Such was the eloquent commendation given to the energy and perseverance of New England whalers by one of the most distinguished of British statesmen. "The first attempt to establish the sperm whale fishery from Great Britain was made in 1775. Nine years later, the French undertook to revive the prosecution of this business. The king, Louis XVI., fitted out six ships himself from Dunkirk, and procured his experienced harpooners from Nantucket; others emulated the example of that monarch; so that, before the French revolution, that nation had forty ships in the service. "The revolutionary war of the American colonies, and the wars of the French revolution, nearly destroyed this flourishing branch of marine enterprise in both countries. Just previous to the war, Massachusetts employed in this service three hundred vessels and four thousand seamen, about half of whom were from Nantucket alone. During that war, fifteen vessels belonging to this island were lost at sea, and one hundred and thirty-four were captured by the enemy. The loss of life in prison ships and elsewhere, and the immense loss of property, show that Nantucket paid as dearly in the struggle for liberty as any portion of our country. "It was not until the year 1792, many years after the commencement of the enterprise in Nantucket, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and other places on the sound, that the attention of the people of New Bedford was turned towards the whale fishery."[H] From this date until the present time, no permanent obstruction, with the exception of the war of 1812-1815, has occurred to impede the gradual and increasing interest given to this enterprise, and which now assumes commanding commercial importance, and develops unrivaled energy in its prosecution. The number of vessels in this country employed in the whale fishery far exceeds that of all others engaged in the same pursuit. The following tabular view will present to the reader the number and class of vessels engaged in the whale fishery, belonging to their respective places in the United States, as reported in the "Whaleman's Shipping List and Merchant's Transcript" for October, 1856:--