102 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



Largo lares of wbale oil are more easily taken than of sperm, and the business is of a more lively and exciting 

 nature, while the usual high price of whalebone makes it more profitable. May success attend the efforts of the many 

 vessels who are to follow t bat branch of the fishery during the present and coming years! 



Our present licet numbers 177 vessels at sea and in port, against 178 last year, Iftj in lr<?9, and 1*7 in 1878. 



Sperm whaling lias m>t been a success, vessels in the North Atlantic making a fair average, and those on liiver 

 1'late and Tristan doing poorly, \vbile on the coast of Africa catches were good, and some vessels took large fares. 

 On New Zealand the fleet met with poor success, excepting one vessel, and on Cbili .sperm whales were not so abun- 

 dant as formerly. Near Gallipagos Island and vicinity two vessels did well, and the Indian Ocean and New Holland 

 were entirely neglected. Tbe continued low price for sperm oil and the scarcity of whales have discouraged many 

 who have long followed this branch, and the success of right whalers induces them to change to that which appears 

 more remunerative. 



Eight whaling has yielded good results. In the Arctic Ocean whales were very abundant, and the quantities ol 1 

 oil taken were limited by the size of Hie vessels and the number of casks, the fleet averaging ],400 barrels of oil and 

 22,000 pounds of whalebone, being tbe handsomest return for many years. No traces were found of the two whalers 

 missing the year previous. In the different southern oceans right whaling was prosecuted by a large number of ves- 

 sels with varying success, and during the summer large catches of humpback were made on the coasts of South 

 America and Africa, the high juice compared with other oils stimulating many in that direction. 



Sperm oil opened the year at. $1 per gallon, advanced to $1.07 in March, declined to 1.02-$ in May, and to 87 

 cents iii July ; advanced to 90 cents in August, to 95 cents in September, and to 9-< cents in October, closing the year 

 at, the latter figure. Tbe stock of crude oil in hands of importers, manufacturers, and others, both in Europe and this 

 country, is much less than at this time last year. The quantity afloat is 4.. Mill barrels less. 



Tbe consumption of sperm oil has been fully equal to that of the past few years, and possibly somewhat increased, 

 ami in Europe it is expected the figures when received will show that the consumption there was nearly if not quite 

 up to the average of previous years. 



Arctic whale oil opened the year at 60 cents per gallon, declined to 50 cents in April, and to 46 cents in May, 

 advanced to fi5 cents in August, and declined to 50 cents at the close of the year. South Sea and humpback oils have 

 sold at from 2 to 3 cents less per gallon than Arctic. 



Arctic whalebone was at $2.25 per pound in January, $2 in May, and $2.30 in June, advanced further to $2.50 in 

 Angust, but declined in November to $1.30, closing the year at that figure, the heavy catch weakening the market. 

 The price of South Sea whalebone has ruled at about 25 cents per pound less than Arctic. 



TRADE REVIEW, 1858 TO 1881. 



The Oil, Paint, and Drug Reporter, of November 23, 1881, gives the following interesting review 

 of the whale fishery in an article entitled "Whale and sperm oils": 



The appearance of large bodies of whales in the Atlantic along the United States coast, during the summer and 

 up to a very recent date has suggested the possibility of resuming operations on tbe ground abandoned years ago. The 

 reason, perhaps, that the presence of those whales has not attracted more attention is tbat they belong to the hump- 

 back [mostly finback] species, which produce no whalebone, and therefore aie not a prolitable catch except in times 

 of high prices. The only demount rat ions tbat have been made against them so far liase been the shooting of a few in 

 Provincetown Harbor, Massachusetts, and the fitting out of a schooner from that port. This vessel cruised along tbe 

 eoast of Maine during the summer and took about 100 or 150 barrels humpback oil. This result was not sufficiently 

 alluring to induce others to follow the example of the owners of the schooner, though we- believe a menhaden steamer 

 did cruise in tbe neighborhood of Block Island for a time without making a haul. The recent appearance of a large 

 school of sperm whales in ihc Middle Atlantic, however, suggests the idea that the whaling industry might be profit- 

 ably revived in these waters at no distant day. There are many considerations to be taken into account, before such 

 a venture could be made, the most important of which are the prices that can be obtained for the oil. Since the time 

 when whale and sperm oils began to be supplanted by cheaper illurninat ing and lubricating oils, the whale fisheries 

 have been, naturally, on the decrease, as the result of competition has been to force prices down to a point barely 

 covering the cost of catching. The cost of catching sperm oil largely depends, of course, upon the price of labor at 

 the port where the vessel is fitted out and the cost of such fitting out, an important article of which is the provision, 

 which, for a long voyage, such as is now made, is composed largely of salt pork, beef, and canned goods. The lowest 

 prices at which sperm oil can now lie laid down in New Bedford is variously estimated at 90 to 95 cents per gallon, 

 which at the best prices at present obtainable for export or home consumption leaves a very small margin of profit to 

 I lie whalemen. The. profits in right-whale oil fishing are largely dependent upon a freak of fashion. At tirst sight 

 such a statement might seem somewhat ludicrous to the ordinary reader, but nevertheless the change in the mode of 

 female attire plays an important part in the market rates of whale oil. If it is the fashion to wear much whalebone 

 in articles of dress, then the demand for that article becomes of such importance that the whale-catcher derives a 

 sufficient profit from its sale to render the price of oil a matter of secondary importance. But it would require an 

 enormous demand for whalebone to do away with the necessity of obtaining something for the oil, and although the 

 i.isbiou in dress for a number of sears past has required the annual use of immense, quantities of whalebone, still this 

 has not been sufficient to keep t he s\ haling industry from going into a decline, because a sufficient return could not be 

 had for the oil. As sperm oil has to depend upon its own merits, the sperm whale. yielding no other valuable product , 

 its competition with other oils has seriously detracted from its importance, and at the same time reduced the profits 

 of the industry to a point, as we said above, a, little niorp than half tbe cost of catching. * 



