118 <A History of the American Whale Fishery. 
and the regularity with which the business was carried 
on from a large number of ports during the later years of 
the Golden Era. (6) The abandonment of the fishery at 
port after port in the period from 1857 to 1870. (7) And 
finally the gradually increasing size of the San Francisco 
fleet while all the other fleets were still declining, until 
only the three ports, New Bedford, San Francisco and 
Provincetown remain. 
The table of imports, Table III, is chiefly valuable as 
indicative of the commercial importance of the fishery. 
In a way, also, the increasing quantities brought in from 
year to year are illustrative of the growth of the fishery 
up to about 1850 to 1860, when the decline began, After 
that date the decreasing imports speak eloquently of the 
lessened consumption and demand, and the forces work- 
ing against whaling prosperity. A comparison of imports 
and the size of the fleet, as given in Table I, in a number 
of different years, will bring out vividly the uncertainty 
that always attended whaling operations. In a year 
when the fleet was large the imports might be small, 
while perhaps the very next year a distinctly smaller 
fleet would bring in cargoes making up a far greater total 
for the year. 
A comparison of the figures for one or two instances 
will illustrate the point: 
S1zE OF WHALING FLEET AND QUANTITIES OF IMPORTS. 
Number of Gallons of Gallons of Pounds of 
Year. Vessels. Sperm Oil. Whale Oil. Bone. 
MOG Dh. eh 53 99,591 328,483 3,906,500 
TE52) 41-1020 78,872 84,211 1,259,900 
FS 3) (OOK 103,077 260,114 5,652,300 
1854 ....668 76,696 319,837 3,445,200 
The contrast between 1851 and 1854 is most marked. 
In the three years the number of vessels increased by 
115—principally from New Bedford—but in the latter 
year the imports were distinctly smaller. One hundred 
