116 WIIALE-IISHERY. 



It does not appear, that any attempt was made by 

 the inhabitants of Scotland in the whale-fishery 

 of Greenland or Davis' Straits, until the bounty sys- 

 tem was established. Some merchants of Edinburgh, 

 who had formed themselves into a company in Sep- 

 tember 1749, for the purpose of trying this fishery, 

 sent out a ship from Leith, being the first from 

 Scotland, in the following spring. It failed in the 

 whale-fishery, and brought home nothing but a few 

 sea-horses. Its want of success was ascribed to the 

 lateness of its arrival on the fishing stations, and to 

 its having been for some time beset in the ice, at the 

 distance of only nine degrees from the Pole. The 

 company, so far from being discouraged by this fail- 

 ure, sent out two ships the next year ; but the voyage 

 proved more disastrous than the former, as one of the 

 ships was wrecked, and the other again returned 

 home clean. Still, however, they persevered in the 

 trade, and, determined, if possible, to retrieve the 

 loss they had already suffered, they equipped three 

 ships in 17.'i3, all of which returned successful. In 

 order to encourage this trade, many of the ladies of 

 Edinburgh got their stays and hoops made of the 

 whalebone brought home by their own ships *. 



The trade soon became more general in Scotland. 

 A company was formed in Aberdeen, and a new 



* Scots Mag. 1749-1 752; & Gent. Mag. 1752. 



