FOREWORD. XX111 



of its explosive character the kerosene lamp made short 

 work of the old whale oil affairs. 



Two more agencies worked against the trade. The 

 gold fever — which drew off the daring, adventurous men 

 who had been the life of whale hunting; and the rise in 

 the cost of living which made the fitting out of whalers so 

 expensive as to heavily cut in on the profit. So long as 

 the crews were made up of Americans, hardy, fearless, and 

 eager for the game, brutality on whaleships had no excuse 

 for being. Crews, even down to the cabin-boy, had the same 

 interest as the captain in making a capture, since they all 

 shared in the spoils. But since the crews have been made 

 up of Portugese from the Azores, or Kanakas, or coal- 

 black Bravas from the Cape Verd Islands, with a sprinkling 

 of Malays and Chinese, the old spirit, the old loyal pulling 

 together has disappeared. It is one thing to drive a panic- 

 stricken Pacific island mongrel into a tussle with a fight- 

 ing whale ; it is quite another to control the reckless daring 

 of a pure-blooded Yankee crew. 



Suffering from all these complaints, the whale fishery 

 has fallen off with some rapidity. In 1883 the whole fleet 

 numbered 125, and of these nineteen were in Pacific 

 waters. Eight years later only forty vessels remained, 

 eighteen in the Pacific. Something like that number are 

 still in service, for sperm oil and whalebone are still ne- 

 cessities to modern life. The oil is used for the very 

 finest machine lubricants and in dressing leather. The 

 crude whale oil is in demand in ropewalks, and for mixture 

 with black lead for chain lubricants. Whalebone has 

 never found its equal for the dress and corsetmaker^s use, 

 or for the manufacture of whips. Therefore, a few of the 

 picturesque old whale craft will continue to flatter Atlan- 

 tic ports. Most of them have been sold into the merchant 



