 There were only a few recorded catches during the first few decades ( 1709 – 1730s ) of offshore sperm whaling . Instead , sloops concentrated on Nantucket Shoals , where they would have taken right whales or went to the Davis Strait region to catch bowhead whales . By the early 1740s , with the advent of spermaceti candles ( before 1743 ) , American vessels began to focus on sperm whales . The diary of Benjamin Bangs ( 1721 – 1769 ) shows that , along with the bumpkin sloop he sailed , he found three other sloops flensing sperm whales off the coast of North Carolina in late May 1743 . On returning to Nantucket in the summer 1744 on a subsequent voyage , he noted that " 45 <unk> are brought in here this day , " another indication that American sperm whaling was in full swing . 
