Fisheries of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 91 



THE WHALE. 



The extent to which the Whale Fishery is carried on, within the 

 Gulf of Saint Lawrence, ]^y vessels from Newfoundland, is very 

 little known, nor is its value appreciated. The Jersey houses who 

 have fishing establishments in Gaspe, also fit out vessels for this 

 Fisherv, which cruise about Anticosti, and the northern shore of 

 the Saint Lawrence. Mr. MacGregor, in an official Report to the 

 Board of Trade, thus describes this Fishery : — " The Whales 

 caught within the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, are those called '• hump- 

 backs," which yield on an average about three tons of oil ; some 

 have been taken seventy feet long; which produced eight tons. 

 The mode of taking them is somewhat different from that followed 

 by the Greenland Fishers ; and the Gaspe fisherman first acquired 

 an acquaintance with it from the people of Nantucket. An active 

 man, accustomed to boats and schooners, may become fully ac- 

 quainted with everything connected with this Fisheiy in one 

 season. The vessels adapted for this purpose, are schooners of 

 seventy or eighty tons burthen, manned with a crew of eight men, 

 including the master. Each schooner requires two boats, about 

 twenty feet long, built narrow and sharp, and with pink sterns ; 

 and 220 fathoms of line are necessary to each boat, with spare 

 harpoons and lances. The men row towards the Whale, and when 

 they are very near, use paddles, which make less noise than oars. 

 Whales are sometimes taken in fifteen minutes after they are struck 

 with the harpoon. The Gaspe fishermen never go out in quest of 

 them, until some of the smaller one9, wdiich enter the Bay about 

 the beginning of June, appear ; these swim too fast to be easily bar* 

 pooned, and are not besides, worth the trouble. The large Whale9 

 are taken off the entrance of the Gasj>e Bay,on each side of the Island 

 of Anticosti ; and up the River Saint Lawrence as far as Bic." 



Mr. Bouchette in his work on lower Canada, represents the 

 Whale Fishery of the Gulf as meriting the attention ot the Legis 

 lature, and needing encouragement ; by which, he says, the 

 number of vessels employed would be considerably increased, and 

 this important branch of business would be so effectually carried 

 on by the hardy inhabitants of Gaspe, as to compete, in some de- 

 gree, if not rival, that of the Americans, who were, at the time 

 Mr. Bouchette wrote, almost in exclusive enjoyment of it, and 

 carried on their enterprising fisheries in the very mouths of the 

 Bays and Harbours of Lower Canada. 



Sir Richard Bonnycastle, in his work, entitled " Newfoundland 



