298 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



Monaco, 1888; Pouchet & Beauregard, 1889, p. 6). According to Lima (1940) the shore whaling 

 business did not begin until the 1850's when Dabney and a Portuguese, Bensaude, acquired whale- 

 boats, and Dabney set up the try-works at Porto Pirn. This must refer to the date 185 1 mentioned in 

 the oral tradition. Other historians beside Lima place the start of shore whaling some twenty years 

 later than 1832. According to Faria e Silva (1890) it began in 1856, and Chaves (1924a) notes that 

 there were shore stations in Fayal and Pico a few years earlier than 1 86 1 . But where the earliest records 

 are lost we should not dismiss hearsay evidence, and I conclude that shore whaling was started in 

 Fayal, possibly by Dabney, about 1832, but it did not prosper and was relinquished until its revival 

 and firm establishment by Bensaude and Dabney during the 1850's. How long it remained partially 

 in American hands is not clear. In 1920 the Foreign Office Handbook (p. 30) declared that, ' Whaleries 

 are conducted by the Americans: the chief are in Fayal and at Capellas in San Miguel'. However, 

 when I visited the islands in 1949 the controlling interests everywhere were held by Portuguese, either 

 locally or from the mainland of Portugal, and there were no Americans engaged in the industry. 

 I believe that Portuguese have owned it entirely for a very long time. 



Little evidence survives to indicate the spread of shore whaling to other islands of the archipelago, 

 and the incidental references of travellers came mostly towards the close of the nineteenth century. 

 From inquiries in Pico, Senhor Medeiros has learned that the business was certainly carried on there 

 in 1880, when Anselmo da Silviera began whaling out of Calheta do Nesquim with two whaleboats 

 brought from New England. One of those engaged in Calheta at that time, a harponeer called 

 Raimundo, was famous for his skill, being known in New Bedford as the 'Whale-Killer'. Chaves 

 (19240) put the date in Pico earlier than 1861, and we may assume that the successful venture in Fayal 

 in the 1850's was not long in crossing the narrow strait to Pico. Pouchet, visiting the Azores in the 

 Prince of Monaco's yacht HirondeUe in 1887, made anatomical observations on a Sperm whale at 

 Lagens do Pico (Pouchet & Beauregard, 1889). Judging from Pouchet's description and photographs, 

 I found this centre of the old try-works companies scarcely changed when I visited the settlement 

 sixty years later. It is an interesting fact that the old whaleships (although they recruited Pico men) 

 seldom called at Pico, which lacked not only harbours but also provision of fresh victuals, for little 

 grows there, except faya* (which is used for firewood) and the vine. Yet from Fig. 4 (p. 302), showing 

 the annual catches of the several islands between 1896 and 1949, it is clear that by the end of the 

 century Pico had secured the lead in shore whaling. From the size of the catch and from the number of 

 stations operating (Table 4, p. 306) there is no doubt that Pico has ever since consistently maintained 

 this position, although the figures for the catch of whales per whaleboat at the foot of Table 10 indicate 

 that more whales are to be found to the south-eastward, around San Miguel and Santa Maria. 



The special attention that Pico has paid to whaling may well be associated with the failure of the 

 vineyards, which were devastated by phylloxera in 1853 and have only in recent years begun to 

 recover. Before 1853 Pico had exported wine, principally to Russia and the West Indies, where ' Pico 

 Madeira' had acquired some fame. When this business collapsed the Pico inhabitants must have 

 turned to the new alongshore venture as an alternative livelihood. They had such success or were so 

 well suited to the employment that, extending ambition beyond their own coastline, they persuaded 

 other islands to make concessions so that Pico boats and crews might whale from these also. By 1908 

 Pico had two whaleboats in Terceira and four in Graciosa (Estatistica das Pescas) : when I visited the 

 whaleboat stations of Capelo and Salao in Fayal during 1949 there were altogether nineteen whale- 

 boats and ten motor-launches operating, but of these Pico maintained seven whaleboats and four 

 motor-launches and the complete crews to work them (Table 8, p. 326). The island has long been known 

 for the number of its whaling companies, all separate and competing with each other, and sometimes in 



* See p. 348. 



