It was the most practical communism that industry has ever seen, and it worked to the satisfaction of all concerned as long as the whaling trade continued profitable.
The wars in which the American people engaged during the active days of the whale fishery--the Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Civil War--were disastrous to that industry, and from the depredations committed by the Confederate cruisers in the last conflict it never fully recovered.
The nature of their calling made the whalemen peculiarly vulnerable to the evils of war.

Cruising in distant seas, always away from home for many months, often for years, a war might be declared and fought to a finish before they knew of it.

In the disordered Napoleonic days they never could tell whether the flag floating at the peak of some armed vessel encountered at the antipodes was that of friend or foe.

During both the wars with England they were the special objects of the enemy's malignant attention.

From the earliest days American progress in maritime enterprise was viewed by the British with apprehension and dislike.