62 WHALE-FISHERY. 



Elkiiig, in his " View of the Greenland Trade 

 *' and Whale-Fishery," attributes the singular fail- 

 ure of the London Greenland Company, to causes 

 which have been generally overlooked. They are 

 the following : 



1. Their ships were commanded by persons un- 

 acquainted with the business, who interfered in the 

 fishery ; whereas, " the chief harpooner ought to 

 " have commanded''' at this time. 



2. Their captains had fixed pay ; whereas they 

 should have been paid in proportion to their suc- 

 cess in the fishery. Hence they had no encourage- 

 ment to pursue the fishery among the ice, but fre- 

 quently retired to some harbour in Spitzbergen, 

 and amused themselves with hunting deer ; the tal- 



assembled in the Bay alluded to, was 188 ; the number offish 

 taken by the Bremeners, was 190 ; and the number of fish 

 which the whole fleet had on board, amounted to 1959- This 

 corresponds more nearly with another account, now befoi'o 

 me, which runs as follows : 



The cargoes of 121 Dutch vessels produced 41,344 puncheons of oil. 

 47 Hamburgh, - 16,414 



12 Bremen, - 3,790 



4 Danish, - 1,710 



2 Swedish, - 540 



2 Embden, - 68 



The total cargoes of 188 ships consisting of? ^3 j^^ons of oil i 



1968 whales, produced^ 



According to Zorgdrager, the Dutch shipping employed in 



tlie whale-fishery this season consisted of 11 1 sail, which cap.* 



fured 1274^ fish. 



