CHAPTER I. 
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
Like many other branches of industry in America, the 
whale fishery has received much attention in the literature 
of the country. Narrative writing, histories of localities, 
histories of the fisheries, and magazine articles, have 
found a fruitful theme in recounting one phase or 
another of this strange industry. But, strange as it may 
seem, there is practically no complete history of the 
whale fishery in existence. It seems appropriate, there- 
fore, to introduce here a somewhat detailed analysis or 
critical survey of the most important literature on the 
subject. 
In the bibliography, which appears as Appendix II 
of this volume, a certain number of works by different 
authors are classed as standard references; that is, the 
principal books dealing with the subject of the whale 
fishery. To discuss the different works in chronological 
order will be simplest. 
The first important work to be noted is that by William 
Scoresby, entitled ‘‘An Account of the Arctic Regions,”’ 
dated 1820. Scoresby was an English naval officer, 
and in his discussion of the whale fishery he deals 
solely with the European, and principally the British, 
industries. By far the most valuable part of this history 
is the complete and detailed treatment of the origin and 
early development of whaling. Scoresby seems to have 
covered the original sources with a great deal of exactness 
