The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-04-27
WHALING.
An Old Sea Captains Tale OF
its Rise and Fall.
Brisk Days in New England Ports Fol
lowed by %stagnation.

ForCy years ago, before gas and min
cral oil had como into general use, tho
pursuit and capture of whales was one of
the most important industries in the coun-
try, and New-England was its home.
Every spring a large fleet of whaling YES
sells sailed u of Vineyard and Block Is
land Sounds, to return in two or three
years loaded to their decks with oil and
bone. Their crews were composed of
Americans, men who had been born and
brought up in Ncw-England, either on
the mainland or OF Nantucket, Block Is
land, Martha's Vineyard or some of the
adjacent islands, with now and then a
farmers son fresh from the bayfield,, or
dissipatcd young men who were sent out
by their friends in the hope that the voy-
age would work Il reformation in their
characters and tastes, and Il foreigner was
seldom seen among them. The wharves
of Ncw-Bcdford, Sag Harbor and New
London rcsoundcd with the songs and
cries OF the stcvcdorcs as they hoistcd
out the barrels Of oil and bales of bone
wa UNS A"iAo 1 ISlulHCu SCSSClS, lchIlS
rumblcd down on the piers laden with
stores of provisions and rigging for out
ward-bound ships, and the ringing sound
OF the calking mallet as it struck the iron,
the creaking of blocks and tho tapping
sails, all combined in ono busy hum
which lasted from morning till night.
Now all is changed. In the spring a
few small vessels and perhaps one or two
large ships, a mere ghost of the former
feet, creep out of the sounds between
the headlands of Montauk and Cape Cod,
and spreading their patched and worn
sails 20 the breeze, stand out into the
deep water in search of the Chords of the
ocean," Their crews are composed of
foreigners, mostly Portuguese from the
Western Islands, and it is as rare to sec
an American among them as it was forty
years ago to sec a foreigner. The wharvcs
arc deserted and still, and in place of the
many gallant ships which in the good old
days filled the harbors, are n few small
fishermen and coasters, and the arrival of
a whaling vessel causes rs great a commo-
ton in the town rs n visit from q royal
parsonage. In years past the American
flag was carried by whalcrs to the utter
most parts of the globe; now it is seldom
seen off our coast. An old sea captain
said recently:
Forty years ago we were the greatest
nation on the sea; now we are the great
est on the earth. The first attempt to
capture whales for the purpose of getting
oil which is contained in the blubber or
outer covering of which we have any rec
ord was made by the French in the latter
part of the fourteenth century. These
whales were a small species, probably
~blackfsh, which frequcntcd the Bay of
Biscay, n they were soon driven off the
coast by the unceasing war which was
wagcd on them. From this time until
toward the end Of the sixteenth century
we have no record ofthc industry. About
this time the Dutch founded a small vii
lagc on the island of Spitzenbcrg, and
whaling was carried on by them to some
extent. The whales, however, were soon
driven off and bctook themselves to the
coast Of Greenland. The Dutch followed
them, and for more than q century the
Dutch oil trade 1ourishcd. IN 1850 it
reached its height. There were then eco
Dutch ships and IA, 900 sailors engaged
in the business, but from that time it be-
gan to decline and in the present century
has been given up altogether by that pco-
pie. Then it was taken up by the Eng
lish, but they never made u success of it
and now they have almost abandoned it.
In 1915 they had 1874 ships in the bust
ness, but at present less than twenty.
"The industry was early taken up by
the New-England colonies, and was at
first carried ON in small boats from the
shore. In the first part of this century
the Wh~alcswerc driven off the coast and
became scarce, and larger vessels were
fitted out for their capture. The princi-
pal whaling ports at this time were New
Bedford, Holiness IIoll, Edgartown, Sag
Harbor, Greenport an.l :Scw-London. In
1854 the industry reached its height.
There were then nearly five hundred YES
sells employed in the trade, and their ag-
gregatc tonnage was over 200, 900 tons,
but then it began to decline, and has
never since regaincd its former magni-
tude. Now there are about 100 whalers
hailing from ew-England ports and
about twenty from San Francisco. A