294 



THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN 



the loss to that port alone, including vessels, outfits, and car- 

 goes, was placed at $1,090,000.^ The total fleet represented 

 a sacrifice of something more than $i,6oo,000. In addition, 

 too, heavy damages were suffered by the owners of the five 

 barks which chanced to be available for transport purposes. 

 These vessels not only furnished supplies for 1200 men en 

 route to Honolulu, but they lost a large proportion of an en- 

 tire season's whaling. So unusual was the resulting situation 

 that the owners of the five whaler-transports considered it 

 proper to petition Congress for reparations in the sum of $275,- 

 042,95. After being buffeted about amidst the shoals and 

 storms of committee hearings for almost twenty years, the 

 petition was at length allowed in part. On February 21, 

 1 891, long after many of the actors in the drama had passed 

 away. Congress awarded damages to the owners on the basis of 

 $138,89 for each passenger carried from the scene of the dis- 

 aster to Honolulu. These awards, made as follows, marked 

 the final outcome of this tragic episode: * 



The annihilation of the Arctic fleet of 1871 dealt the fishery 

 a body blow at the very time when it was struggling to stand 

 up in the face of numerous adverse forces. Something less 

 than $2,000,000 worth of capital was snatched away at a mo- 

 ment when it was not only inadvisable, but practically impos- 

 sible to replace it. Within the twelve months of the year 1871 



5 This was the figure given by Pease, Z. W., and Hough, G. A., in their 

 booklet entitled "New Bedford, Massachusetts: Its History, Industry, Institu- 

 tions, and Attractions," p. 31. 



* Figures taken from Old Dartmouth Historical Sketches, No. 45, p. 43. With 

 the exception of Starbuck, A., "History of the American Whale Fishery," pp. 

 J03-108, this is the best account of the loss of 1871, 



