St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1908-08-12

they were very numerous here, but ow-
ing to their rigid discipline which led to
division they gradually declined and
with the death of Eunice Paddock in
1900 the last survivor passed away.
But there sprang from this sect many
prominent men and women. The old
Quaker schoolhouse is now preserved in
connection with the Historical society's
building Just as it was when last used as
a meeting house.
But the history of whalingin Nantuck-
ct is the most prominent and interesting
of all the industries carried on on the is
land and prior to 1925 she led the world
in this important industry. 1t is record
ed that about the year 1890 one lchabod
Paddock was induced to settle on the is
land as instructor Of 1.-THE best methods
of killing whales and obtaining their
oil" At that time whales were plenty
off the coast of the island and were cap
tured with comparative ease by the
boats of the islanders. A signal staff
was erected as a lookout for whales near
shore and when the signal there she
blows" and the direction was announced
the boats would put off in pursuit. AS
the whales became fewer or were driven
from these waters by the increasing com
merce, small sloops were built which
made short voyages from the island.
Soon longer voyages were necessary and
the irving out of the blubber had to be
done on board instead of on shore as
heretofore, and the size of the vessels in
creased as we'll as the crew. Casks tor
holding the oil were taken aboard knock
ed down and coopers accompanied the
vessel to set them up when needed, and
the voyage extended all over the world,
sometimes the vessel being away from
home three or four years. Thus the bus
mess increased until Nantucket had over
100 vessels in the whaling service and a
population of about 10000 Every
thing connected with the industry was
done on the island. Blacksmiths made
harpoons and iron work for fitting out
the vessels. Rope walks, sail lofts,
cooper shops, chandlines, etc, were es-
tablished. AS the Nantucketers sought
only the sperm whales the chase led
them to all parts Of the world.
During the Revolutionary War no less
than 1874 vessels from Nantucket alone
fell into the hands of the British, and 1t
has been estimated that about 1900
seamen were captured or persisted at
their hands. 1t was while prosecuting
this industry that the whaling captain
of Nantucket discovered the Gulf Stream,
and at the request of Benjamin Franklin,
then postmaster-ge general, whose mother
was a Nantucket woman, a sketch OF 1t
was made which has been but little i'm
proved upon since.
The size of the vessels had steadily
been increased until the larger ones could
no longer come over the bar into Nan
tucket and for while what were called
camels were used to take the larger
vessels over the bar. These camels were
a kind of dry dock which raised the
larger vessels so that they could enter
the harbor. But as New Bedford had a
much deeper harbor she took the preced-
ence in the whaling industry away from
Nantucket. The decline of whaling set
in first on the introduction OF lard oil
and the discovery of the mineral oil
fields in Pennsylvania. This with the
great fire in 1916 caused large exodus
of the inhabitants, and the population
gradually diminished to about 1000,
and for long time real estate was al
most valueless. But with the popularity
of the island as a summer resort pros
peritv has in part returned.
But Nantucket has furnished a large
nuota of men and women who have
added much to the welfare OF the nation.
Many men from the island sailed with
the famous Paul Jones out OF crew OF
| 100 on the privateer Ranger u were
from Nantucket and only last week the
Daughters of the American Revolution
| presented to the Historical Association
= memorial tablet upon which are in
| scr;hed the names of these men. Among