Among the early whalers it was customary to have six boats to a ship, and six men to a boat, besides the harpooner. What at _that time_ was considered an improved method in killing whales, consisted in discharging the harpoon, from a kind of swivel; but it was soon found to be attended with too much inconvenience to be much practised, and the muscular arms and steady nerves of the harpooner, have ever since performed the daring duty, of first _striking_ the whale. The ropes attached to the harpoon, used to be about 200 fathoms in length, and some instances occurred, that all the lines belonging to six boats, were fastened together and ran out by one whale, the animal descending in nearly a perpendicular line from the surface. Instead of going prepared to bring home a ship load of _oil_, it was customary to bring only the blubber, and instead of trying the oil out and putting it into casks on board, the fat of the whale was cut up into suitable pieces, pressed hard in tubs carried out for the purpose, and in this situation was the return cargo received at home. Of so great consequence was the whale fishery considered to Great Britain, that a bounty of 40s. for every ton, when the ship was 200 tons, or upwards, was given to the crews of ships engaged in that business in the Greenland seas, under certain conditions. But this bounty was found to draw too largely upon the treasury; and while the subject was under discussion in the British Parliament, in 1786, it was stated that the sums which that country had paid in bounties to the Greenland fishers, amounted to 1,265,461 pounds sterling. Six thousand seamen were employed in that fishery, and each cost the government L13 10s. _per annum_. The great encouragement given to that branch of commerce, caused so large a number to engage in it, that the oil market became glutted, and it was found necessary to export considerable quantities. In 1786, the number of British ships engaged in the whale fishery to Davis's Strait and the Greenland seas, was 139, besides 15 from Scotland. In 1787, notwithstanding the bounty had been diminished, the number of English ships was 217, and the following year 222. The charter right of the Island of Nantucket, was bought by Thomas Mayhew, of Watertown, of Joseph Ferrick, steward to Lord Sterling, in 1641; and afterwards sold to Tristram Coffin, and his associates, who settled upon it in 1659. On the 10th of May, 1660, Sachems, Wonnook, and Nickannoose, for and in behalf of the nations of the Island, in consideration of the sum of 26_l._ sterling, conveyed by deed, about half of the Island, to the first ten purchasers, who afterwards took in other associates.