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WHALES AND WIIAT>E FISHERIES OF THE NORTH PACIFIC. 



BY 



Wllliam Watson Woollen. 



Captain George Vancouver, under a Commission from tlie Government 

 of Great Britain, in 1792, 1793 and 1794, explored tlie Northwest Coast of 

 America from nortli latitude 30° to north latitude 00°, in a search for 

 the Strait of Anian, afterwards known as the North West Passage. For a 

 number of years I have been making a study of his explorations, and in 

 doing so have made five voyages to Alaska, the fourth of which extended to 

 the head of Cook Inlet in north latitude 61°. The following paper is based 

 on observations made while making those voyages, supplemented by a study 

 of various authox'ities upon the subject of whales. 



On the 7th of April, 1792, Vancouver reached latitude 35°25', longitude 

 217°24', where he found himself in the midst of immense numbers of the 

 sea blubber of the species Medusa Villilia. The surface of the ocean, so far 

 as the eye could reach, was covered with these creatures in such abundance 

 that even a pea could hardly be dropped clear of them. In the afternoon 

 his ship passed within a few yards of about twenty whales of the anvil 

 headed or si>ermaceti species playing in the water. His conclusion was. 

 that these whales were induced to resort hither to feed upon the immense 

 number of the Medusa, with which the region abounded. 



On Monday, the 25th of June, he had reached a point in the Strait of 

 Georgia beyond the present site of the City of Vancouver. In his record 

 of that day, he says : "In the course of the forenoon a great number of 

 whales were playing about in every direction ; and though we had been 

 frequently visited by these animals in this inland navigation, there seemed 

 more about us now than the whole of those we had before seen, if collected 

 together." He also says, "That in sailing from Desolation Sound to Menzies 

 Bay, numberless whales, enjoying the season, were playing about the ship 

 in every direction." These 'quotations from Vancouver's Journal, and 

 many others that might be made, show the great abundance of whales 

 that were to be found in the North Pacific Ocean a century and a half 

 ago and how tame they were at that time. 



The first of these animals that I have had the privilege of seeing was 

 that of a dead one which was brought from the East to Indianapolis, 

 many years ago on two open flat cars, for exhibition. The next one was 

 seen July 11, 1911. sporting in the Strait of Georgia, between Vancouver 

 and Active Pass. After that I saw many of them, singly and in pairs, but 

 I have never seen a "school" of them. I saw a Beluga, or white whale, 

 near to Kodiak, October 1, 1914. On my return trip of that voyage I formed 

 the acquaintance of Alfred Hanger, an intelligent man, who had long been 

 engaged in whale fishing, and from him gained much information about 

 whales and whale fishing. The following are the whales which he said are 

 found on the Northwest Pacific Coast: Right Whale. Bowhead Whale, 

 Sulphur Bottom Whale, Fin Whale, California Gray Whale. Sperm Whale, 



