In 1645 it was ordered by
the General court "that by the providence of God and whale or
whales, or any part of a whale should by cast up within the
limits of this town, noe man shall presume to carry away any part
thereof, upon the forfeiture of Twentie shillings." "And whosever
shall find or espie eyther whale or whales, upon notice given to
the magistrates shall have for his paynes five shillings." It
was characteristic of the Puritans that it was ordered that if
any one found a whale on the Lord's day the five shillings would
not be paid. They did not think it proper for people to be
looking for whales on Sunday.
In
1653 the men of
Southampton town were divided into "squadrons" for cutting out the
whales that drifted on shore. Each squadron was to take its turn
and draw the blubber above high water mark. It was then hauled
to the town pond and tried into oil.
Shortly after this it seems
that boats were built and whaling companies organized for
killing whales along the coast. The lack of white men to man the
boats was made up by hiring Indians. In November, 1670 two Indians
Towascon and Phillip, Made a contract to go to sea for Josias
Laughton "for the term of three seasons for ye killing and striking
whales and other great fish.' Their pay was three Indian coats,
One pair of shoes, one pair of stockings, three pounds of shot,
half a pound of
powder, and half a pound of Indian corn for each season of work.
These
whaling companies
each had their own station along the beach and a great many
contracts like the above were made. This resulted in many whales
being killed and quantities of barrels of oil were obtained and
shipped by sloops to New England and New York city, and from here
to England.
It seems before the coming
of the white man the Indians had made some use of drifted whales,
as in 1658, Wyandanch, the grand sachem of all the Island tribes,
granted to Lion Gardner the south beach west of Southampton. In
this grant the following reservation was made "But the whales that
shall be cast upon the beach shall belong to me and the rest of
the Indians, as they have been anciently granted to them by my
fore fathers."
In 1677 James Herrick and
another hired 12 Indians to whale for them for the season for
one half share, and Sequannah, an Indian agreed with Jonathan
Hildreth "To try all the blubber they can procure."
In 1687 there were 14
whaling companies of 12 men each operating in Southampton town
and in that year they made 2,148 barrels of oil.
In the town of Brookhaven
the business was not carried on as extensively as in the eastern
towns but we find that on June 17, 1667, the town fathers
instructed Daniel Lane to "speke to his honor the Governor,
concerning the whale at the south that comes within our bounds,
to be at our disposing." On the following March 23 the residents
of the town bought of Tobacus the Sachem of Unkechaug, the right
to all the whales that should come upon the beach within the
limits of the town. For this the Indians were to be paid five
pounds in wampum or some other commodity for each whale. In 1687
the town assessors were directed to raise a tax, a part of which
was to be paid in whale oil at 20 shillings a barrel.
After the Revolution the
whaling business rapidly increased and in 1846 Sag Harbor was
one of the greatest whaling ports in the United States.