COMPARATIVE VIEW. ENGLISH PORTS. 127 



were at tins time fitted out, proving tolerably siic- 

 cessfiil, tAvo others were sent along witli them each 

 of the three following years. In 17o7-8, four ships 

 sailed to the fishery ; in 1759 none ; in 1760, one; 

 and from 1761 to 1766, during the war, when the 

 transport service was more profitable, the whale trade 

 from Wliitby v-'as suspended. Mr Banks, one of the 

 captains, after the revival of the trade, brought home 

 65 fish, most of them sizeable, in 10 years *. This 

 success of 6^ fish pc?' voyage, was at this time con- 

 sidered as a very great average. 



In the year 1777, only 9 ships sailed from the 

 different ports of Britain to the whale-fishery of 

 Da^is' Straits, 6 of which were from Whitby : one 

 of these caught 8 fish, yielding 117^ tons of oil, 

 and the other 5 were likewise successful. Twenty 

 ships were equipped from this port in 1786, and 

 the same number the two following years. Their 

 success in 1786, was 86 size f, and 12 small fish ; 

 in 1787, 53 size, and 8 small fish, together with 

 3048 seals ; and in 1788, 45 size, and 11 small fish. 

 After this period, the ^\^hitby fleet decreased in 

 number until 1795, when only four ships were fit- 

 ted out, and it has since been usually fluctuating 

 between 4 and 12 sail. 



* Charleton's History of Whitby. 



t A whale is called size, when the longest lamina of its 

 Avhalebone measures six feet (in some poi'ts seven,) or upwards, 

 in length. 



