I was thinking Continental United States to "narrow" it down a bit
since the date is very early, I thought maybe Spanish? whaling in
southern U.S. States? earlier? Thank you. I once met the woman from
Guelph University on Grand Manan Island in New Brunswick in the Bay of
Fundy, (not far from St. Croix Island, a very early international
archaeology site between the US and Canada), who was taking DNA
samples from the "right whales" with a small crossbow. They have a
nursery there, not far from Campobello Island also. They had some
minke whale sitings too she said of the two parked down at Indian
Beach and the Eddystone light called "The Whistle" I had seen that had
chased the ferry over to the island. The DNA was combined with visual
records to try to study the "right whale" pods and their attempts at
survival swimming from Florida to New Brunswick, Canada.

Once working for the US National Park Service, I had left to go to
grad school and returned to visit the crew at its next stop, the
Martin Van Buren "summer White House" (due to epidemic) which then was
all white and has been returned to what it once looked like. Nearby in
Hudson, NY was where it's said many whales were processed for whale
oil for the northern tier of cities lighting (Albany, Syracuse,
Rochester, Buffalo) and also the home of the American Museum of
Firefighting. (?)

George Myers