218 



HISTOBY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



The whale fishery of Bremen iu 1864 employed five vessels, iu 1805 three vessels, and in 1866 

 four vessels. The imports of oil aiid bone into Bremen iu 1865 and 1866 were as follows : 



Some German vessels have engaged in the North Pacific whale fishery. Among these vessels 

 were the ship Comet, cruising from 1861 to 1868 ; the Oregon, from 1864 to 1867, and the Julian, 

 from 1865 to 1868. 



2. THE WHALEMEN, VESSELS AND BOATS, APPARATUS, AND 

 METHODS OF THE WHALE FISHERY. 



By JAMES TEMPLEMAN BEOWN. 



I. THE WHALEMEN. 



NATIONALITIES. As to the nationality* of the crews now employed in the whale fishery, I 

 should say I hat the captains are almost always of American birth, usually residents of the New Eng- 

 land States, and rarely a native of the Western Islands. The mates are usually New Euglanders, 

 but occasionally Portuguese, or perhaps a half-breed Indian from Gay Head, Mass., or Montauk 

 Point, Long Island, may fill the office. As a rule the boat steerers arc foreigners, principally Por- 

 tuguese, Indians, or Kanakas. Formerly the crews were composed almost entirely of Americans, 

 and were made up, for the most part, of residents of New Bedford or the New England States, 

 with an occasional delegate from almost every State iu the Union. Subsequently there seemed to 

 be a gigantic .funnel, with its nozzle inserted in New Bedford, through which all classes and 

 conditions of men from all parts of the United States found an outlet to the broad ocean. Still 

 later, the intelligent American-born citizen withdrew from the forecastle of the whaler, and his 

 place was supplied by a foreign element from the various islands and coasts visited by the vessels 

 during their voyages. Though the foremost hands are representatives of almost all nations, they 

 arc mainly natives of the Azores, or Western Islands, Cape Verde. Annobon, St. Thomas, or some of 

 the numerous other little islands on the west coast of Africa, with a sprinkling of Kanakas, Guamies, 

 Lascars, New Zealanders or Maories, West Indiaiuen, half-breeds a mixture of Spaniard and 

 Indian from the coasts of Peru, Colombia, and other parts of the South American coast, English, 

 I ditch, Scotch, Irish, Italian, French, and occasionally an American. A more heterogeneous group 

 of men has never assembled in so small a space than is always found in the forecastle of a New 

 Bedford sperm whaler. 



In case of death or desertion during the voyage vacancies are filled by some of the above- 

 named classes, or by an amalgamated class of comparatively worthless men of different uationali- 



* Of the three thousand eight, hundred and ninety-six men composing the crews of the New Bedford whaling fleet 

 in 1860, it is estimated that one-third \vnv Ainrrk-au born, one-third Azoreau and Cape Verde Islands Portuguese, and 

 the remainder negroes, Kanakas, and other nationalities. 



