THE WHALE-FISHERY 



1. HISTORY AND PRESENT CONDITION OF THE FISHERY 



By A. HOWARD CLARK. 

 1. GENERAL EEVIEW. 



THE WHALING FLEET. The American whale-fishery in 1880 employed one hundred and 

 seventy -one vessels, aggregating 38,63:;. MS tons, and valued with outfits at $2,891,650. Additional 

 capital, aggregating $1,733,000, was invested in wharves, store-houses, and oil refineries. The- 

 number of men employed on the vessels was 4,198 and in shore whaling about 250. The largest 

 vessel was the steam bark Belvidere. 440.12 tons, and the smallest one employed in ocean whaling 

 was the schooner Union, 66.22 tons. Most of the schooners and the smaller vessels of other classes 

 were employed in Atlantic Ocean whaling, while the liirgest and best equipped craft were in the 

 Pacific and Arctic fleets. The distribution was as follows : Five vessels in Hudson Bay, one hun- 

 dred and eleven in the North and South Atlantic, twenty-five in Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean, 

 twenty-two in the Pacific Ocean, and eight hauled up at home ports. 



The greater number of vessels belonged in Massachusetts, one hundred and twenty three 

 hailing from New Bedford, twenty from Provincetown, seven from Edgartown, six from Boston, 

 two from Westport, two from Million, and one from Dartmouth. New London, Conn., owned five 

 vessels and five hailed from San Francisco. Cal. The interest of San Francisco in the whale- 

 fishery cannot be measured by the number of vessels owned there, for almost the entire North 

 Pa. ific and Arctic fleets are accustomed t<> make that place a fitting port and the headquarters 

 for reshipment of nil and bone to the Atlantic sea-board. 



The Provincetoun fleet was composed almost entirely of schooners employed in Atlantic 

 Ocean whaling. The whaling grounds of Hudson Kay and Davis Strait are favorite resorts for 

 New London whalemen, while New Bedford vessels are scattered over all the seas. 



Besides the vessel fishery then- is a boat or shore whaling industry, which at times is quite 

 profitable. The principal stations are on the California coast and are manned mostly by Portu- 

 guese. On the coasts of Washington Territory and Alaska whales are taken by the Indians and 

 Kskimos. The only points on the Atlantic coast where boat-whaling is carried on are at Prov- 

 ineetown and one or two places in North C.'aiolina; at Provincetown the business in some years is 

 of considerable importance, as in 188(1, when 4S \\hales were taken, yielding 29,925 gallons of oil, 

 and 8,750 pounds of bone. The principal species taken at the Atlantic stations is the fin bacfc 



