98 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



from ocean to ocean by some channel unknown to navigators, and that at some seasons of tlie 

 year there must be an inter-ocean communication. The Advertiser adds: "We have heard befon 

 of instances where whales have been caught at Cumberland Inlet with harpoons in them, with 

 which they have been struck in the Arctic Ocean, but we believe this is the first authenticated 

 instance of a whale having been caught in the Arctic Ocean with a harpoon in it from the Davis 

 Strait side." 



Scarcely any effort lias ever been made by Americans to find whaling-grounds to the east of 

 Greenland or at Spitzbergen, where the Dutch and English once found such profitable fishing. 

 Two American vessels have been sent to the Spitzbergen seas; one, the Hannibal, of New London, 

 a ship of 441 tons that sailed May 21, 1855, and returned March 21, 1850, with 28 barrels of whale 

 oil; the other vessel \vas the bark Tempest, also of New London, that sailed May 21, 1857. After 

 an unsuccessful cruise near Spitzbergen and the east coast of Greenland, she sailed for the South 

 Atlantic and thence to the North Pacific Ocean, where, after several cruises, she obtained a fair 

 cargo, and returned to New London in 1861. The four years' cruise of the Tempest was not profit- 

 able, but resulted in a loss of $7,000. The owner being asked how he could lose so much by the 

 voyage, said: "I will, by way of reply, mention a few items, and the reader may draw his own 

 inferences. Cost of vessel; interest on the same; outfits; interest on outfits; provisions for a 

 large crew; advance to crew; desertion of men; shipping new hands; repairs on vessel; wear 

 and tear; staving boat; clothing for men; new sails; few whales; insurance; commission; 

 leakage; gauging; commission; wharfage; port charges; taxes; more leakage; outgoes; freight; 

 fog; thunder." 



Another attempt of Americans to whale in the waters north of Europe was made at Iceland 

 in the years 1865 and 1866, by Captains Dahl and Royce. They proceeded to Seidis Fjord, in 

 latitude 65 18' north, with two vessels, the bark Reindeer, of New "York, under the American flag 

 and a little steamer called the Visionary, which was built in Scotland, and sailed under the 

 Danish flag. They had two whale-boats fitted for catching the whales that were towed by the 

 steamer into the fjord where they were cut in. The first season proved unsuccessful, but in the spring 

 of 1866, twenty sulphur-bottom whales were taken yielding about 900 barrels of oil. Extensive 

 arrangements had been made to carry on the fishery, steam oil try-works having been built on 

 land. In the winter of 1865-'(J6 there was sent to Ireland the Dutch schooner Jan Albert, that 

 had been remodeled into a screw steamer and named the Litens. The crew consisted of Ameri- 

 cans, Danes, Scotch, Russians, and one Polynesian. They further employed two small iron 

 steamers built in Glasgow and Liverpool, and called t lie Vigilant and Stegpideder. By the end 

 of September they had taken forty whales that yielded about 2,400 barrels of oil. Although this 

 American attempt to establish a whale-fishery at Iceland was partially successful, yet the returns 

 as compared witii the expenses of the undertaking did not warrant its continuance, and the fishery 

 was abandoned. 



The fishing by Scotch vessels in Davis Strait and east of Greenland, as also the early history of 

 the Spitzbergen whale-fishery are discussed below under the head of Whale Fishing by Foreign 

 Nations. 



The total number of American vessels that have engaged in whaling in Davis Strait, Hudson 

 Bay, and vicinity, since the revival of this fishery in 1846, includes 16 schooners, 7 brigs, 13 barks, 

 7 ships, and 1 steamer, a total of 44 vessels, of which 18 were lost on their voyages. The 

 entire number of voyages fitted out in the same period was 138. 



RECORD OF VOYAGES 1846 TO 1879. The following table is a record of each voyage made 

 b.y the American licet to the region of Davis Strait and Hudson Bay from 1846 to 1879: 



