THE WHALE EISHEHY. 83 



or company, wliicli, by sending* out two steam whalers, 

 would thus create the nucleus of a local whaling fleet. The 

 necessary vessels could he purchased in Scotland at present 

 for less than a third of their real value — as a matter of fact, 

 suitable vessels, v.diich could not be built for £30,000, have 

 recently been offered for sale for £6,000 — but if matters are 

 delayed until the return of the whalers recently sent out 

 from the other side of the world, it will be next to impossible 

 to obtain anything in the shape of a suitable steamer 

 except at very heavy cost. A small capital would suffice to 

 purchase and fit out the vessels and keep things going for 

 the first voyage, and after that all would be perfectly plain 

 sailing. 



" The ad\^antage of making Sydney a depot for carrying 

 on the whaling industry lies in the fact that it is handy to 

 both the summer and winter whaling grounds, and the vessels 

 fitting out hence may practically avoid all idle time. 

 Black whales are plentiful all along our coast in the winter 

 from 1st April to 1st October, while in the summer the steam 

 whalers could go down to as far as 62° for the right whales, 

 which abound in those waters. With steam whalers the 

 whales could be followed up amongst the ice without great 

 risk, such as precluded the old type of sailing ship from 

 going too far south, while profit is also to be derived from 

 hunting the seals and sea elephants that are to be easily got 

 at on the breaking up of the ice in these regions. Thousands 

 of these animals were seen by Ploss in his voyages near 

 Victoria Land, due south of Sydney. Steam whalers could 

 leave here about October, and follow up right whaling in the 

 southern latitudes up to February, and return to Sydney in 

 plenty of time to unload and refit for the winter whaling 

 along our coasts, at the Kermadec Islands or in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Bampton Shoals. 



" As to the profits to be- made out of whaling, the pros- 

 pects seem brighter than ever they were. Whales are, accord- 

 ing to the reports to hand recently, plentiful enough to make 

 good voyages almost a certainty ; and if whaling paid when 

 bone was worth only £150 per ton, it ought to produce 

 fortunes at present when its market price is £3,000 per ton. 

 After careful calculation, and fully allowing for all con- 

 tingencies, Captain Carpenter finds that a capital of £20,000 

 would suffice to equip two steam whalers, and that the first 



