WHALE FISHERY OF NEW ENGLAND
AN ACCOUNT,
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND SOME INTERESTING AND AMUSING
ANECDOTES, OF THE RISE AND FALL OF AN INDUSTRY
WHICH HAS MADE NEW ENGLAND FAMOUS
THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
PRINTED FOR THE
STATE STREET TRUST COMPANY
BOSTON, MASS.
Copyrighted 1915
by the
State Street Trust Company
The vignetteon the title-page isreproduced from a print ofthe ship “Maria” of New Bedford,which in 1853 was the oldest whaleshipowned in the United States. Her registrywas dated 1782. She was built in Pembroke, nowcalled Hanson, for a privateer during the Revolutionary War,and was bought in the year 1783 by William Rotch of Nantucket,afterwards of New Bedford. At one time she was owned bySamuel Rodman, and also by the Russells. In constructionshe was the typical whaleship of her time. It is saidthat she earned for her owners $250,000 and madetwenty-five voyages, bringing back a fullcargo each time. The tailpiece is froma very old print which representswhaling in the seventeenthcentury.
Compiled, arranged and printed
under the direction of the
Walton Advertising and Printing Company
Boston, Mass.
FOREWORD
The people of New England have long been interested in all matterspertaining to the sea, and members of many of her best-known familieshave commanded its merchant ships and whalers.
The State Street Trust Company has always endeavored to encourage aninterest in historical matters, and it is hoped that this pamphlet, theninth of the series, which deals with one of our earliest industries,will be interesting to the Company’s depositors and also to thegeneral public. It is sent to you with the compliments of the Company,which for over twenty years has tried to serve the interests of itsdepositors.
For valuable assistance in the preparation of this pamphlet the TrustCompany desires to acknowledge its indebtedness to Dr. Benjamin Sharpand Sidney Chase, residents of Nantucket (the latter being a descendantof the Starbucks, Coffins and Husseys), to Z. W. Pease, Frank Wood andGeorge H. Tripp, all of New Bedford (Mr. Tripp being the librarian ofthe Free Public Library), Llewellyn Howland, Frederick P. Fish, CharlesH. Taylor, Jr., Roy C. Andrews and Madison Grant of the AmericanMuseum of Natural History, New York, D. A. deMenocal, J. E. Lodgeand Kojiro Tornita of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and George F.Lord, secretary of the Boston Stock Exchange. Assistance has also beenrendered by the officers of the Trust Company.
The following books have been used as references and contain valuableinformation and many interesting anecdotes:—
“The Story of New England Whalers,” by John R. Spears.
“History of the American Whale Fishery,” by Alexander Starbuck.
“A History of the American Whale Fishery,” by Walter S. Tower.
“Moby Dick, or the White Whale,” by Herman Melville.
“Whaling Ventures and Adventures,” by George H. Tripp.
“Whaling and Fishing,” by Charles Nordhoff.
“Miriam Coffin,” by Col. Joseph C. Hart.
“The Gam,” by Capt. Charles Henry Robbins.
...