AT SEA: ON THE WHALING GROUNDS 145) 



largely frequented by the animals sought. Both the number 

 and extent of these grounds changed from time to time as old 

 ones were deserted, first by the whales and then by their pur- 

 suers, and new ones were added by exploration or accidental 

 discovery. No systematic effort to delimit and describe them 

 was made until 1847, when steps were taken to assemble data 

 for the construction of a series of whale charts designed to 

 show the favorite places of resort of both sperm and right 

 whales during each season of the year.^ But long before this 

 date most of the well-known grounds had been discovered and 

 their names had become commonplaces in the industry. 



These resorts of the whalemen may be classified according 

 to locality or according to the species of whales frequenting 

 them. The Indian Ocean, about 1840, was credited with six 

 separate grounds j the Atlantic with nine; and the Pacific with 

 fifteen. Of those in the Pacific the most important were the 

 On-Shore Ground, including the whole extent of ocean stretch- 

 ing along the coasts of Chile and Peru; the Off-Shore Ground, 

 bounded by the parallels 5 and 10 degrees South Latitude and 

 the meridians 90 and 120 degrees West Longitude; the Mid- 

 dle Ground, located between New Zealand and New Holland 

 (Australia); the waters between the coast of Japan and the 

 Bonin Islands, known as the Japan Grounds; and the north- 

 west coast of North America. In addition there were three 

 long areas traversing the Pacific from east to west. One fol- 

 lowed the equator from the coast of South America to the 

 Kingsmill Islands; another extended across the South Pacific 

 between the parallels of 21 and 27 degrees South Latitude; 

 and a third formed a broad belt between the 27th and 35th 

 parallels North Latitude. Other grounds in the vicinity of 

 the Hawaiian, Society, Samoan, Fiji, and Kingsmill Islands, 

 and off the east coast of New Zealand, completed the list. 



^ One of the most interesting results of this survey was the verification of 

 the fact that the right whales never entered the torrid zone. In view of the 

 further fact that the right whales of the North Atlantic and North Pacific were 

 exactly alike, it seemed to follow that the famous Northwest Passage sought 

 in vain by the early explorers did in fact exist in the form of a water com- 

 munication (open to whales if not to men) through the polar regions. See 

 Lieut. M. F. Maury, U.S.N., "The Winds and Currents of the Sea," p. 34, 

 for an accgunt of the elaborate plans for the construction of these charts. 



