ENGLAND'S STRUGGLES 39 



ordinary at any time in whaling history. Still, coming at this 

 point, they certainly do not help to explain the fiasco of the 

 South Sea Company's ships. 



Perhaps the Hull vessels were better manned. But Hull too 

 had its struggles, owing first to the war with France and then 

 to the American war. In the 1770's some sixty-odd vessels 

 were sailing from English seaports, mainly from London, 

 Whitby, and Hull. The Scottish vessels sailed mainly from 

 Leith, Dunbar, and Dundee — a small but very persistent fleet. 

 In the 1790's there were repeated instances of whalers' being 

 boarded by press gangs. This was a sore trial, and to protect 

 themselves, the whalemen would leave some of each crew 

 at Dunbar — so many, in fact, that the vessel must needs come 

 limping into port with scarcely enough men to furl her sails 

 in the quiet waters of the Humber. This nuisance passed, 

 however, and in the early 19th Century English whaling was 

 strong enough to attack and capture Dutch vessels when 

 opportunity offered, and greatly enriched themselves thereby. 

 The Hull whalers grew and prospered by these prizes and good 

 whaling accompanied it. In 1805 a record cargo was brought 

 home by the Aurora of Hull: twenty-six whales which yielded 

 nine tons of bone and two hundred and forty tuns of oil. 



One of the best-known names in whaling history, that of 

 Scoresby, belongs to Whitby and to these years. Father and 

 son were master mariners and able historians of the industry 

 which gave them their livelihood and which they in turn all 

 but supported in its declining years, ''by encouraging others to 

 embark in the same lucrative business." 



When, in 1806, William Scoresby, the father, commanded the 

 Resolution, there sailed with him as surgeon one John Laing, 

 who has left us, in his ''Voyage to Spitzbergen of the Resolution 

 of Whitby in 1806 & 1807," very vivid pictures of whaling of 

 that time. "The Resolution/' he tells us, "was a stout new 

 ship of about four hundred tons burden, fitted out as a letter 

 of marque, carrying twelve six-pounders besides stern-chasers, 

 and well furnished with firelocks, pistols, swords, cutlasses, 

 bayonets, etc. She was provided with nine fishing boats, and 



