PRESIDENT RUTHERFORD B. HAYES - FOUR LANGUAGE SHIPS PAPERS SIGNED 09/24/1880 CO-SIGNED BY: JAMES TAYLOR, J. A. P. ALLEN, WILLIAM M. EVARTS - HFSID 5362

RUTHERFORD B. HAYES and WILLIAM M. EVARTS
The President and Secretary of State sign papers for the whaling vessel Attleboro, bound from New Bedford to the Pacific.
Four Language Ships Papers signed: "R.B. Hayes" as President and "Wm. M. Evarts" as Secretary of State, 1p, 22¼x16¾. Signed in Washington but issued from New Bedford, Mass., 1880 September 24. Countersigned: "J.A.P. Allen/Collector". Notarized by "James Taylor". Four Language Ship's Papers (French, Spanish, English, Dutch) for the Bark Attleboro "bound for Pacific Ocean and laden with Provisions, Utensils and Stores for a Whaling Voyage…." Ship's papers identified the vessel in international waters as American. Whaling voyages were rare after the 1870s. The American sperm whaling industry had its greatest prosperity from 1820-1850. The decline of American sperm whaling began with the California Gold Rush of 1849. Many crew members of whaling ships bound for the Pacific Ocean deserted to seek their fortunes prospecting for gold. The most severe blow to the whaling industry was dealt during the Civil War, when Confederate ships sank many U.S. whaling vessels. The birth of the U.S. petroleum industry after the war posed a new threat. Petroleum products soon replaced sperm whale oil as a fuel for lamps and spermaceti as a base for candles, ending the need for whaling voyages. Eleven months before the vessel left for its whaling voyage, Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb leading to the end of whaling voyages. Fragile. Tears and separations at folds (all intact) touch Hayes' signature but it is intact. Creased. Some wear and nicks at edges.