Excerpt from Miriam Coffin, or the Whale-Fishermen, Vol. 1 of 2: A Tale We were not surprised, however, at the discovery, upon our arrival at Nantucket, that its people had occasionally suffered from this neglect. We found that they had already presented a memorial to Congress, setting forth the great hazards, and complaining ofthe unprotected situation of their trade, which they had for half a century prosecuted in the Pacific Ocean, -where their ships were not only subject to dangers in navigation, from the uncertainty of the surveys and the inaccuracy with which many islands had been laid down on the charts, but were constantly liable to vexatious detention and exactions from the authorities upon the South American coast. The petitioners expressed their desire that Government would take the matter in hand, and fit out a small naval expedition, which should be directed to cruise in the neighbourhood of their whaling-grounds; and other wise be employed occasionally in making accurate surveys of new places, that were already or might thereafter be dis covered; as well as to ascertain the capabilities of the islands for affording'those. Natural and necessary supplies which all whale-ships are in want of in the course of their long voyages among numberless isles, where nature has been. All-bountiful in the over-abundance of her productions, but wherethe tenant of the soil is, in the same proportion. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.