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Bar Graph of the Number of Whaleships
Whaling reached its peak in 1857, when 329 whaling ships were registered in New Bedford.
Data sources for number of whaleships: Davis, L. E., R. E. Gallman, and T.D. Hutchins. The Structure of the Capital Stock in Economic Growth and Decline, The New Bedford Whaling Fleet in the Nineteenth Century. In: Quantity & Quiddity, Essays in U.S. Economic History, Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT, 1987, p.344; Starbuck, A. History of the American Whale Fishery. Argosy-Antiquarian, Ltd., New York, 1964, p. 43; Tower, W.S. A History of the American Whale Fishery. Political Economy and Public Law Series, No. 20, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1907. p. 125.