The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-07-30

Happily there was, on the French side of the Chan
mel at least, one unweared friend Of America, as
there were many watchful enemies OF England.
Lafayette wrote several letters to Boston and ar
rested emigration from Nantucket 10 the
British Colonies and lslands already on .he eve
of embarkation, and then addressed himself 10
the French monarch and his Court. France
saw at once the danger Of transfer of go
great number OF seamen, together with the
very secret art and mystery Of whale hunting,
to her hereditary and reiehtl.ss enemy. The good
but i'll fated Louis XVI. equipped six whal-
ing vessels, with American harpooners' % be own W.
man, payable by the Royal Treasury, to every
American fisherman who should emigrate to
France. In a whole year only nine families, con.
tanning thirty three persons accepted this offer;
and therefore the King, in compliance with Lafay-
cites fret advice, adopted the cxPedient Of dis
eliminating in favor of American cargoes of oil
and whalebone in the French market The Ameri-
can whale fishery bessn to revive, and in 17S7,
l7SS, and 1889, il employed dh average ofone hun,
dred and twenty two vessels But it sthl labored
under the pressure Of competition, stimulated ~
boupues both in England and in France. In 1880,
the Great and General Council Of Massachusetts
appealed to Congress for protection to this great
interest Of that Commonwealth Mr.. Jefferson,
the SecretGry of State, submitted an elaborate re
ply which, while il was liberal in its spirit. never
theless closed with the declaration, that "the whale
fishery a brsneh ofindus.ry poor as TO come
TO nothing with distant t.asions who did not sop
port it from their treasures; thai our position
placed our fishing on ground somewhat higher,
such to relieve the National Treasury frofu
giving it support. but not to permit it TO derive
support from the fisher y, to relieve the Govern
ment from the obligation to provide free markets
for the productions Of the fishery, il possible''
The enterprise had not yet lang djehed into life
when the French Revolution Of 1859 occurred,
which involved Europe, and ultimately the United
States in wars that swept The latter, well the
French and Dutch, from all the fisheries, and left
them in the exclusive enjoyment of Britain. who
achieved in those wars her now established pre-
eminence De the contueror Of the seas. At their
close, the British had lf6 vessels In the Northern
whales. and thu: Obtained $50 tons Of oil. and
43s tons of whaebOne; and 66 shps ia shs Southern
whale fishery equally successful. Tho Americans
now re-entered the game, and the tables were
in their favor. In 1924 the British became dis.
Outraged, and withdrew their bounties; and in
1912 they had no more than lS vessels in the North
fishery, which captured only "a whales. The
Southern fishery declined still more rapidly; so
that, in l845, not one British whaler appeared In
the South Seas. Since that time, all nations have
virtually abandoned this "hardy form of perilous
enterprise" in favor Of the Americans. The entire
whaling fleet of the world, in l847, c0r.,isted of
about 900 vessels. 40 of which belonged to France,
20 to Bremen and other ports in Northern Europe,
20 to New Holland and other British Polynesian
Colonies, and all others, more than 500 in number,
with tonnage of 100000 tons, belonged to the
United States. The capital thus employed exceed.
ed twenty millions of dollars. and the annual pro-
drctions Of the fisheries amounted to thirteen mil.
lions of dollars With the decline of this enterprise
in Great Britain, her commercial writer's began 10
discountenance whale fishing altogether; an
while they now represent II as mere gambling
adventure, they endeavor to stimulate the people
Of Continental Europe TO substitute vegetable oils
for those procured In the
Mr.. President, pray consider the cost, time,
dangers, and hazard OF the whale fishery. Each
vessel with its outfit s worth $4,000, and carries
thirty able-bOded seamen, and 10 ahoat on a single
voyage one or two, perhaps three years. 1t finds
the whale always above the sixtieth degree Of lati
tude, and can remain there only during the brief
Polar summer OF three months. The whole time
may elapse without whale being seen. When
discovered, every stage of his capture 10 toisome,
and attended with multiplied dangers to the
sailaEts, increased by the shoals, the ice, the
storms. and the togs, which protect the animal
against his pursuers. The statistics absolutely
frightful to a landsman or a common seaman. In
1919, of sixtythree British ships sent to Davies
Straits, ten were lost In 1921, out Of sixty nine,
for Davis's Straits in 1880, no less than eighteen
were lost, twenty-four returned clean, while not
of the remainder had full cargo, and only
one or two half fshrd. .. ,...- -.
Pray consider now, sir, that the great triumph
of the American fishermen was achieved, and is
still sustained, not only without aid from the Gov
eminent, bot practically also without aid from the
capital or enterprise OF general commerce, and,
indeed, to quote the nervous language of Jcffer-
son, 'with no auxiliaries but poverty and rigor-
Gus economy The whaling fleet Of the United
States, in 1916, consisted Of seven hundred and
thirty seven vessels. OF the thirty States, only
FIVE, New Hampshire, Rhode leland, Connecticut,
Massachusetts, and New York, were represented;
and all of them except New York are the States
least blessed in fertility and climate. New Hamp-
shire, having only single port, sent out only one
vessel. Rhode Island, one Of the three most d.
minutve States, equipped fifty-two. Connecticut,
a small State, sent out one hundred and twenty
four. New York, with her extended territory,
vast wealth, and stupendOus commercial estab
.lishmcnts, sent only eighty five; and all the rest
proceeded from that Sta e. inferior TO many others
in extent, wealth, and commerce, but superior to
them all in intellectual and social development
Massachusetts.
Wealth does nothing. patronage does nothing,
while vigor does everything for the whale fishery.
In Great Britain, London resigned it in favor of
those poor and obsolete towns, Hull in England,
and Peterhead in Scotland, ms soon as the Govern
ment bountcs ceased. So of the eighty five ves-
sells which in lS46 represented New York in the
fishery, only one went up from the port of New
York, the commercial capital Of the State and
Of the continent, while no less than eight pro-
ceeded from Cold Spring, a mere nook in the
mountains which crowd toward each other Just
above the city as If to prevent the waters of the
Hudson from their destined meeting with the
tides of the ocean. All the others sent forth
from New Suffolk. Greenport, and Sag Harbor, in
considerable villages or hamlets on the outward
coast of Long Island Massachusetts exhibits the
same case Boston finds more lucrative employ ment
Tor her capital in spindies, in railroads. and even in
her eds Office and quarrics Of granite: and leaves
the profits and tolls Of the whale fishery to Free
town, Falmouth, Sppican, Wareham, Plymouth,
Holiness Hole, Fail River, Provincetown, Fair.
haven, New Bedford, and Nantucket-towns which
but for their pursuit of the whale fshery would
scarcely have been honored with designation on
the chart or names in the gazetteer. Most won
drous of all, Nantucket is sandy island. fifteen
mles long and three miles broad, capable of main
tanning by agriculture only one hundred persons,
and yet II was the cradle of the whale fishery; and
neither any town in America nor in England, nor
even in France, has ever successfully established
or at all maintained the whale fishery. without
drawing, not merely its know ledge of whale hunt
ing, but the officers and of vcsscls chiefly
from that sandy shoal thus rising above the surface
of the
Need dwell here the whale fishery as a
source of national wealth and an element of ma.
tional force and s,renghf The number of those
who are actively alloat in the pursuit ranges from
$4,000 TO 20 600, while twenty times that greatest
number OF persons indirectly engaged in the
culture Of hemp and the man uiacture Of cordnge,
the building OF ships, furnishing their supplies,
manufacturing and preparing the oil and " hale
bone, in sending them to market, and in the va
rious other occupations incidentally connected
with the trade. The wealth thus acquired leaves
all the resources Of the country untouched DR..
Franklin cheered the fishermen of his day with
the That W tnok m an ,,, ~ a..