THE AMEBIC AN WHALE-FISHERY. 189 
soon after explored the same seas, represented to their countrymen the amazing 
number of whales with which they were crowded.* Vessels were in consequence 
fitted out for the northern whale-fishery by the English and Dutch, the harpooners 
and a part of the crew being Biscayans. They did not, however, confine their 
efforts to a fair competition with each other as fishers. The Muscovy Company 
obtained a royal charter, prohibiting the ships of all other nations from fishing in 
the seas round Spitzbergen, on pretext of its having first been discovered by Sir 
Hugh Willoughby. There can, however, be no doubt that Barentz, and not Sir 
Hugh, was its original discoverer ; though, supposing that the fact had been other- 
wise, the attempt to exclude other nations from the surrounding seas on such a 
ground was not one that could be tolerated. The Dutch, who were at that time 
prompt to embark in a commercial pursuit that gave any hope of success, eagerly 
entered on this new career, and sent out ships fitted equally for the purposes of 
fishing and of defense against the attacks of others. The Muscovy Company having 
attempted to vindicate its pretensions by force, several encounters took place between 
their ships and those of the Dutch. The conviction at length became general that 
there was room enough for all parties in the northern seas ; and in order to avoid 
the chance of coming into collision with each other, they parceled Spitzbergen and 
the adjacent ocean in districts, which they respectively assigned to the English, 
Dutch, Hamburgers, French, Danes, etc. The Dutch, thus left to prosecute the 
fishery without having their attention diverted by hostile attacks, speedily acquired 
a decided superiority over all their competitors. When the Europeans first began 
to prosecute the fishery on the coast of Spitzbergen, whales were everywhere 
found in vast numbers. Ignorant of the strength and stratagems of the formid- 
able foe by winch they were now assailed, instead of betraying any symptoms of 
fear, they surrounded the ships and crowded all the bays. Their capture was, in 
consequence, a comparatively easy task, and many were killed which it was after- 
ward necessary to abandon, from the ships being already full. While fish were 
thus easily obtained, it was the practice to boil the blubber on shore in the north, 
and fetch home only the oil and whalebone ; and perhaps nothing can give a more 
vivid idea of the extent and importance of the Dutch fishery in the middle of the 
seventeenth century, than the fact that they constructed a considerable village ( the 
* Doctor Lindeman states in his work upon f erence with their whale - fisheries on the coast of 
the whale-fishery (Die arktische Fischerei der Deui- Jutland." He further mentions, that "the first 
schen Seest'adte, 1620 to 1868), "in the thirteenth English whaling-ships were sent out from Hull 
and fourteenth centuries the Hanseatic cities car- in 1598, to the coasts of Iceland and the region 
ried on war with Denmark on account of inter- of the North Cape." 
