From New Bedford We Set Sail
Sponsored by Sovereign Bank


During much of the nineteenth century, whaling was a major American industry, reaching to the farthest corners of the globe. With its unique convergence of geographical, economic, political, social, and religious factors, New Bedford, Massachusetts, became the epicenter of that industry.

How did these factors promote the whaling industry in the years before its wide-reaching prominence? New England colonists had hunted whales along shore since the mid-1600s, alongside local Native Americans. By the 1750s, a deep sheltered harbor, proximity to whales, and plentiful iron and timber attracted settlers. In particular, these features drew Quakers who were excluded from putting down roots elsewhere. Within a few decades, some of Nantucket’s most prominent Quaker whaling merchants had moved their operations to the little community that was to become New Bedford.

These Quakers possessed extensive financial, organizational, and technical expertise – along with a broadminded religious and social outlook. Their skills and tolerant labor practices enabled the community to expand as well as to develop the shoreside industries needed to support the industry. By the 1850s, they had transformed whaling from a small-scale, family-based venture into a complex, worldwide enterprise and propelled New Bedford into a bustling, international center of commerce and cultural diversity.