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WHALING - Archive of 12 Documents Mid-1800's

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Whaling. After the end of the War of 1812, American shipping was free to carry on and the whaling ports began to grow. New Bedford, Massachusetts, in particular built its whaling fleet from 10 vessels in 1815 to 36 vessels five years later. In 1841 alone, 75 whalers sailed out of New Bedford and the city was fast becoming one of the wealthiest in the nation. The Civil War, like the wars before, was very bad for the whaling fleet. New Bedford contributed 37 old whaling vessels to the war effort in the form of the "Stone Fleet". These vessels were filled with rocks and sunk at the mouths of Southern harbors in an attempt to block shipping in and out. After the war, two Arctic disasters, one in 1871 and another in 1876, claimed 30 New Bedford vessels and 15 from other ports. Whaling ports lost millions of dollars in these disasters and as vessels were lost owners could seldom afford to replace them as the markets for whale products continued to decline. Archive of twelve documents mid-19th century whaling ship documents headed from New Bedford, Massachusetts, for the Atlantic and Pacific. Each document is folded for filing to 3 1/3" x 9". Insurance Policies for ship owners Gibbs & Jenney on sperm oil, at $1.80 per gallon, on their vessels from Talcahuano (Chile) to New Bedford.

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