236 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF NEWFOUNDLAND 



served. American ships' boats and ships' tackle, and New- 

 foundlanders, while on board American ships, were shielded 

 by the Order in Council ; but on leaving the employers' 

 ships the personal immunity of Newfoundlanders ceased. 

 Such was until 1909 the end which is no end of the dispute 

 between English residents and American visitors, about 

 herrings. In 1909, terms of reference were agreed to, and in 

 1910 arbitration at the Hague took place. 1 



Whaling Even the sea has its surprises, nor are all marine industries 

 "erioufly. so ever ' a ting and unchangeable as the industries connected 

 with the cod ; and just as the last chapter of the sea history 

 of Newfoundland seemed finished the whale made a new 

 beginning. In the Thirties and Forties Gaultois in Her- 

 mitage Bay was the head-quarters of whaling, which brought 

 in 1,000 to 2,000 a year. 2 The same amount was yielded 

 in 1 869-75;' The monster who contributed these mites to 

 the wealth of Newfoundland was the Right Whale. After 

 1880 Norsemen perfected methods of attack against the 

 Humpback, and the Blue and Common Rorqual, which 

 proved so deadly that in a few years these whales were 

 nearly exterminated in Finmark (Norway). Then in 1897 

 the Norsemen, who already had a distinguished representative 

 Mr. A. Nielsen on the Newfoundland Fishery Board, 

 started operations at Snook's Arm in Notre Dame Bay and 

 at Balaena in Hermitage Bay, with the astonishing results 

 which are tabulated below. The new whaling steamships, 

 companies, captains, and crews were Norse, in spite of 

 legislative protests to the contrary ; and it is as yet doubtful 

 whether whaling on this gigantic scale will become a native 

 or permanent pursuit. 4 



There is no civilized nation in the world which is so 



1 See fast, Appendix F. 



2 Accounts and Papers, 1850, vol. xxxvi, No. 1232. 



3 2,300 per annum, Accounts and Papers, 1878, vol. Ixxx (c. 2056). 



4 Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Washington, vol. xxxiii, 

 1904; J. Cj. Millais, Newfoundland and its untrodden ways, 1907; 

 Fishery Commission of Newfoundland. Annual Reports. 



