60 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



W. Proctor, formerly of Cambria, now of San Marcos, San Luis Obispo County. Mr. Proctor is a 

 blacksmith. He began making harpoons in 1870 or 1871. The first one made was presented 

 to Captain Clark, who struck three whales witli it and then put it up to keep for luck. Mr. Proc- 

 tor has no patent on the harpoons, and no warerooms or factory. He makes them out of the very 

 best iron, better than that used in the English harpoon. They are heavier thau the latter, and 

 the posterior part of the head is made thick, instead of thin and sharp. There is also a little con- 

 trivance by which the turning of the head in the flesh is made more certain. They are now used by 

 nearly all the California whalers, and are considered by them as better and more durable than the 

 others. The harpoons are used for making fast to the whale; the bombs for killing. Often flint 

 lance-heads and bone harpoons of the Eskimos are found in the whales, and very few of them are 

 unscathed. The neighboring Chinamen help when a whale is brought in, receiving the sinews 

 for their share. The total outfit is worth $1,000 to $1,500; the houses about $300. 



Whales going down are fatter than when returning. A south-bound whale makes perhaps 

 35 barrels of oil, but a north bound only 25 barrels. Mostly bull whales are taken. On the south 

 journey the larger cows come nearest shore and first. When they return the cows and calves are 

 farthest out, the bulls and dry cows near shore. 



Portuguese Bend was once a good whaling-station, but lacked wood and water. San Diego 

 was an excellent station until the only suitable place was taken by the Government. Santo Tomas 

 is a good place from the chance of taking sperm whales. 



PORT STAKFOED CAMP. This camp is located on " Whaler's Point," about a mile north of 

 the landing at "Port Stafford." This camp consists of 21 men, all but one Portuguese, and mostly 

 from the Azores. To the American, Michael Noon, I am indebted for the information obtained, 

 Captain Marshall (Marsiali) being away. The property is owned by four or five shareholders, the 

 captain being one of them and the others are hired by these, each man receiving a particular lay, 

 the oarsmen one sixty-fifth to one-seventieth, the boat-steerers one thirty-fifth to one-fortieth, the 

 strikers one-seventeenth to one-twentieth. The station is usually fairly good but this year they 

 have had poor luck; only four whales, all gray, having been secured. In 1879 nine, in 1878 

 eleven were taken. Most of these were gray; though a few humpbacks were taken in the fall. 

 One hundred and fifty barrels of oil have been shipped to San Francisco from this camp. They 

 have three whale-boats here made at New Bedford. The other items of outfit are the same as at 

 San Simeon. The whole cost about $1,500, and would sell for about half that amount. 



Captain Marshall established the station here, and has been in charge all the time since its 

 beginning in 1868 or 1809. The men in this company, as at San Simeon, are discharged in the 

 summer, and a new set hired each fall, many of them different. Some of its members are engaged 

 in summer in fishing for the market of San Luis Obispo. 



STATISTICAL RECAPITULATION. The aggregate amount of oil taken by the several shore par- 

 ties, prior to 1874, is estimated by Scammon at not less than 95,600 barrels; of this amount 75,600 

 barrels were obtained from California gray whales, and 20,000 barrels from humpbacks, finbacks, 

 and sulphur-bottoms. "The value, of the oil may be placed at about $13 a barrel, which would give 

 a gross of about $1,242,800, or an annual product for twenty-two years of $56,490. To obtain this 

 oil not less than 2,160 California grays and 800 humpbacks and other whalebone whales were 

 robbed of their fatty coverings. If we add to this one-fifth for the number of whales that escaped 

 their pursuers, although mortally wounded, or were lost after being killed, either by sinking in 

 deep water or through stress of weather, we shall swell the catalogue to 3,552. To this add one- 

 eighth for unborn young, and the whole number of animals destroyed would be 3,996, or about 

 181 annually. This may be regarded as a low estimate ; doubtless, the number of these creatures 



