I have just hung the old hand-forged whaling lance I found at the "Sow's Ear" (great mid-Cape antique store), made in New Bedford during the years Cape Cod colonists fished for "Right Whales"; 1620 - 1750. Right Whales were migratory, slow moving whales who wintered over in Cape Cod Bay and were pursued in small boats from shore until depleted.
The founding of a fishing colony was one of the main ideas in the settling of Massachusetts, and the colonist's charter gave them unrestricted fishing rights. "Whale of the best kind for oil and bone came daily alongside and played about the ship", was written by Pilgrim fathers W. Bradford and E. Winslow. The Mayflower was also a whaling ship before and after coming to New England.
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