quality:corruption
Sperm whaling

There were only a few recorded instances during the first few decades (1709–1730s) of offshore sperm whaling. Instead, sloops concentrated on the Nantucket Shoals, where they would have taken right whales or went to the Davis Strait region to catch bowhead whales. By the early 1740s, with the advent of spermaceti candles (before 1743), American vessels began to focus on sperm whales. The diary of Benjamin Bangs (1721–1769) shows that, along with the bumpkin sloop he sailed, he found three other sloops flensing sperm whales off the coast of North Carolina in late May 1743. On returning to Nantucket in the summer 1744 on a subsequent voyage, he noted that "45 spermacetes are brought in here this day," another indication that American sperm whaling was in full swing.