242 



DISCOVERY REPORTS 



owing to the war between England and Spain. Until that year whalers had been 

 prevented from operating in Australasian waters by the limits imposed by the British 



Fig. I 



East India Company, who controlled by permit all whaling operations between longitudes 

 51° and 180° E. New Zealand Sperm whaling thus really dates from the year 1798, when, 

 as a result of the reported presence of Spanish warships off Cape Horn, whalers were 

 instructed to pass into Australasian waters for the duration of the war (McNab, 1914). 



