DESTRUCTION OF FISH. 101 



when they were more abundant, and that it is still very consider- 

 able. In 1846 the United States had six hundred and seventy- 

 eight whaling ships chiefly employed in the Pacific, and the prod- 

 uct of the American whale-fishery for the year ending June 1, 

 1860, was seven millions and a haK of dollars.* The mere bulk 

 of the whales destroyed in a single year by the American and the 

 European vessels engaged in this fishery would form an island of 

 no inconsiderable dimensions, and each one of those taken must 

 have consumed, in the course of his growth, many times his own 



* In consequence of the great scarcity of the whale, the use of coal-gas forfi 

 illumination, the substitution of other fatty and oleaginous substances, such as 

 lard, palm-oil, and petroleum for right-whale oil and spermaceti, the whale- 

 fishery has rapidly fallen off within a few years. The great supply of pe- j 

 troleum, which is much used for lubricating machinery as well as for numer- I 

 ous other purposes, has produced a more perceptible effect on the whale-fish- 

 ery than any other single circumstance. According to Bigelow, Les Etats- 

 ZFnis en 1863, p. 346, the American whaling fleet was diminished by 29 in 

 1858, 57 in 1860, 94 in 1861, and 65 in 1862. The number of American ships 

 employed in that fishery in 1862 was 353. In 1868 the American whaling fleet 

 was reduced to 223. The product of the whale-fishery in that year was 1,485,- 

 000 gallons of sperm oil, 2,065,612 gallons of train oil, and 901,000 pounds of 

 whalebone. The yield of the two species of whale is about the same, being 

 estimated at from 4,000 to 5,000 gallons for each fish. Taking the average at 

 4,500 gallons, the American whalers must have captured 789 whales, besides, 

 doubtless, many which were kUled or mortally wounded and not secured. 

 The returns for the year are valued at about five million and a half dollars. 

 Mr. Cutts, from a Keport by whom most of the above facts are taken, esti- 

 mates the annual value of the "products of the sea" at $90,000,000. — The 

 Commerce in the Products of the Sea, a Report by Col. R. D. Cutts, communi- 

 cated to the U. S. Senate, Washington, 1872. 



The latest statistics (1880) would lead to a much higher estimate, varying 

 from $130,000,000 to $225,000,000. See the very unportant article on Fish- 

 eries, by Prof. G. Brown Goode, in the Cyclopedia of Political Economy, p. 231. 



According to the New Bedford Standard the American wlialers numbered 

 722, measuring 230,218 tons, in 1846. On the 31st December, 1872, the num- 

 ber was reduced to 204, with a tonnage of 47,787 tons, and the importation of 

 whale and sperm oil amounted in that year to 79,000 barrels. In 1880 the 

 number of vessels employed in this fishery in the United States was 171, and 

 its product was valued at something over $2,300,000. 



Svend Foyn, an energetic Norwegian, now carries on the whale-fishery in 

 the Arctic Ocean in a steamer of twenty horse-power, accompanied by freight- 

 ships for the oil. The whales are killed by explosive shells fired from a small 

 cannon. The number usually killed by F5yn is from thirty-five to forty-fivfi 

 per year. 



