124- WHALE-FISHERY. 



From London, were generally equipped those 

 vessels sent on discovery, which proved the immedi- 

 ate cause of the establishment of the Spitzbergen 

 whale-fishery ; and from the same place the first fish- 

 ermen were sent out. The joint-stock companies, 

 which, at different times, embarked their capitals in 

 the trade, likewise sailed their ships from the Thames. 

 Between the years 1780 and 1790, London sent 

 above four times the number of ships to the north- 

 ern whale-fisheries of any other port in Britain. In 

 1786, 87 ships sailed from the Thames for Green- 

 land and Davis' Straits, and in 1788, 91- In 1810, 

 the number of the London shipping employed in 

 the trade w^as reduced to 15 sail; in 1811 it was 

 16 ; in 1814 it had increased to 20; the three fol- 

 lowing years it v/as 19, and the last year (1818), it 

 was 18 sail. The success of the London fleet was 

 below the general average, each of the last five 

 years, excepting 1814. 



The merchants of Hull were among the first to 

 adventure their ships towards the frigid regions of 

 the Pole, in pursuit of the whale. They were whale- 

 fishers on the coasts of Norway and Iceland, before 

 the discovery of Spitzbergen by the English ; and 

 if they were not the first whale-fishers at Spitzber- 

 gen, they were at least on its coasts looking for sea- 

 horses, in the very year in which the Russia Com- 

 pany first attempted the capture of the mysticetus. 

 On this occasion, they were so happy as to be the 



