AT SEA: ON THE WHALING GROUNDS 151 



continue westward along the equator as far as the Mulgrave 

 Islands, visit the coast of Japan, and return by way of the 

 Northwest Coast of North America, finally reaching the Sand- 

 wich Islands in time to prepare for the next November season 

 on the Off-Shore Grounds. Or they might sail directly to the 

 vicinity of the Sandwich Islands, where they would pass the 

 months of February, March, and April, then spend a long 

 summer in cruising along the 30th parallel of North Latitude 

 between 145 and 165 degrees West Longitude, and again ar- 

 rive at Honolulu in October in time to recruit for the next Off- 

 Shore Ground season. 



But those whalemen who went out via the Cape of Good 

 Hope commonly left their home ports in the autumn, in or- 

 der to arrive on the grounds in the vicinity of New Zealand not 

 later than March. Here they remained for six to eight weeks 

 until the southern winter set in. Thereupon two alternate 

 courses again presented themselves. Some captains went 

 north and then cruised eastward between 22 and 28 degrees 

 South Latitude until they reached the coast of South America, 

 where they recruited at Payta or at Talcahuana Bay and began 

 the season on the Off-Shore Grounds in November j while 

 others proceeded slowly to the Society Islands, arriving there 

 usually in June, continued westward to the Fiji and Samoan 

 groups, turned south to the Middle Ground between New 

 Zealand and Australia, and in March were again ready for the 

 brief New Zealand season. Although the ships and barks 

 pursuing these routes were for the most part the regular sperm 

 whalers, many of them captured right whales also whenever a 

 convenient opportunity presented itself. They seldom re- 

 turned in less than three years j and voyages of forty to forty- 

 five months were so common that they excited no comment. 



The right whalers, on the whole, sailed on shorter and sim- 

 pler schedules. Some of the earliest recognized whaling 

 grounds were in the vicinity of Spitzbergen, Greenland, and 

 Davis Straits, where it was possible to go and to return in a 

 single season. The southern right whale was hunted most 

 frequently in the high latitudes of the South Atlantic, where 

 quantities of sea-elephant oil were obtainable as a secondary 

 product 3 and these resorts also admitted of relatively short 



