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Began in the New England colonies as early as 1690, where it was prosecuted during nearly fifty years in small boats, since the whale frequented the northern coast during that period. In 1740 the Arctic and Antarctic coasts began to be explored in search of whales. In 1758 Massachusetts alone employed 304 vessels in the whale-fishery. The right whale was at first the object of capture, but after 1812 sperm-whales became equally desirable. In 1815 there were only 164 ships engaged in it. In 1830 the products of the fishery were 106,800 barrels of sperm, 115,000 barrels of whale oil, 120,000 pounds of whalebone, and 2,500,000 pounds of sperm candles. Since 1840 the whale-fishery has decreased, chiefly because of the scarcity of whale.