THE HISTORY OF DUTCH SEA FISHERIES. 281 



their sole business to knock the seal on the head and kih 

 the walrus in the Arctic seas, this also having been 

 given up in 1875, on account of insufficient returns. A few 

 seals are still annually killed in the Zuider Zee and Zealand 

 estuaries. But of the bold spirit which caused Dutchmen of 

 old to look for gain, and find plenty, in the Northern seas, a 

 spark has survived the utter ruin of Dutch whaling. A 

 seaman of spirit and experience, Mr. Bottemanne,* in 1869 

 prevailed upon some capitalists to invest in a whaling enter- 

 prise, the aim of which was to kill the animals, not by 

 harpoons thrown from boats, but by the modern contrivance 

 of the rocket-shell-harpoon shot from a gun on board a 

 steamer. A company was formed, and fitted out a whaling 

 vessel of this description, under Mr. Bottemanne as com- 

 mander. He made his first voyage in 1870, and secured 

 only one fish, owing to inexperience in the use of the 

 artillery. In the next year better aim was taken and 26 

 whales were shot, but half of them lost, mainly oxving to 

 deficiencies in the lines and gear. The returns of 1872 

 were still worse ; and the Whaling Company of Rotterdam, 

 which had chartered the steamer, was forced to liquidate. 

 Another attempt to create a similar company was made 

 in 1875, but failed for want of partners ; and whaling, 

 once the second in importance of the Dutch sea-fisheries, 



: Any one who writes a complete history of Dutch sea-fisheries 

 in the last quarter of a century will have to make very frequent 

 mention of this remarkable personage. With a sailor's love for salt- 

 water Mr. Bottemanne combines a scientist's interest for, and extensive 

 knowledge of, the creatures that live in it. He has been a merchant- 

 captain and a whaler ; he is now Inspector of the Fisheries in the 

 Schelde and Zealand Estuaries, and his thorough and practical 

 ichthyological acquirements have made him the constant adviser, in 

 matters of salmon fishery, oyster-culture, and similar subjects, of both 

 the Government and the Sea- Fishery Board. 



E. 8. U 



