148 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The year after the cruise of the Superior iu the Arctic, 154 ships were 

 whaling iu that sea. These vessels took during that season (1849) 206,850 

 barrels of right-whale oil and 2,481,000 pounds of whalebone. The value 

 of the ships and outfits was $4,050,000, and the value of that season's 

 catchings was $3,419,622. 



In 1853 the following more than ordinarily good voyages were reported 

 at New Bedford: Bark Favorite, of Fairhaven, Captain Pierce, gone 

 three years, with 300 barrels of sperm and 4,300 barrels of whale oil and 

 72,000 pounds of bone,* worth in the aggregate $116,000; ship Montreal, 

 of New Bedford, Capt. Frederick Fish, absent 32 months and 15 days, 

 with 195 barrels sperm, 3,823 barrels whale-oil, and 31,700 pounds of 

 bone, worth $136,023.19; ship Sheffield, also of New Bedford, gone four 

 years, with 7,000 barrels of whale-oil and 115,000 pounds of bone, worth 

 $124,000. 



The Pioneer, of New London, Capt. Ebenezer Morgan, sailed from that 

 port June 4, 1864, for the Davis Straits and Hudson's Bay fishery, val- 

 ued, with her outfits, at $35,800. On the 18th of September, 1865, she 

 returned with 1,391 barrels of whale-oil and 22,650 pounds of bone, 

 worth, at the current prices, $150,060.t This voyage the people of New 

 London claim to be the best ever made by an American whaler. 



But success has not been confined to large vessels or to expensive 

 voyages. In addition to the cruise of the Cordelia, of Provincetown, 

 there are reported as making extraordinary voyages the following small 

 vessels: The schooner Admiral Blake, of Sippican, Capt. B. B. Handy, 

 in a voyage of two months and uine days (in 1854) took 250 barrels of 

 sperm and 10 barrels of blackfish oil, worth, in all, $11,000. The 

 schooner Altamaha, of the same port, Capt. Consider Fisher, sailed in 

 1855, was gone six months and nine days, and returned with a cargo of 

 240 barrels of sperm and 8 barrels of blackfish oil, valued at $13,500. 

 She was worth, with her outfits, $2,200, and after paying off her crew and 

 refitting for another voyage the owners divided $8,000. The schooner 

 James, also of Sippican, Capt. B. B. Handy, sailed in 1856, and in a cruise 

 of three months and a half obtained $10,000 of oil (220 barrels sperm.) 



Occasionally some piece of good fortune, out of the ordinary course of 

 whaling success, is met with. Thus, in September, 1857, the schooner 

 Watchman, of Nantucket, Capt. Chas. W. Hussey, sailed for an Atlantic 

 Ocean cruise. She returned in August, 1858, having obtained 41 barrels of 

 sperm and 386 barrels of whale oil, and 4 barrels of ambergris.f This 

 last was sold for $10,000, making the entire value of the voyage $19,125. 



So much for the cheering, sunny side of the picture. There is, how- 

 ever, a shadowy side, on which may be found heavy and disastrous 



* Prior to the coramencenient of Polar whaling, the amount of bone taken bore to 

 tbe number of barrels of whale-oil the proportion of 8 or 10 to 1. A vessel taking 2,000 

 barrels of whale-oil would bo reasonably supposed to bring home (when they saved it) 

 from 16,000 to 20,000 pounds of bone. But Arctic whaling destroyed all these calcula- 

 tions, for the bono was larger and the proportion yielded much greater. 



t This was at a time when oil and bone commanded a good price. 



t Ambergris is generally considered as a product of the rectum of a diseased whale. 



