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REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 71 
The principal drawbacks in the artificial rearing of terrapin are the 
extremely slow rate of growth of the animals and their failure to engage 
in the reproductive process in captivity unless the conditions of water, 
marsh, shore, and food are suitable. The eggs, once laid, are extremely 
hardy and require no attention from the hands of the calturist, pro- 
vided they are deposited in the proper place. 
THE WHALE FISHERY. 
Comparing the results of the whale fishery in 1892 with those in 
recent years, it appears that the season was fairly successful. This 
was, due in a large measure to the high prices commanded by the whale 
products, the average value of whale and sperm oil being 424 and 674 
cents per gallon, respectively, and that of bone $5.35 per pound. 
The whaling fleet consisted of 95 vessels, of which 48 had head- 
quarters at San Francisco, 33 at New Bedford, 7 at Provincetown, 1 at 
Edgartown, 1 at Boston, and 1 at New London. 
The catch in the Atlantic Ocean was about the same as in 1891, and 
the season was considered satisfactory. The product consisted of 6,910 
barrels of sperm oil, 1,775 barrels of whale oil, and 6,935 pounds of 
bone, the whole having a value of $201,895. One vessel, the bark A. 
hk. Tucker, of New Bedford, fished in Hudson Bay, taking 276 barrels 
of oil and 4,000 pounds of bone. 
The success of the vessels fishing out of San Francisco was marked, 
and was chiefly due to the abundance of whales in the Arctic Ocean 
about 300 miles east of Point Barrow, where only small catches had 
been made for nearly twenty years. About the middle of August, the 
fleet reached Point Barrow, thence 2 sailing and 9 steam vessels cruised 
to the eastward, joining the steamer Mary D. Hume, which had spent 
the winter at Herschel Island, in the mouth of the Mackenzie River. 
Within about a month these vessels took 116 bowhead whales in this 
region, and then sailed westward to join the remainder of the Arctic 
fleet in the vicinity of Herald Island, where 90 additional whales were 
obtained. Twenty-two vessels that cruised on the grounds off Kadiak 
and Okhotsk Sea took 27 bowhead whales. The total number of whales 
secured by the San Francisco fleet was 242. The oil and bone extracted 
from these consisted of 11,610 barrels of whale oil, valued at $155,429; 
1,845 barrels of sperm oil, valued at $39,230; and 362,950 pounds of 
bone, valued at $1,941,783; the total stock of the west coast fleet being 
$2,136,442, 
The most prominent feature of the whale fishery prosecuted on the 
Pacific coast was the conclusion of the voyage of the steamer Mary D. 
Hume in 1892, after the most successful whaling trip on record. The 
vessel sailed April 19, 1890, passed the winters of 1890-91 and 1891-92 
in the ice at Herschel Island, and returned to San Francisco Septem- 
ber 29, 1892. The vessel killed 12 whales in 1891 and 26 in 1892, which 
hada value of about $400,000. The captain is reported to have shared 
between $30,000 and $40,000, and each of the crew $1,800 or $2,000. 
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