210 WHALES AND DOLPHINS 



When the whalers first visited Spitzbergen the Greenland 

 Whale was found in immense numbers throughout the whole 

 extent of the coast. The animals frequented the many bays 

 and inlets and, being unused to human intrusion of any sort, 

 were at first unafraid and were caught in large numbers with 

 comparative ease. The whaling ships remained at anchor 

 throughout the period of the whaling season. The blubber 

 was not boiled on the whaling ships themselves, but plant was 

 erected on shore for the purpose. This favourable state of 

 affairs did not last long, however, and the retreat of the whales 

 from the bays began. According to Scoresby, the whales 

 seem to have become scarce in the bays about the years 1630 

 to 1640, but they could still occasionally be found in plenty in 

 particular places along the coast. As long as the whales 

 were taken conveniently close to the bays where the factories 

 had been erected, the carcases were towed to them and cut up 

 on shore, but in time this, too, became impracticable, the ships 

 had to go to where the whales were being found, and either 

 had to extract the oil at sea, or else to carry back the blubber in 

 casks to the home port at the end of the whaling voyage. The 

 progress of the whales away from. Spitzbergen continued, and 

 they were followed by the whalers to the ice-edge, where they 

 had gone for shelter. Ships were specially strengthened for 

 operating in the ice, and a modified technique evolved for 

 the capture of the whales to cope with the new conditions 

 encountered. The whales finally disappeared from Spitzbergen 

 about 1720. 



In the year 1719 the Davis Strait fishery was first attempted 

 by the Dutch. The area in which it was pursued was in 

 that region bounded on the east by the west coast of Green- 

 land and on the west by the east coast of Canada. The ships 

 penetrated northward into Baffin Bay. and Lancaster Sound 

 and Smith Sound were visited. For some time the fishery 

 was carried on with great success, but, as in Spitzbergen, here 

 also it began to decline. It became unimportant about the 

 middle of the nineteenth century, and faded out altogether in 

 the second decade of the present one. The final reports make 

 sad reading; Harmer says: " Only one ship left Dundee in 

 1912 and 1913 and ... the total catch in each of those 

 years was returned as O." So ended a fishery which at 



