From 1771 to 1775, Massachusetts employed, annually, one hundred and eighty-three vessels, of thirteen thousand eight hundred and twenty tons, in the northern whale fishery, and one hundred and twenty-one vessels, of fourteen thousand and twenty-six tons, in the southern; navigated by four thousand and fifty-nine seamen. The peculiar mode of paying the seamen, in these hazardous voyages, has contributed not a little to the success of the voyages themselves. Each has a share in the profits of the voyage, and is dependent on his own exertions for the reward of his toils. Whether he shall be rich or poor, depends on his activity in managing the boat, in pursuit of the whale, and his dexterity in directing the harpoon. This has led to a spirit of enterprise and hardihood, never surpassed, if ever equalled, by the seamen of any nation in the world.
During the war of the American revolution, this fishery was destroyed; on the return of peace, it recovered, by degrees, and, from 1787 to 1789, ninety-one vessels, of five thousand eight hundred and twenty tons, were annually employed in the northern fishery, and thirty-one vessels, of four thousand three hundred and ninety tons, in the southern, with one thousand six hundred and eleven seamen. The quantity of spermaceti oil taken annually, from 1771 to 1775, was thirty-nine thousand three hundred and ninety barrels, and of whale oil eight thousand six hundred and fifty. From 1787 to 1789, the quantity of spermaceti taken annually was seven thousand nine hundred and eighty barrels, and whale oil thirteen thousand one hundred and thirty. In the representation made to Congress in the year 1790, by the legislature of Massachusetts, it is stated that, before the late war, about four thousand seamen, and twenty-four thousand tons of shipping were annually employed, from that State, in the whale fishery, and that the produce thereof was about £350,000 lawful money, or about 1,160,000 dollars. A great part of this fishery has been carried on from Nantucket, where it originated, a small island about fifteen miles in length, and two or three miles in breadth, situated about thirty miles from the coast. Before the revolutionary war, this small island had sixty-five ships, of four thousand eight hundred and seventy-five tons, annually employed in the northern, and eighty-five ships, of ten thousand two hundred tons, in the southern fishery. From 1787 to 1789, it had only eighteen ships, of one thousand three hundred and fifty tons, in the northern, and eighteen ships, of two thousand seven hundred tons, in the southern fishery. For many years past, this fishery has been carried on from this island, and from New Bedford, a large commercial and flourishing town on the coast, in its neighbourhood, and has employed from fifteen thousand to eighteen thousand tons of shipping, principally in the Southern Seas. Although Great Britain has, at various times, given large bounties to her ships employed in this fishery, yet the whalemen of Nantucket and New-Bedford, unprotected and unsupported by any thing but their own industry and enterprise, have generally been able to meet their competitors in a foreign market. The value of spermaceti and common whale oil, whale bone, and spermaceti candles, exported since 1802, has been as follows:—
| Whale (common) | Spermaceti oil | |
|---|---|---|
| oil and bone. | and candles. | |
| Dolls. | Dolls. | |
| 1803 | 280,000 | 175,000 |
| 1804 | 310,000 | 70,000 |
| 1805 | 315,000 | 163,000 |
| 1806 | 418,000 | 182,000 |
| 1807 | 476,000 | 139,000 |
| 1808 | 88,000 | 33,000 |
| 1809 | 169,000 | 136,000 |
| 1810 | 222,000 | 132,000 |
| 1811 | 78,000 | 273,000 |
| 1812 | 56,000 | 141,000 |
| 1813 | 2,500 | 10,500 |
| 1814 | 1,000 | 9,000 |
The common whale oil finds a market in the West Indies, Great Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal. The greatest part of the spermaceti oil is carried to Great Britain. The late war between the United States and Great Britain has again almost annihilated the cod and whale fisheries.[36] While in the years previous to the restrictive system and the war, the fisheries furnished articles for exportation to an amount of more than three millions of dollars, in 1814 the exports of the produce of the fisheries is reduced to the sum of 188,000 dollars.
No. III.
During the publication of this little work, I was favoured, through the medium of a friend, with some very important remarks made by a Gentleman of great nautical skill and experience, in the year 1814, on board his Majesty’s ship Sybyll, while in the North Seas, for the protection of the Greenland fishery.
The first point to which he alludes, is the variation of the compass; and, respecting it, he observes, “Being anxious that every thing possible should be done for the improvement of navigation, I determined, while in those high latitudes, to take every opportunity of observing to what extent the variation of the compass might be affected by the ship’s course. A paper containing Captain Flinders’s observations on the same subject, had previously been sent to me by the Lords of the Admiralty; and as these observations had chiefly been made in high southern latitudes, it became doubly important to ascertain whether the same laws were followed in high northern latitudes. Experience has completely proved that they are; and, in fact, it is some years since I ascertained that the course down the English Channel, just taking the ship clear of head-lands, the opposite one up Channel would run the ship on the French coast.