New Bedford undoubtedly owed its whaling success to its proximity to Nantucket, to its wonderful harbour, and to the honesty, thrift, and good business ability of its citizens, most of whom were Quakers. A whaler leaving New Bedford Harbour. As in Nantucket, the whole city lived to go whaling, and as each inhabitant made more money, he moved his residence higher up on the Hill. It is said that there was an inn called the “Crossed Harpoons,” and another called “Spouter Inn,” and there is a Whaleman’s Chapel “The ribs and terrors of the whale Arched over me in dismal gloom, While all God’s sun-lit waves rolled by And left me deepening down to doom. “I saw the opening maw of hell, With endless pains and sorrows there; Which none but they that feel can tell— Oh, I was plunging to despair— “In black distress I called to God, When I could scarce believe him mine, He bowed his ear to my complaints— No more the whale did me confine.” The pulpit of this chapel was made to represent the prow of a whaleship, and was ascended by means of a rope ladder, which the minister, who had been a harpooner in his youth, hauled up after him. Around the walls of this little church can still be seen tablets erected in memory of many whalemen who lost their lives at sea. There also was a daily paper called The Whaleman, which gave the reports of the whaleships and the whaling news. It has been said that New Bedford fathers gave whales for dowers to their daughters, and that they had reservoirs of oil in their attics to burn on gala occasions. It is a curious fact that three Morgans not long ago married three Rotchs, three Rotchs married three Rodmans, and three Rodmans married three Motleys. Among other well-known New Bedford whaling families are the Hathaways, Swifts, Howlands, Morgans, Stones, Delanos, Rodmans, Seaburys, Giffords, Tabers, Grinnells, and Wings. Whaling was a tremendous financial gamble, and until a vessel came home “clean” or “greasy,” meaning empty or full, the success of the voyage was not known. They tell a story of a New Bedford captain who had been out for nearly four years, and as he came up to the wharf the owners asked him what luck he had had. His reply was, “I didn’t get any whales, but I had a damn good sail.” There is another tale of a seaman whose vessel left New Bedford on the day of his mother’s funeral. Naturally he set sail with a heavy heart, and during his three years’ cruise he thought many times of his sorrowful father at home. As the ship neared the docks he was met by his father with “Hurry up, Jim, I want to introduce you to your new mother.” There were many changes at home during a long cruise, and sometimes even the fashions had entirely changed. One whaleship captain described his surprise at seeing for the first time the crinoline or hoop skirt. The real founder of New Bedford, and the pioneer of the whale fishery at this port, was Joseph Russell, who sent his ships out in 1765. Several years later the first ship was launched and was called the “Dartmouth,” and this vessel is well known to history owing to the fact that she was one of the ships that carried into Boston Harbour the tea There were many nationalities represented in the crews of the whalers, and the New Bedford streets presented a very foreign appearance, with Spaniards, Portuguese, Dutch, Norwegians, Germans, French, English, Scotch, Irish, Sandwich Islanders, and New Englanders at every turn. A large number of Portuguese served on whaleships, and a part of the city near the south end of Water Street became known as Fayal. The “Golden Age,” as it is called, of whaling was between 1825 and 1860, and during the whole of this period New Bedford assumed the lead, even long after other ports had given up the pursuit. It is estimated that about the year 1848 there were over seventy millions invested in the industry and seventy thousand persons derived from it their subsistence. It is an interesting fact that the insurance on American whalemen was about one-half the rate that was charged the Englishman, which certainly showed the superiority of our Yankee seamen. There were several whaling insurance companies in New Bedford. There is a story told of a New Bedford ship owner who had just heard that his vessel had gone down and he hadn’t yet received the insurance policy from the company. He sent a letter down to the office which read as follows: “I have heard from my ship and thee need not place the insurance.” Of course, the policy was sent up immediately. The New Bedford whalers explored new grounds, and to this fact chiefly is due the continued prosperity of its whale fishery, but it was to die slowly; in 1875 the fleet from this port had declined to 116 vessels, in 1886 to 77 ships, and in 1906 to 24. The famous Stone Fleet sailing from New Bedford, Nov. 16, 1861. The ships were loaded with stones and were sunk in the mouths of certain Southern harbours during the Civil War, to prevent blockade runners from entering. The vessels in this picture are the Garland, Maria Theresa, Rebecca Simms, Leonidas, South America, Archer, American, Harvest, Amazon, Cossack, Courier, Henrietta, Potomac, Kensington, Herald and L. C. Richmond. The captains of the Stone Fleet. A fine type of old New England ship masters. Standing from left to right—Captains Beard, Gifford, Swift, Childs, Stall, French, Wood, Cumiski, Willis, Bailey. Sitting from left to right—Captains Malloy, Swift, Brown, Howland, Worth, Tilton, Brayton, Taylor, Chadwick. One of the chief historical events of New Bedford happened in 1861, when the famous Stone Fleet sailed from that port. The United States government decided to purchase some old ships and sink them in the channels of the harbours of Charleston and Savannah, to prevent blockade running during the war. H. Bartlett & Sons supervised their purchase and Captain Rodolphus N. Swift was the general agent. Bartlett purchased some of the old whalers for as small a price as thirty-one hundred and fifty dollars, some of them having more cement than wood in their hulls. To James Duddy, a teamster, fell the task of supplying the seventy-five hundred tons of stones with which to fill the vessels, and many a New Bedford stone wall now lies at the bottom of some of our Southern harbours. Captain Rodney French, an old One captain insisted upon washing the decks of his ship every morning, using pulverized stones instead of sand, and another, to give the fleet a warlike appearance, mounted a formidable “Quaker” gun, made from a section of a spar. A second fleet sailed later in the year, making forty-five vessels in all. Although the expedition cost the government about a quarter of a million dollars, its success was only temporary. The captain of the “Alabama” swore vengeance on New Bedford and destroyed or captured every whaler he could find, and in the “Alabama” awards that were made after the war New Bedford received a large share. Ten years later occurred the worst disaster that ever befell a whaling fleet. Thirty-four whalers were caught in the ice in the Arctic regions and sunk, and it is a curious fact that, while the loss reached one million five hundred thousand dollars, not a single human life was sacrificed. These three pictures of a series of five on the following page show the sinking of the ships, the abandonment of their vessels, which had their flags union down, and the eighty-mile sail through the ice-floes to the open sea, where twelve hundred and nineteen men, women, and children were taken home in the seven whalers that had not been lost in the ice. It must have been very crowded, as each ship had to stow away several hundred persons in addition to her own crew. There were many sad hearts as they left their vessels and almost all of their belongings, and started off in the small boats. The trip to sea and the trans-shipment in the heavy swell must have been made with the utmost care, otherwise many lives would have been sacrificed. The loss to the New Bedford owners was so tremendous that they never really recovered from the catastrophe, and many families had to economize for years after. The Swifts, Howlands, and Rotchs were among those who lost ships. On one of the vessels in the first picture of this series was a large quantity of the finest Manila cigars and also some rare Madeira wine, that had been picked up in the Philippines the year before on instructions from the ship’s owner. When the captain of this vessel reached New Bedford and reported the loss of his command, the owner’s first question, after listening to the dismal tale, was whether his cigars and wine had been saved. “All of it,” came the reply. “Where is it?” said the owner, looking more cheerful. “Well, you see, I drank the wine and Mr. Jones, the mate, he smoked the cigars, and they certainly done us both good,” replied the captain. The ship “Progress,” shown in the last picture, forms an interesting connecting link between the Stone Fleet and this 1871 disaster. Abandonment of the whalers in the Arctic Ocean, September, 1871. Vessels surrounded by the ice, and many of them in a sinking condition. Abandonment of the whalers in the Arctic Ocean, September, 1871. Showing the whaleboats being hauled up on Blossom Shoals, where the ship-wrecked crews spent the night crowded under the upturned boats. Abandonment of the whalers in the Arctic Ocean, September, 1871. The seven ships receiving the 1217 men, women, and children of the abandoned vessels. The sea was very rough and the trans-shipment was very dangerous. The ship “Progress,” whose history is given on the opposite page, is at the right of the picture. Under the name of the “Charles Phelps” she whaled from Stonington, Conn., for a number of years and finally was purchased for the Stone Fleet. She was found to be in such good condition that the government decided not to sink her, and she returned to New Bedford and was sold; and it was this same vessel that took part in the rescue of the twelve hundred and nineteen shipwrecked people ten years later. In 1893 she was fitted out as if for a whaling voyage and towed by way of the St. Lawrence River to Chicago, where she was exhibited at the Fair, and now lies rotting on the sands of the lake at South Chicago. No other whaler ever had so interesting and varied a history. The year after this Arctic disaster found the fleet again in the Arctic, and the “Minerva,” one of the ships left at Point Belcher, was discovered and found to be in good condition; the others had sunk. One lone person was found who had remained on board his ship for the whole year, and his sufferings had been fearful. The natives had stolen all the whalebone and oil from the sinking vessels, and when some of the same shipwrecked captains arrived the next year the Esquimaux tried to sell them back their own property, and one native was using one of the chronometer cases as a dinner pot in which to boil his blubber. The “Minerva” was manned and sailed to New Bedford and continued in the whaling industry. New Bedford ships suffered severely during the Rebellion, but later new ones were added to the fleet and business again prospered. Lack of space prevents enumerating the achievements of American whalers during the Civil War. Captain William P. Randall, however, will go down in history as a hero of this war; he was brought up on a whaleship and later served in the navy. Captain Frederick Fish, father of Frederick P. Fish and Charles H. Fish, of Boston, was one of the best known and most respected of the whaling captains sailing out of New Bedford. He commanded the “Montreal” and the “Columbus” when only twenty-two years old, made nine voyages round the world, and was one of the most successful whalers of his day. Once when near the Sandwich Islands his vessel happened to anchor very close to an English ship, and Captain Fish noticed that every evening at sunset the English commander, while at anchor, set all sails and then furled them again in order to show how quickly this work could be performed. After a few evenings Captain Fish ordered his crew to do the same, and the time consumed was so much less that the next evening the Englishman decided he did not care to go through the performance; in fact, he never tried to show off again in that port. There is also another amusing story told about Captain Fish. His ship at one port took on a great many chickens, which were used for food, and finally one of the crew rebelled and informed the captain that he had eaten enough hen. He was immediately ordered out on a yard-arm and was made to crow like a rooster for such a long time that when he was again allowed on deck, he had a most excellent appetite for another chicken dinner. Captain Fish delighted in telling of the time New Bedford fifty years ago (1808). (This print is dated 1858.) Captain Fish was an excellent story teller, and another yarn has been handed down in connection with one of his trips. The voyage had been very unsuccessful, and as he was looking over his chart he tossed his dividers down in a disgruntled manner, and by accident they chanced to stick in the chart. He then conceived the novel idea of sailing to the very place where his instrument happened to land, and curiously enough he was rewarded by a very large catch. Once when one of his whaleboats had been overturned by a fighting whale he hurried to the assistance of the crew, who were struggling in the water, and to his amazement found two of them squabbling over the ownership of a pair of old shoes, instead of thinking about saving their lives. It is a curious fact that he never learned to swim, and often saved his life when capsized by grabbing some floating dÉbris. His nerve and courage were remarkable, and it is related that even on his death-bed he told the doctor an amusing story. This picture of New Bedford in 1808 is most interesting. The oil market shed on the right-hand side of the street was built in 1795 by Oil stored on the wharves at New Bedford awaiting a favorable market. The owners, dressed in silk hats, long-tailed coats, and polished top boots, might often be seen watching, testing, and marking the oil-barrels. |