For reference, the following basic timeline for whaling may be helpful:
900 - 1600 - Basque whaling; Bay of Biscay, Spitzbergen, Newfoundland.
1610 - England begins Greenland whaling, by the Muscovy Company.
1640 - Massachusettes Bay Colony shore whaling; Germany commenced whaling.
1650 - Long Island, NY shore whaling began.
1600 - 1700 - Cape Cod shore whaling.
1700 - Peak of Dutch whaling.
1715 - Six whaleships sail from Nantucket.
1731 - First swivel guns tried in England.
1750 - Tryworks first used on board the whaleship.
1756 - First known whaling voyage from New Bedford (Dartmouth), Sloop Manufactor.
1789 - First American whaleship to enter the Pacific Ocean, Ship Beaver of Nantucket.
1824 - First recorded use of the single-flue harpoon, Ship Stanton of Fairhaven, Mass.
1837 - Greener gun introduced by William Greener of Birmingham, England.
1835 (ca) - Peak of Nantucket whaling, with 70+ vessels.
1846 - Shoulder guns and bomb lances introduced in American whale fisheries.
1848 - Toggle iron invented by Lewis Temple of New Bedford; whalers entered Bering Sea, Arctic.
1857 - Peak of New Bedford whaling, with a fleet of 329 vessels.
1859 - Oil discovered in Pennsylvania; beginning of the decline of whaling.
1861 - 1864 - Civil War; 35 whalers lost, 40 more as the Stone Fleet in Charleston Harbor.
1864 - Sven Foyn of Norway invented cannon to fire explosive harpoon; beginning of modern whaling.
1865 - Darting guns introduced.
1869 - Last whaling voyage from Nantucket.
1871 - Entire Arctic whaling fleet, 34 vessels, lost in the ice.
1925 - Last sailing whaleship voyage, Schooner John R. Manta; first modern factory ships used.
©: 2000 - 2008Thomas G. Lytle . All rights reserved
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