Hunting On The High Seas

Even though Connecticut whaling long ago vanished from the seas, ending a romantic and colorful period of our state's maritime story. The whaling era is remembered as man against the sea, visiting remote islands, meeting exotic people, learning strange customs, brave sailors, and courageous captains.  It was a rare event for a whaling vessel crew to return without wonderful tales of unusual adventures in far off places, even though the whaling business which had its practical and unpleasant side.

One of the first Connecticut maritime ventures was hunting fur seals in the South Atlantic for trade to China in the late 18^th and early 19^th Centuries. Most of the fur sealers sailed from New Haven or Stonington and traded fur skins for tea, chinaware and textiles. Vast fortunes were established through the fur seal trade, which lasted about 10 years. However, the wealth amassed through fur sealing paled in comparison with the riches generated from whaling.

Connecticut and Whaling

Whaling in Connecticut grew as a consequence of the Revolution, because the British controlled much of the West Indies New London was cut out of the West Indies trade. Also trading in 1800’s was no longer feasible because much of the trade was being drawn off with the rise of New York as a great transatlantic shipping port.

Whaling also offered a real good alternative because they longer had to depend on having something to ship out. It simply required that you had skilled sailors, ships, and capital to go out and bring the product back.  Whaling in Connecticut first began with the hiring out his whale boat to locals who pursued the whales then plentiful off Long Island.  It was a small harbinger of bigger things to come

After the War of 1812, New London went into the whaling business. So much so that by the mid 1840’s New London became the second largest whaling port in the world after New Bedford. Seventy eight vessels sailed out after whales, seals, and sea elephants. The entire New London area was lined with wharves associated with the whaling industry.

There were other Connecticut ports also involved from time to time: but it was New London which was the most significant whaling port in the 19^th Century. The whale fisheries were probably the most important fishery that Connecticut’s ever had in terms of dollars. One cargo of whale oil could be worth as much as a million and a half dollars and so it was worth the risk to send a whale ship out for two or three years, and sometimes longer.  

New Londoners were known in the whaling trade as “underwater men” because they spent so much time in the far north, or in the far south where the conditions were so extreme. One of their favorite ports of call if you could call it that was Desolation Island in the very south of the Indian Ocean at the fringe of the Antarctic. Desolation was great because there were humpback whales that sported about in the bays of Desolation, and huge sea elephants that would haul up on shore. They could easily kill the sea elephants with clubs, spears, or rifles. The blubber would yield oil indistinguishable from whale oil. So a lot of the whale oil that was shipped into New London was actually from these giant seals some of them getting up to 20 feet long. Hunting sea elephants was known as “elephanting”. 

An industry like whaling also required a lot of supporting trades and industries. It brought tremendous prosperity to the city.  Fortunes were made; many of the leading families in New London became wealthy through the whaling industry.

Connecticut Whaling History

There were five periods of whaling history in Connecticut. The first historical period was characterized by Native American whaling activity and ended when the Europeans arrived in the 1630s. The Native Americans engaged in whaling near the shore. They used canoes to drive the whale into shallow waters where it would run aground and could be killed with harpoons of wood and bone with floats attached. All members of the tribe shared the meat and could use the bone. Thus in this period the right whale provided food, tools, and weapons.

The second historical period covered the years from the 1630s to 1712 also featuring inshore whaling. At that time whales in large numbers entered Long Island Sound and remained from November to April. The whales could feed and be reasonably safe from hunters during the winter. As settlements developed along the Connecticut shore and along Long Island, however, the whales faced attack by both the Native Americans and the whites. As a result, by the early eighteenth century whales began to avoid the waters of the Sound.

The third historical period in Connecticut whaling began in 1712 when open sea whaling became common. Extending from 1712 to 1761, sloops of sixty to eighty tons replaced the open boats of the earlier two periods. These sloops would seek out the whale at sea, and after a capture, would carry the blubber to shore to extract the oil by boiling. Sperm whales became the main target at this time, in place of the right whale of the earlier period. While most Connecticut whaling during this period took place in Long Island Sound or the Atlantic waters off New England, some whaling ships ventured as far as the Carolinas.

During the historical fourth period, 1761-1776, vessels carried on board try works or factories for extracting the oil from the blubber. Try works enabled the vessels to remain at sea for long periods of time. While earlier voyages had been for weeks or months, vessels would now stay at sea for years. The American Revolution brought all such activities to a sudden halt.

By the end of the Revolution, the fifth and last historical period, 1784-1914, began. It proved to be both the longest and the most important. During this period, whaling vessels grew in size until they averaged 250 to 300 tons in the years from 1840 to 1914.

While Connecticut whaling lasted from the 1600s to the 1900s, the most important period was from 1819 to 1860, and the heyday of Connecticut whaling was in the 1840s. During the nineteenth century, whaling ranked number three among New England industries, as only textiles and shoemaking involved more capital and employed more people. Eleven Connecticut ports sent out 358 vessels on 1,315 voyages from 1718 to 1913. The seventy-three whaling ports in the United States sent out 2,721 vessels on 11,911 voyages from 1718 to 1925.

Whaling and The Economy

Whaling also became a significant element in the Connecticut economy because whale products were so important to life in those days. The blubber provided oil for lubrication and illumination. Before petroleum, whale oil fueled home lamps, street lights, locomotive headlights, and lighthouse lights. Sperm oil was a fine, pure oil used in lamps, burning brighter, with less smoke, and longer than other oils. As a lubricant it had no equal, for extreme cold or heat did not change its consistency. Even today it is used as a lubricant in sealed instruments.  Spermaceti produced the finest grade of candles. Before spring steel and plastic, whalebone was in great demand. Light and flexible, whalebone could be heated and shaped and would retain that shape when cooled. A bonus for a whaler was ambergris. This substance could be found in the intestines of sick sperm whales or floating on the sea after they regurgitated. Its value lay in its ability to retain the odor of whatever was mixed with it for long periods of time. Thus, it became very valuable in the production of perfume.

Spermaceti wax, candle and oil - made from sperm whale spermaceti.

The whaling industry also had other business strengths. First, no one person put up all the capital for a voyage, several people joined together, thus spreading the risk. This arrangement allowed an investor to purchase into several voyages of different whaling ships. Another attractive feature of whaling—especially for the investor—was that the crew was not paid a salary. Crew members received a share of the value of the cargo only after all bills were paid. Hence, expenses of a whaling voyage were limited. 

Agents were at the center of the whaling industry. Agents sold shares in each voyage while keeping controlling interest. They also recruited crews, hired captains, acquired insurance, and arranged for supplies. Any problems during the voyages were handled by agents, and they disposed of the cargoes. For each of these jobs, the agents took a commission. Agents might also own industries using whale oil products. As whaling profits enriched them, they became politically powerful and controlled banks and businesses.

Whaling captains were the kings of the seas. The success or failure of each voyage depended upon them. To increase their interest in success, each captain not only received a share of the profits, but could own a share of the venture. Captains had to possess judgment, seamanship, "fisherman sense," navigational ability, and the leadership strengths to handle men.

Connecticut Whaling Ports

There are three areas important in Connecticut whaling; Eastern Connecticut, the Connecticut River, and Western Connecticut. These large areas of Connecticut are just as important as individual ports since whaling involved using all of the resources of the surrounding area, far beyond the immediate port. Seamen and investors would be recruited from many towns. Farmers would provide food supplies which would be shipped to the vessels in the ports. Varied industries were active in producing clothing, tools, ironwork, sails, rope, and vessels.

Eastern Connecticut

The leading area of Connecticut whaling was Eastern Connecticut in which there were five ports:

New London was responsible for a number of whaling highlights. It sent out the first American steam whaler in 1866, the Pioneer, a 235-ton vessel. New London also had the largest American whaler, the Atlantic, a 700-ton vessel. Certainly one of the smallest also went out from that port, the 55-ton Shaw Perkins. With its four-man crew, it sailed to all parts of the world hunting whales.

Several New London whaling vessels were also charged with being slavers. Since whalers went everywhere in the world a whaling vessel could undertake a number a tasks-legal or not. The Fame in 1845 carried 530 slaves to Brazil. In 1852 the British seized the Louisa Beaton as a slaver, but released it. Later, in 1858, the British seized it again for slaving, along with an unidentified New London vessel. The Laurens was seized in New London harbor after outfitting for what was suspected as a slaving voyage.

Stonington was the second most important whaling port of Connecticut. The major whaling activity took place from 1822 to 1892, when fifty vessels set out on 170 voyages. From the 1840s until the early 1850s, whaling was the chief maritime activity in Stonington. Between 1860 to 1879 all whaling activity ceased.

Mystic's sent out twenty-eight vessels on 106 voyages from 1832 to 1862. Several whaling vessels were built at the port in the yards of Mystic. Whaling activity ended after forty years because of losses. The last whaler was sent out of port's in 1860. The other two ports of the area, Norwich and Groton, never were as active in whaling as New London, Stonington and Mystic. Their resources instead went into other industries. Thus they only sent out eight vessels on thirteen voyages.

The Connecticut River

The Connecticut River ports totaled were:

These three Connecticut River ports had only limited whaling activity. Their distance from the sea resulted in other industries attracting their merchants and capital. Middletown's voyages took place in 1770. East Haddam had only one vessel in the nineteenth century. It made three voyages, one each in 1836, 1837 and 1838. The Hartford voyage was made by a New London-owned vessel.

Western Connecticut

The Western Connecticut ports were:

Again there was very little whaling activity in these towns. Bridgeport had the most active career in whaling of the western Connecticut ports. From 1833 to 1849 four vessels were sent out on twenty-two voyages.

New Haven had whaling vessels out during a forty-two-year period. However, three of the four vessels sent out were only active from 1820 to 1825.  Stamford only sent out one vessel, the A.T. Gifford in the period from 1907 to 1914. The voyages of the A.T. Gifford gave Stamford the credit for the last whaling activity in Connecticut. 

Life At Sea

The life of a captain was often a privileged one. But for the men who crewed the whaling ships, their standard of living and their lives at sea proved to be radically different. Each vessel would carry a complement of men not only to work the sails and the rigging of the ship but also to go out in small boats after whales, kill them, bring them back in, strip off the blubber, and then render it down into oil. So you might have 1,500 plus men, maybe even 2,000 on the whaling vessels.

At the height of the industry several hundred sailors were roaming the streets looking for a good time.  New London was notorious for having, grog shops along Water Street , Bank Street, and Reed Street. There was Hell Hollow which was the local red light district. 

The whaling merchants often encouraged sailors to have a good time, spending their money. They would get advanced them money prior to the voyage.  The sailors would be charged for loading the ship, they’d be charged for whatever advances they had been given and they’d work it off as they were on the vessel and it was in the interest of the owners to actually have the sailors start out the voyage in debt to them.

The captains would be paid a share or what was called “a lay” in the voyage. In fact, each member of the crew, the officers and so forth would get this lay or share. The captain’s lay might be as much as say a 12^th or 16^th. A green hand or a Portuguese from the Azores, might be signed on for 175^th or 195^th. After a couple of years at sea, with a wage advance, and with the debts run up through purchases at the ships store, known as the slop chest, many crewmembers would be left in debt or with maybe $30 or $40 dollars.

Life at sea was no leisure cruise.  A lot of whale men when they first went to sea in the whaling industry had great ideas of seeing the world and what a romantic kind of opportunity it was to go on the high seas and capture the great leviathan, however after a few months most of these crewmen became very disillusioned with the whole business.

There was a lot of time on board these whaling ships which lasted two, three, or four years at a time and life on the ships could be cramped and sometimes a little bit unhealthy and it was just not a great life after a few months for most of these seamen. There were long periods of boredom and routine shipboard activity. On the other hand, when whales were sighted, they experienced extreme danger for a very short length of time. Hopefully they would prevail, and bring the whale back. Now they had a tremendous amount of work.

So what the whaling merchants did was they relied on finding green hands and farm boys from faraway. Many of them not from New London, but from upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania. They also recruited Portuguese from the Azores, blacks from the Cape Verde Islands, people from St. Helena, Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic, Kanakas, South Sea islanders, and Hawaiians. There was a very strong Native American presence also, both Mohegan’s and Pequot’s.

It’s also true that maritime history of the United States has often been presented pretty much as a white man’s story. The truth of the matter is it was a very multicultural story particularly in the early 19^th Century.  Sometimes the early crew lists clearly indicate that about a third of the crew were an ethnic minority. As the whaling industry became more marginalized in the late 19^th Century more and more Negros came into the industry. By the turn of the Century sometimes half the crew or more were Negros heading out on the whaling vessels still in operation.

Maritime activities have also often been thought of as a male-dominated province but the fact of the matter is in southeastern Connecticut during the whaling era one out of six captains took their wives with them and oftentimes their families as well and it wasn’t uncommon for a woman to even give birth on one of these long whaling voyages.

The End Of Whaling In Connecticut

However, by the 1880’s the whaling fleet was reduced to a few vessels as the industry began to die out in Connecticut.  While Connecticut whaling officially ended in 1914, the major activity ceased by the Civil War. Only three ports sent out whalers in the twentieth century. One factor which contributed to the decline of Connecticut whaling was the California gold rush following the discovery of gold in 1848. The gold rush attracted at least 25 captains and large numbers of seamen. Indeed, any whaling vessel sailing near the California coast ran the risk of becoming stranded as its crew members were more than likely to take off for the gold fields. The gold rush also hurt Connecticut whaling in that the demand for passage and supplies in California led to a number of whalers being converted to passenger and cargo ships.

A second, and more devastating factor in the decline of Connecticut whaling, was the development of the petroleum industry. Until petroleum, tallow and spermaceti candles had been almost the sole source of artificial light. Then came the drilling of the first oil well in 1859. The new industry grew rapidly as demand, transportation facilities, and marketing outlets developed.

Other factors in the decline of the whaling industry came with the Civil War. A large number of American whaling vessels were lost to Confederate raiders. Connecticut whaling also suffered Civil War losses by the action of a Connecticut citizen, Gideon Welles, secretary of the Navy. Welles decided to block Southern ports by sinking at the port entrances vessels loaded with stones. Two such stone fleets were organized. The first contained twenty-five vessels, eight of which came from Connecticut. They averaged 335 tons and cost an average of $3,3507. A second fleet of twenty vessels averaged $5,000 each and included five Connecticut vessels, all from New London. As it turned out, little success came from the project, as the vessels sank too deeply into the mud or were broken up by the tides.

Finally, two heavy blows hit the declining whaling fleet in 1871 and 1876. In 1871 some forty-five whalers entered the Arctic Ocean through the Bering Straits This was a common route to hunt whales with thick blubber from mid-summer to September or early November when the ice would form. The hunting went so well that thirty-nine vessels had an opportunity to get out when the ice broke up. Only seven vessels escaped, however, as the remaining thirty-two decided to stay and to continue filling their vessels. A second freeze locked all thirty-two in the ice. Fortunately, there were seven vessels in open water to the south. The thirty-two decided to abandon their vessels, cargoes, and equipment and make a two-day trek over the ice to the whale ships in open water. All were saved and reached the Hawaiian Islands safely, but the blow to the whaling industry was tremendous! It has been, estimated that the vessels, with their equipment and cargoes of oil and bone, were worth $2,600,000. Connecticut lost three vessels—the J. D. Thompson, Monticello, and Paira Kohola. One would think that such a disaster would make the whaling captains extremely cautious regarding future hunting in the Arctic Ocean. Yet, 1876, twenty whalers entered the same area and began gathering oil and bone. As the ice formed, the captains once again ignored the danger. As a result, twelve of the whalers had to be abandoned. This time the crews were not as lucky as in 1871, for fifty lives were lost. Vessels, cargoes, and equipment lost totaled nearly $1,000,000.

With these heavy Arctic blows the whaling industry of Connecticut declined drastically. By the twentieth century only three ports continued whaling—New London, Norwich and Stamford. The development of steel springs added to the decline of Connecticut's whaling, for baleen9 no longer was in demand. A final blow came from the fleeing of the whales to the Arctic and Antarctic. Steam-powered iron and steel vessels were required to operate in the ice fields, and Connecticut's wooden sailing vessels could no longer compete. A fascinating period in Connecticut's maritime history ended in 1914 when the last Connecticut whaler dropped anchor in its home port.