As the figures indicate, New London was the principal whaling port. In fact, of all the ports in the United States involved in whaling, New London was third in vessels and voyages. It ranked behind only New Bedford (806 vessels and 4,303 voyages) and Nantucket (364 vessels and 1,402 voyages). During the 1840's, at the height of whaling activity in the world, New London led all ports except New Bedford in vessels and voyages.

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   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.

The leading agents, of the sixty-two at New London, were Major Thomas Williams (1789-1874), Henry Haven (1815-1876), and Joseph Lawrence (1788-l872). Williams headed an operation with several partners which dominated whaling activity, at New London. That group sent out vessels from 1798 to 1892 representing 36% of the vessels and 42% of the port's activities.

All of the agents but one in New London came from old merchant families. The exception was Joseph Lawrence, a newcomer to New London who established one of the most successful whaling firms. As Guiseppe Lorenzo, he arrived in this country from Italy and began an outstanding business career. Lawrence's firm made his family multi-millionaires, and today the family is remembered for a hospital and several monuments around the town.

Five of the most unusual captains were the Smith brothers—Robert (1794-1828) Franklin (1803-1874), Parker (1795-1851), James (1800-1877), and Richard (1809-1884). They made at least 35 voyages from 1821 to 1862 with a total value of products of $1,237,417.36.

Several New London whaling vessels were 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.

New London's whaling activity came to an end in 1909. The last New London-owned whaler, the Rosa Baker, was condemned at Port Stanley in 1900. A Norwich-owned vessel sailed in and out of New London port in 1908-1909, the Margaret.

Stonington was the second most important whaling port of Connecticut. The major whaling activity took place from 1822 to 1892, when fourteen agents sent out fifty vessels on 170 voyages. The leading agents were Elisha Faxon, Jr. (1795-1851); Benjamin (n.d.), Francis (n.d.), Moses (1818-1891), and William Pendleton (n.d.); Joseph Smith (n.d.); John Trumbull (1796-1874); and Charles Williams (1804-1879).  From the 1840s until the early 1850s, whaling was the chief maritime activity in Stonington. From 1860 to 1879 all of the agents ceased their activities.

The final period in Stonington's whaling history began in 1879 when whaling agent James N. Hancox began to send out vessels. He outfitted four vessels on ten whaling voyages from 1879 to 1892. In 1892 Stonington's whaling activity finally came to an end.

Mystic's six whaling agents sent out twenty-eight vessels on 106 voyages from 1832 to 1862. Several whaling vessels were built at the port in the yards of  Elnathan Fellows (1752-1837), Benjamin Morrel (1766-1832), and Joseph Sisson (n.d.). The leading agents included Charles Mallory (1796-1882), Silas Beebe (1781-1863), Jedediah (1773-1851) and William P. Randall (n.d.), George W. Ashley (n.d.), and Joseph Avery (n.d.). Whaling activity ended after forty years because of losses. Charles Mallory, the main agent, sent out the port's last whaler 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 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.

The western Connecticut ports were:

Again one sees relatively little whaling activity. Bridgeport had the most active career in whaling of the western Connecticut ports. From 1833 to 1849 two agents, Samuel F. Hurd (1801-1857) and Sherwood Sterling (1803-1869), sent out four vessels 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 active from only 1820 to 1825. Two firms outfitted these whaling vessels—Forbes and Goodrich and the New Haven Whaling Company. In 1858, Amos F. Barnes (1818-1890) sent out the Ocean, subsequently sold at San Francisco in 1862.

Stamford's sole agent, F. N. Monjo (n.d.), sent out only one vessel, the A.T. Gifford in the period from 1907 to 1914. The voyages of the A.T. Gifford provide Stamford with the credit for the last whaling activity in Connecticut.

While Connecticut whaling 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. Captain Christopher Allen of the Isaac Walton wrote home from Monterey: "All (crew) have left me but 2, both mates will leave in a few days...No help at any price." Seamen received $100 a month, but if one went into the gold fields one could earn $3,000 in two months. The Flora ended its days deserted at San Francisco. 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. Production was 2,000 barrels in 1859, 3,000,000 barrels in 1862, 26,286,123 in 1880, 64,000,000 barrels in 1900, and 898,000,000 barrels in 1930.

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. Among the Connecticut whalers lost were Catherine, General Williams, Peril, William C. Nye, and Alert. 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.⁸ 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.

For Further Reading

A good general account of American whaling can be found in Elmo P. Hobman, The American Whaleman (New York, 1928). For those interested in an extensive statistical study of the industry, Alexander Starbuck, History of the American Whale Fishery (Washington, D.C., 1878), will prove indispensable. Connecticut's whaling history is well covered in Robert Owen Decker, Whaling Industry of New London (York, Pennsylvania, 1973); Francis Allyn Olmsted, Incidents of a Whaling Voyage (New York, 1841); and Nathaniel W. Taylor, Life on a Whaler (Hartford, 1929).

¹ Blubber is the fat beneath the whale's skin—up to 12 inches in thickness—which allows the whale to retain the heat of the body.

² Sperm whales could be found in tropical and subtropical waters. These tooth whales fed on plankton on the floor of the ocean. The heads contained sperm oil and spermaceti, which, it was believed, allowed the sperm whale to dive to great depths. They could bite a boat in two and their hammer-like head could ram and destroy a ship. They could be identified by a singe spout which went up at a forty-five degree angle.

³ Right whales were the first targets of the sea hunters. The name comes from their being the right whale to seek out. They belonged to the whalebone order. They have bone, really baleen, in their mouths. They feed on the surface of the ocean by taking mouthfuls of water and then when closing the mouth, the baleen acts as a sieve, allowing the water to be expelled while retaining any seafood. They could be identified by their two spouts which went straights up twenty feet high.

⁴ Tryworks consisted of two large iron try-pots, having a combined capacity of three to four hundred gallons, which were built into brick furnaces erected on deck. The blubber cut from the whales was cut into pieces called Bible-leaves and then thrown into the pots where they would boil until the oil separated from the fibers.

⁵ Spermaceti is a spongy, fatty substance which it was believed allowed the sperm whale to dive to depths of 3,500 feet or more.

⁶ Ambergris is a solid, fatty substance or gray of black color, possessing an earthy odor. It occurs in lumps of from one-half an ounce to 100 pounds or more. Besides use in perfume manufacturing, it was used in some countries in pharmacy, cooking and as an aphrodesiac. Since it was rare, it commanded prices of 200 to 600 dollars a pound.

⁷ The Corea, Fortune, Lewis, Phoenix, Tenedos and Timor came from New London, and the Meteor and Robin Hood from Mystic.

⁸ Three vessels had already been crushed in the ice and their crews distributed among the thirty-two remaining vessels.

⁹ Baleen consists of fibrous plates growing from the upper jaws of whalebone whales. It is used to strain food from the water.

* Entry under revision.