WHALE FISHERY. 



and the females they call " cows." The bulls at- 

 tack with great violence, and inflict dreadful inju- 

 ries upon other males of the species which attempt 

 to join the herd. Whenever a number of them are 

 seen, four boats, each provided with two or three 

 lines, two harpoons, four lances, and a crew of six 

 men, proceed in pursuit, and if possible, each boat 

 fastens to a distinct animal, and each crew kill their 

 own. When one is struck out of a herd, it com- 

 monly takes the lead, and is followed by the rest. 

 It seldom descends far under water, but generally 

 swims off with great rapidity, stopping after a short 

 coarse, so that the boat can be drawn up to it by 

 the line, or be rowed sufficiently near to lance it. 

 In the agonies of death, the struggles of the animal 

 are tremendous : the surface of the ocean is lashed 

 into foam by the motions of its tail ; and the boats 

 are kept aloof, lest they should be dashed to pieces. 

 When a herd is attacked in this way, ten or twelve 

 of the number are often killed : those which have 

 been only wounded are rarely captured. The sepa- 

 ration of the blubber or " flensing," is sometimes 

 done differently from the manner used in polar 

 whaling. A strap of blubber is cut in a spiral di- 

 rection, and, being raised by tackles, turns the ani- 

 mal round, as on an axis, until nearly all the blub- 

 ber is stripped off. 



WHALE FISHERY. The Biscayans were the 

 first people who prosecuted the whale fishery as a 

 regular commercial pursuit. They carried it on 

 with great vigour in the twelfth, thirteenth, and 

 fourteenth centuries. The whales taken by them, 

 were not, however, so large as those taken in the 

 polar seas, and were not very productive of oil ; but 

 their flesh was used for food, and the whalebone, 

 which sold at a very high price, was applied to va- 

 rious useful purposes. The failure of whales in 

 the Bay of Biscay put an end to this fishery. The 

 voyages of the English and Dutch to the Northern 

 ocean, in search of a passage to India, laid open the 

 haunts of the whale ; and vessels were fitted out 

 ny those nations, the harpooners and part of the 

 crew being Biscayans. The numbers of whales 

 were here so great, and the capture so easy, that 

 many were killed and abandoned merely from the 

 ohips being full. It was the practice of these times 

 to boil the blubber on shore in the north, and to 

 fetch home only the oil and whalebone ; and the 

 Dutch constructed a considerable village on the 

 northern shore of Spitzbergen, which they called 

 Smeerenberg (from smeeren, to melt, and berg"), and 

 which, during the busy season, abounded with shops, 

 inns, &c. The Dutch acquired a decided superi- 

 ority over their competitors in the fishery ; and such 

 was the quantity of oil procured, that ships were 

 sent out in ballast to assist in bringing home the 

 produce. Whales soon became scarce about Spitz- 

 bergen, taking to the deep ocean, and to the Green- 

 land seas; and it became usual to send the blubber 

 direct to Holland. The fishery had at first (1614) 

 been granted to an exclusive company, but was 

 thrown open in 1642 : from which time it was car- 

 ried on to the greatest extent, and to the most ad- 

 vantage. The private ships sent out by the Dutch 

 were fitted out on a principle that secured economy 

 and vigilance on all sides. The hull of the vessel 

 was furnished by an individual, who commonly took 

 upon himself the command ; a sail-maker supplied 

 the sails, a cooper the casks, &c. The parties en- 

 gaged as adventurersx each person shared in the 

 produce according to his proportion of the outfit, 

 and the crew was hired on the same principle. In 



its most flourishing state (about 1680), the Dutch 

 whale fishery employed about 260 ships and 14,000 

 sailors. The wars of the end of the eighteenth 

 and beginning of the nineteenth centuries annihilat- 

 ed this branch of Dutch industry, and, in 1828, 

 only one ship sailed from Holland. 



The English whale fishery was at first carried on 

 by enclusive companies, but with little success. 

 In 1732, a bounty of twenty shillings a ton to every 

 ship of more than two hundred tons' burthen engag- 

 ed in the fishery, was granted by parliament, which, 

 in 1749, was raised to forty shillings, and continued, 

 with some variations, (being finally reduced, in 

 1795, to twenty shillings), till 1824, when it ceas- 

 ed. The total amount of bounties paid from 1750, 

 to 1824, has been estimated at about 2,500,000 ; 

 but the success of British whalers, even with this 

 advantage is to be attributed principally to the de- 

 cline of the Dutch fishery. In 1815, there were 

 134 British ships, with 5800 seamen, engaged in 

 the northern whale fishery, and about thirty ships, 

 with 800 men, in the southern. In 1821, when the 

 number was greatest, there were 142 ships, of 

 44,864 tons, and with 6074 men engaged in the 

 northern fishery; in 1824, 120 ships, of 35,194 

 tons, and 4867 men : immediately after the repeal 

 of the bounty, the number fell off at once, and, 

 in 1829, it amounted only to eighty-nine, of 28,812 

 tons. The season of 1830, was one of the most 

 disastrous ever known since the commencement of 

 the fishery. Of the ninety-one vessels which sail- 

 ed, nineteen were entirely lost ; as many more 

 returned clean, or without a single fish ; seventeen 

 brought only one fish each ; and of the others, 

 many had only two or three. The actual loss in- 

 curred from the shipwrecks, and the severe in- 

 juries sustained by twelve other vessels, is calculat- 

 ed to have amounted to about 143,000. Both oil 

 and whalebone immediately rose to more than double 

 their former price ; but still the whole produce of 

 the fishery of this year did not amount, according 

 to the highest estimate, to" more than 155,565; 

 while that of 1829 was reckoned at 376,150. 

 The season of 1831 was also unfortunate, though 

 not to the same extent ; three of the vessels hav- 

 ing suffered shipwreck. The produce as compared 

 with that of the preceding year was, in oil 4800 

 tons in place of 2205, and of bone 230 tons in place 

 of 119. But in 1829 there had been obtained 

 10,672 tons of oil, and 607 tons of bone; and in 

 1828, of oil 13,966 tons, and of bone 802 tons. 

 The value of the whole produce of the fishery of 

 1831, when oil had fallen from 50 to 30, and 

 whalebone from 380 to 200, was estimated only 

 at 190,000. The season of 1832 was considered 

 prosperous. 



The locality of the northern fishery has entirely 

 changed since the first expeditions. The seas be- 

 tween Spitzbergen and Greenland have been entire- 

 ly abandoned by the whalers, who now resort to 

 Baffin's bay and Davis's strait, or the coast of West 

 Greenland. The Dutch first began to frequent 

 Davis's straits in 1719; but it was quite recently 

 that the British first followed their example. 

 Even BO late as 1820, the fishery in the Greenland 

 seas was the most considerable ; but within a few 

 years it has been almost entirely deserted. Of 

 ninety-one ships, fitted out in 1830, only four were 

 for Greenland. The discoveries made in the north- 

 ern waters, by the British exploring voyages (see 

 North Polar Expeditions'), have made the fishers 

 acquainted with several new and advantageous 



