The history of American whaling really begins with the settlement of
the New England Colonies. When the “Mayflower” anchored inside of Cape
Cod, the Pilgrims saw whales playing about the ship, and this was their
chief reason for settling there. It afterwards proved that the products
of the whale formed an important source of income to the settlers on
Massachusetts Bay.
The subject of drift, or dead whales which were washed ashore, first
attracted the colonists, and there are numerous references to them on
record. It was the invariable rule for the government to get one-third,
the town one-third, and the owner one-third, and in 1662 it was voted
that a portion of every whale should be given to the church. The whale
fishery increased steadily, so that in 1664 Secretary Randolph could
truthfully write to England, “The new Plymouth colony made great
profit by whale killing.” The success of the settlers on Cape Cod and
elsewhere encouraged Salem to consider ways and means of whaling; for
as early as 1688 one James Loper, of Salem, petitioned the Colonial
authorities for a patent for making oil, and four years later some
Salem whalers complained that Easthamptonites had stolen whales that
bore Salem harpoons. As early as 1647 whaling had become a recognized
industry in Hartford, Conn., but for some reason did not prosper.
The first white people to explore our New England coasts discovered
that the Indians were ahead of them in the pursuit of the whale. The
Red Men in canoes attacked these beasts with stone-headed arrows and
spears which were attached to short lines. Usually wooden floats were
tied to the line, which impeded the progress of the animal, and by
frequent thrusts these early hunters actually worried the life out of
the whale.
[Illustration: This print shows the high sterns of the old Dutch
ships.]
Waymouth’s Journal of his voyage to America in 1605 gives the first
description of the Indian method of whaling in canoes on the New
England coast from November to April, when spouters generally abounded
there. “One especial thing is their manner of killing the whale” runs
the quaint description “which they call a powdawe; and will describe
his form; how he bloweth up the water; and that he is twelve fathoms
long: that they go in company of their king with a multitude of their
boats; and strike him with a bone made in fashion of a harping iron
fastened to a rope, which they make great and strong of the bark of
trees, which they veer out after him; then all their boats come about
him as he riseth above water, with their arrows they shoot him to
death; when they have killed him and dragged him to shore, they call
all their chief lords together, and sing a song of joy; and those chief
lords, whom they call sagamores, divide the spoil and give to every man
a share, which pieces so distributed, they hang up about their houses
for provisions; and when they boil them they blow off the fat and put
to their pease, maize and other pulse which they eat.”
[Illustration: Early method of bringing whales on shore by means of a
windlass.]
The Esquimaux at this time were very much more advanced than the
Indians, and showed their ingenuity by inventing the “toggle” harpoon,
which is in use to this day, and which was improved upon in 1848 by
a Negro in New Bedford called Lewis Temple, who made his fortune
turning out irons. This harpoon was arranged to sink very easily into
the blubber, but when pulled out the end turned at right angles to the
shank, thus preventing the harpoon from withdrawing.
Boston is mentioned only occasionally in connection with the Whale
Fishery. During 1707 the Boston papers state that a whale forty feet
long entered the harbour and was killed near Noddle’s Island, and
another interesting record is in a letter written in 1724 by the Hon.
Paul Dudley, who mentions that he has just received a note from a Mr.
Atkins of Boston, who was one of the first to go fishing for sperm
whales. There were many whaleships recorded in the Boston records,
although fitting out and sailing from other neighboring ports.