Abstract:
In the early twentieth century, William F. Nye Company of New Bedford, Massachusetts operated a bottlenose dolphin fishery on Hatteras Island, North Carolina. Nye specialized in the procurement and refinement of oils from dolphins and small whales as the main source for watch and clock oils. The fishery on Hatteras Island figured integrally into the maritime whaling industry, the ascendancy of clockmaking the United States, and the exploitation of southern fishing grounds by northern companies.