Decline of American Whaling. 79 
the conditions which had been working against the fishery 
before the war were still operating with renewed vigor. 
The merchants were becoming more wary and cautious in 
their whaling ventures. Then came the disaster of 1871, 
destroying the Arctic fleet of thirty-four vessels, and 
though the Arctic fishery was renewed with twenty-seven 
vessels in 1872 and twenty-nine vessels in 1873, greatly 
increased rates of insurance were added to the already 
heavy burden of the whaling interests. 
The fact that the whale fishery had entered upon a 
steady and permanent decline could no longer be denied. 
The generally adopted use of petroleum oils had destroyed 
the chief market for two-thirds of the products of the 
industry—sperm and whale oil. But the steadily in- 
creasing value of whale bone was a powerful incentive 
to carry on the business, though not sufficient to stem the 
tide. The decline has continued almost without inter- 
ruption down to the present time with the constant 
operation of the economic changes by which the decline 
was induced. From time to time there have been revivals 
of activity as the result of temporary advances in prices , 
or the reports of phenomenal voyages. But year after 
year the decline has continued, carrying whaling steadily 
down toward the lowest rank of commercial insignificance. 
