THE ORDER CETACEA. 201 



PRESENT STATE OF THE BRITISH WHALE- 

 FISHERY. 



I shall conclude with a few notices of the present state 

 and prospects of the British Whale Fishery, considered 

 in a commercial point of view. For the particulars I am 

 about to mention, I am principally indebted to Mr. 

 Macculloch's Dictionary of commerce, and to the volume 

 I have already mentioned of the Edinburgh Cabinet 

 Library, containing, I believe, the latest account of the 

 fishery that has yet appeared. 



According to Captain Scoresby, the average quantity 

 of shipping fitted out for this trade for the nine years 

 ending with 1818, in all the English ports, viz. London, 

 Hull, Whitby, Newcastle, Liverpool, Berwick, Grimsby, 

 and Lynn, was 91 § vessels ; and in the Scotch ports, viz. 

 Aberdeen, Leith, Dundee, Peterhead, Montrose, Banff, 

 Greenock, Kirkaldy, and Kirkwall, 40^. In 1830 the 

 former quantity had diminished to 41 ; while the latter 

 had only increased to 50. Upon the whole, therefore, 

 there has been a falling off in the course of twelve years 

 to the extent of about 30 per cent. The season of 1 830 

 was one of the most disastrous ever known since the 

 commencement of the fishery. Of the ninety-one 

 vessels which sailed, nineteen were entirely lost ; as 

 many more returned clean (or without a single fish) ; 

 seventeen brought only one fish each ; and of the others 

 many had only two or three. The actual loss incurred 

 from the shipwrecks, and the severe injuries sustained 

 by twelve other vessels, was calculated to have amounted 

 to about 143,000/. Both oil and whalebone immediately 

 rose to more than double their former price ; but still 

 the whole produce of the fishery of this year did not 



