8 NEW ENGLAND WHALE FISHERY. 



war twenty-seven ships), seventy-eight whale 

 ships, and six whaling brigs. In 1844, the 

 entire American whaling fleet amounted to six 

 hundred and fifty ships, barks, brigs, and 

 schooners, tonnaging two hundred thousand 

 tons ; and they were manned by seventeen 

 thousand five hundred officers and seamen. 

 At the same time, the English whale fishery, 

 which in 1821 employed one hundred and 

 fifty- nine ships, was reduced to about one -half. 

 But the New Holland branch of the English 

 whale fishery was rapidly growing the proxi- 

 mity of those whaling ports of Australia to 

 some of the most productive cruising grounds 

 enabling the ships fitted out there to perform 

 three voyages while the English and Americans 

 are performing two. The number of whale 

 ships from French, German, and Danish ports, 

 at the same time, was between sixty and seventy. 

 The estimated annual consumption of the 

 American whaling fleet was $3,845,500. Va- 

 lue of the annual import of oil and whalebone 

 in a crude state $7,000,000, increased by manu- 

 facturing to $9,000,000. The number of 



