, and it is known that the Indians had quite a passion for hunting the whale, or powdawe as they called it. The Montauk Indians regarded the fin or tail of a whale as a rare sacrifice to their deity. As the early settlers began to spread throughout New England, it became quite an industry along the sea-shore to hunt stranded whales for their oil and blubber. This naturally led to hunting them in their native element, and the industry extended along Cape Cod and Long Island, and, about 1672, was introduced on the islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. About fifty years later the brave Nantucket seamen began whaling in large boats, and within the following twenty-five years Nantucket had direct communication with England in her ships. These brave early mariners were the first who understood and made use of the Gulf Stream, and by them it was explained to the English admiralty. At the opening of the Revolution there were one hundred and fifty vessels that sailed from Nantucket; but at the close of the war one hundred and thirty-four of these had been captured and fifteen more wrecked. The war also cost this island twelve hundred sailors, and was the making of two hundred and two widows and three hundred and forty-two orphans.
residence of joseph grinnell.
friends meeting-house.
In the year 1815 there sailed from Nantucket fifty whalers, while only ten sailed from New Bedford. But the New Bedford fleet increased rapidly year by year, reaching the climax in 1852, when two hundred and seventy-eight sailed. From that date there has been an almost uninterrupted decline in the whaling industry. Nantucket’s decline began many years earlier. In 1860 she had only very few vessels left, and in 1872 her last whaler, the bark “Oak,” was sold. In 1835 whaling was at its height, the whole fleet of the United States consisting of six hundred and seventy-eight ships and barks, thirty-five brigs, and twenty-two schooners, valued at twenty-one millions of dollars; while the foreign fleet consisted of only two hundred and thirty vessels of various kinds. From the off-shore fishing as practised in the early days of the industry, voyages had extended to all parts of the Atlantic, and before the opening of the nineteenth century a considerable fleet was cruising in the Pacific Ocean. By 1820 these voyages had extended to Japan, and in 1836 they reached what is known as the Kodiak Grounds. In 1848 the wonderful field in the Arctic, by way of Behring’s Strait, was discovered by bark “Superior.” Three years later two hundred and fifty vessels took advantage of the “Superior’s” discovery and entered the same grounds. The largest catch in these grounds was in 1852, when two hundred and seventy-eight vessels got three hundred and seventy-three thousand, four hundred and fifty barrels of oil. Since then there has been a very great decline; the Arctic fleet of 1876 consisting of only twenty vessels, which caught five thousand, two hundred and fifty barrels of oil. The fleet of 1885 consisted of forty-one vessels, more than half hailing from New Bedford; but four of the fleet were lost.
public library.
Seven years before the wonderful catch of 1852, disasters and other reverses had caused many serious failures, and from that date really begins the decline in whaling, which was rapid after 1860. But meantime San Francisco had worked into the business. For years vessels had fitted out from the Sandwich Islands, returning home only about once in five years. But there were many abuses and disadvantages in this; hence San Francisco as it grew in importance became the head-quarters for fitting, and one ship after another was transferred from the New Bedford fleet to that of San Francisco, until now she is next to New Bedford in the whaling business. It is doubtful if the fleet sailing from Buzzard’s Bay twenty-five years hence is half the size of the fleet of to-day; for vessels that are lost, sold, or broken up are seldom replaced. The astonishing decline in this industry is shown by the fact that three hundred and eleven whaling vessels were owned in New Bedford in 1855. Thirty years later, in 1885, only one hundred and thirty-five such vessels were owned in the whole United States, eighty-six of which hailed from New Bedford, twenty from San Francisco, and the rest from Provincetown, New London, Edgartown, Boston, Stonington, and Marion.
The disasters which have befallen the whaling industry are many and fearful. During the late war rebel cruisers captured fifty vessels, forty-six of them, with their cargoes and outfits, being burned. Twenty-eight of them were New Bedford vessels. These, with other losses, show what New Bedford had at stake before the Court of Commissioners of Alabama Claims. Her slice of the Geneva Award will approximate, when all paid, three millions of dollars. The “stone fleets,” sunk off Charleston and Savannah harbors in 1861, drew heavily on whaling vessels; for more money would be paid by the Government for vessels than they could earn in whaling. In the first stone fleet were twelve New Bedford whalers, and in the second, eight. Then there were the horrible calamities of 1871 and 1876. In the former year thirty-three vessels were crushed or abandoned in the Arctic, twenty-two belonging in New Bedford. The direct loss from this was one million, one hundred thousand dollars. Twelve hundred and nineteen men were thrust out on the ice to perish from cold and hunger. Nothing but the bravery of Capt. Frazier, of one of the abandoned vessels, in journeying seventy miles over the ice-fields to the fleet outside for rescue, prevented untold suffering and death. In the calamity of 1876 twelve vessels were abandoned, causing a loss to New Bedford merchants of about six hundred and sixty thousand dollars. But a greater horror was added to this calamity, some fifty lives being lost.
The wealth that was brought to New Bedford by whaling in its palmiest days was enormous, and gave the city the reputation of being the wealthiest of its size in the world. The catch of 1853, the banner year, was over one hundred and three thousand barrels of sperm oil, valued at four millions, fifty thousand, five hundred and forty dollars; two hundred and sixty thousand, one hundred and fourteen barrels of whale oil, valued at four millions, seven hundred and sixty-two thousand, five hundred and twenty-five dollars; and five millions, six hundred and fifty-two thousand, three hundred pounds of bone, valued at one million, nine hundred and fifty thousand, forty-four dollars,—bone that year averaging only thirty-four and one-half cents per pound; while it now sells at from $2 to $2.50 per pound. The catch of the one hundred and thirteen vessels arriving in the following year brought into the city some over six millions of dollars. In 1866, when prices were very high, the cargoes of the forty vessels that arrived aggregated over four millions of dollars. All was not always palmy, however. Forty-four of the sixty-eight vessels that arrived home in 1858 made losing voyages, causing a direct loss of a million of dollars. Other disasters of less importance have never been uncommon.
It is estimated that between seven hundred and twenty-five and seven hundred and fifty whaling vessels have been owned and sailed from New Bedford. Of these at least two hundred and fifty are known to have been lost. This means immense losses, for not only did the vessels cost from fifteen to seventy-five thousand dollars each, but the outfittings and catches were also partially or wholly lost. At the beginning of this century it cost somewhere about twelve to fifteen thousand dollars to fit out a vessel for a good voyage. In 1858 the cost had increased to about sixty-five thousand dollars, voyages were of longer duration, and catches had increased only about twofold in value. To-day a good outfit falls but little, if any, below fifty thousand dollars. The cost of fitting out the sixty-five vessels that sailed in 1858 was estimated at one million, nine hundred and fifty thousand dollars. [3] The catch since 1800 is believed to have been at least a quarter of a million of sperm whales and nearly as many more right whales, the total value being approximately one hundred and fifty millions of dollars.
Volumes might be told of the experiences of whalemen, of their contests with the natives of many an island in the Pacific, of wrecks, of the bravery with which masters have stood by one another in times of need or trouble, of the great benefits whaling has been to commerce, of the discoveries by masters in their searches for new grounds, of the fields opened for the missionaries, of the men rescued from danger and bondage, etc., etc. [4]
Up to the time of the war, and perhaps till its close, the history of New Bedford and the whaling industry was identical. But the discovery of petroleum, the scarcity of whales, and at the same time the low price of oil, necessitated an entirely new field for the capital and energy so long devoted to whaling. For a period of ten years or so the city was in a transition state, the conservative element contending for a continuation of the old order of things, while the younger blood demanded the necessary changes to keep abreast of the times. At one time it did look as though the conservatives would succeed; but gradually one industry after another got a foothold. Then the panic of 1872 demonstrated that a man who has money must invest it where he can watch it, instead of trusting to luck in some wild-cat railroad scheme out West. By the concentration and investment at home of some of the money saved from the wreck, the Wamsutta mills have become a corporation with a capital of three million dollars. The Potomska mills have accumulated a capital of fifteen hundred thousand, the Grinnell mill has eight hundred thousand, the Acushnet mill six hundred thousand, the Yarn mills three hundred thousand. In addition to these cotton mills other industries have sprung up, so that the total capital represented by the various corporations is over nine millions of dollars. Banking also proved profitable. Of the five national banks three have a capital of a million dollars each, another has six hundred thousand, and the fifth half a million; making a total capital of four millions, one hundred thousand. Add to this the surplus funds, premiums on the stock, etc., and the amount of money represented by these five national banks falls little short of ten millions of dollars. The Institution for Savings has deposits of over ten millions, and, with over three millions of deposits in the other savings-bank, the seven New Bedford banks represent some twenty-three millions of dollars.
But New Bedford is not, or never has been, devoted entirely to the scramble for wealth. Her public schools have been given a place among the best, their cost last year being one hundred thousand dollars. She has given to the world many scholarly as well as smart men. During the war she did her duty bravely, sending eleven hundred more men than her quota. With all of her business she has not neglected her duties to her country or to her own citizens. One of the prides of the city is the Public Library, established under an act of the State Legislature of May 24, 1851, authorizing the incorporation of public libraries. A year and twelve days afterward the common council appropriated fifteen hundred dollars for its support. Before the action of the city government the library had existed a long time as the old Social Library, and before that time as the Library Society, but when the State authorized the incorporation of such institutions it immediately entered the wider field. To-day it has fifty thousand volumes. It has the income of the Sylvia Ann Rowland fund of fifty thousand dollars, the Charles W. Morgan fund of one thousand dollars, the George Rowland, Jr. fund of sixteen hundred dollars, the Oliver Crocker fund of one thousand dollars, and the James B. Congdon fund of five hundred dollars. Besides the culture of books, New Bedford has always been blessed by the presence and words of ministers far above the average in talent and earnestness. The dispute of the early settlers with the General Court showed that the people were particular as to the quality of their spiritual food, and this fastidiousness seems to have been handed down from generation to generation, judging from the personnel of the men. Dr. Samuel West, who preached at the Head of the River from 1761 to 1803, was of just that material to satisfy the spiritual wants of his time. Especially should his name be honored for the vigor and determination with which he threw himself, body and soul, into the struggle for independence. Nor should the names of George L. Prentiss, Moses How, and others be forgotten. One branch of the parent church, the First Congregational (Unitarian) Society, which built its present substantial edifice in 1836-7-8, has had a continuity of pastors hardly equalled anywhere for real spiritual living, thinking, and teaching. Dr. Orville Dewey, who was settled in 1823, was much beloved by everybody, and in his last years, at his home in Sheffield, among the Berkshire hills, he won the hearts of all there by his beauty of character, as he had done here. While Dr. Dewey was abroad, in 1833, and a year or so following, Ralph Waldo Emerson supplied the pulpit. The present church was dedicated in 1838, and Rev. Dr. Ephraim Peabody and Rev. J. H. Morison were installed as pastors. The former remained with the society until 1845, and the latter until 1844. In 1847 Rev. John Weiss became pastor, remaining until ill-health compelled him to resign, in 1857. Two years later Rev. William J. Potter, who is not only the typical preacher but the typical practitioner of his preaching, was installed, and yet holds the pastorate. The bell of this church, tradition says, was formerly in a Spanish convent. Whether this be so or not, its clear, musical tone gives evidence that it is of high pedigree.
Nothing could more fittingly close this article than a notice of that monument to the charitable souls of New Bedford, the Union for Good Works. This is a noble institution, not only because it cares for the poor, but because it aids them to be self-reliant and self-supporting by tiding over times of need. It provides sewing or other work for needy women; it maintains a sales-room for the handiwork of the indigent or the gentlewoman reduced in circumstances, whether the work be preserves, needle-work, or anything that is salable; it has a large reception-room well stocked with the best papers, periodicals, and magazines, books, all the parlor games, etc.; it provides throughout the winter season a series of popular entertainments of high order and little cost; in short, it endeavors to lighten the burdens of those in dependence of distress, and to make pleasanter the life of those whose existence is a continuous struggle. It has the spending of about three-quarters of the income of the one hundred thousand dollars left by James Arnold for the aid of the worthy poor of the city of New Bedford. Besides that it has accumulated a fund of about thirty thousand dollars, by donation and otherwise. This will not be touched, however, until it has reached at least fifty thousand dollars. It will then provide sufficient income to meet the expenses of the Union. There are the various branches of work, the relief committee, the sewing-women’s branch, the fruit and flour committee, the prison committee, the hospitality section, and others. The Union is the outgrowth of the sermon preached by Rev. William J. Potter at his tenth anniversary, but it is not sectarian in any sense.
