Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1892-06-15
THE WHALERS.
J.F. Bean Of Augusta Tells Of
His Experience
On Beard a Whaler.--A Tale Of DAN
ger, Toll and Hardship.
The whsIcr TsAes Ms Life in Ms Hard When
Ne Ships.

parted tue saH sea hayur through his Yiyi,
descriptions. An easy and pleasing writer
to these descriptions Mr.. Bean brought ,
rich fund Of rage experience derived from
years of hfe aboard a ''wtaler.' Tn,
paper shOald be given entire but space pre-
oludes ii. Mr.. Bean illustrated his pspet
by drasing sEetsiies ia course of the read
aug and by So DOING added mneh of interest
ln beginning Mf, Bean said
Few interests have exerted a NOR,
marked ipilnenee upon the history of tn,
| nited States than that of the fisheries
Aside from their value in Commercial
point of view, they have aiway. been foun,
10 be the nurseries of hardy, daring am
interchangeable race of seamen, such a,
scarcely could have been trained in an,
other pursuit. Whslemen were the adyanc,
gaard-the pioneers of the sea--the foriort
hope of CIVILIZATION
Exploring expeditions followed in thei,
wake 10 CLEAN where they had reaped II
the frozen seas Of the north and the south
their keeIs ploushed to the extreme limit OF
navigation. aud between the tropics they
pursued their prey through regions never
before traversed by the vessels of a civilized
community. Holding their lives in their
hands as il were-whether the,
harpOoned the leviathan of the deep
or put into some hitherto unknown port fol
supplies no extreme of heat or cold could
daunt them. no thought of danger hold then
in cheek Their lives have ever been one
continual round of hairbres,lth escapes, in
which the risk was shared alike bv officer.
Il It., IL -
tunity to indulge his shirking, no coward 4
chance to display his cowardice, and in theil
hazardous life incompetents were speedil,
weeded out.
Many tale of danger and toll and suffer,
ing, startling, severe and horrible, has IL
lumined the pages of the history of thi,
pursuit and scarce any, even the humblest
of these hardy mariners, but can, from hi.
own experience, narrate truths stranger thar
fiction.
In many ports among hundreds of islands
on many seas the flag of the country from
which they sailed was first displayed from
the mast head of a whaleship.
The speaker elaborated the ideas con.
tanned in the beginning of his paper bv an
interesting collection of historical informa-
tion and anecdotes. Continuing he said
The Development of this industry 10 the
nlted States from the period when few
boats first praciiced it along the coast, to
the time when Unemployed fleet of 100
staunch ships and l5,ooo hardy seamen, is
an interesting chapter in our national his.
tory.
The American whale fishery is rontem.
porary wltl the settlement of the New York
and New England colonies Indeed, on,
of the main ideas in the settlement OF
Massachusetts was the founding of fish
ing colony, and one of the provisions Of
the charter guaranteed to the colonists theil
night to unrestrictedly fish.
Ii was a serious question with the settler,
of eastern Massachusetts whether to adop
Cape Cod for residence, or select som,
more propitlous site and the main argument
siduced for that locality was tha, 1t was :
place of profitable fishing for large whale,
ot the best kind for oil and bone came daily
alongside and PLAYED nbomt the ship
This seems to have been a convinciu,
argument for certain it is that every new
settlement took into consideration the pos
sibility of the chosen location being adapte,
to this Industry.
Coming from England, as the vast major
lily of the early settlers did. where the ,aIu,
of the fisheries had already assumed con
siderable importance it would have bee,
strange if they had failed to have appre
ciated this feature of their surroundings.
vt this time whales were very numerou
both along the coast and in the deepe
waters of shore.
Capt. John Smith so early as 1914 fount
whales so numerous along the coast that h,
turned aside from the primary object of hi
voyage to pursue them
Richard Mathcr who came over t.
Massachusetts in 1885 records in his Jour
nal of the VOYAGE seeing near New
England mighty whales spewing nj
water IN the air. like smoke of chimney
and making the sea about them white an,
hOary. and of such incredible bigness tina
he would never wonder that Jonah eoul,
easily mingie with the internal mechanism
of such monsters
According to some writer's. the Indians
/ before the advent Of the whites. were ac
customed to pursue the whales in their ca
/ noes, and occasionally succeeded in haras
/ sing them to death. Their weapons con
sisted of rude wooden harpoon. to whirl
was attached line with wooden float a
0 L
plunge their interests of torture into tn
body of the whale whenever he came to tn
surface of the water to breathe
In Weymouths journal of his voyage t
| America in ldn5, in describing the Indian
on the coast, he says: 'Dne special thin
is their manner of killing the whale, whc
they call pOirda'rT; and will describe hi
form how he bloweth mp water: and tha
he is l2 fathoms lang and that they 20 i
company of their king with multi
tude of their boats; and strike hir
with bone made in fashion q
a harping iron fastened to- q rope
v hicb they make great anil strong of til
bark of trees, which they veer gu, afte
him then all the boats come about him a
he riseth above water. with their arrow
they shoot him to death; when they hav
killed him and dragged him to shore, the
call all their chief lords. together anil sin
song of joy and those chief lords. whor
they call slgamors, divide the spoil an
give to every man share, which pieces 5
distributed. they hang mp abou; their hous,
for provisions; and when they boil thei
they blow off the fat and put to their maiz
and other pulse which they eat
It is safe to assert that the first orgaI
lied prosecution of the American whal
fishing was made along the shores of Lon
Island. The people of the town of Soui
Hampton which was settled in 1910, WEI
quick TO appreciate the value of this sourc
of revenue and in 1914 the town was divide
into four warts and eleven persons in eac
ward we're appointed to look after the 'dri
whales" cast on shore anil to Sc
that the oil was properly divided. ever
person over Is years of age being entitlc
TO a share regulated by law
In 1915 the town ordered tha, IF an
whale was east on shore within the limits {
the town, no man should carry away an
part thereof without an order from ma.
istraie Bnier penalty of 20 shilIngs. If II
finder gave notice of such prize to magi,
tra,e. be should he allowed ) shillings-ei
cept it be on the Lords day-then 1t
aforesaid sIillings shall not be due or pa,
able
\ few years later it became customar
TO fit out expeditions of several boats Z,
whaling along the coast, the crews campin
on shore at night. These trips general
lasted two weeks bnt were heightened a. tt
industry became of more Importance TT
boats were increased in size until boats b,
came slogns then sehoouers. .barks and ship
and voyages increased in length from tw
week. to t~o. three, four and fve years |
at the present time.
Sur hardy fishermen veutarcd TO moi
distant shares. The bays along the eoa
of Maine were visited and were four
swarming with whales that we're easily eal
tured
Sone'ngare Yentnresouls than the re
found large returns in Frerchmans ar
PassamaguOdeiy bays aud eventually arrive