174 SIR WILLIAM FLOWER CHAP. 



became scarcer in the neighbourhood of the coast, and the ships 

 had to seek them further in the open sea, it was found more 

 economical to bring the blubber to Holland, and Smeeremberg 

 was deserted. 



The great war at the end of the last century, in which Eng- 

 land kept possession of the North Sea, put an end to the whale 

 fishery, not only of Holland, but of France and of all other 

 countries which had engaged in it, and henceforth we maintained 

 a monopoly of the trade. From the year 1732 to 1824 our 

 Government paid bounties amounting altogether, it is calculated, 

 to ^"2,500,000, to vessels engaged in the Northern whaling busi- 

 ness, to encourage the enterprise. 



The ships at first sailed from London, then Hull, Yarmouth, 

 and Whitby entered the field. In 1819 as many as sixty-five 

 ships sailed from Hull. Since 1836 no ship has gone from 

 London, and now Dundee and Peterhead are the only ports in the 

 British Islands which keep up the Northern whale fishing, though 

 on a much more limited scale then formerly. 



The fishery between Greenland and Spitzbergen, which in 

 the last century proved so productive, is almost played out, but 

 that of Davis Straits and Lancaster Sound is still remunerative 

 owing to the very high price that whalebone has lately been 

 fetching. At the beginning of the century the average value 

 was from 70 to ^80 per ton, but a few years ago a sale was 

 effected at the enormous sum of ^2650 per ton; this is the 

 highest price which has ever been given for it, and recently it 

 has somewhat declined. 



He showed that the trade which inspired the 

 Cruise of the " Cachalot " was modern compared with 

 the right whale fishery, although individual sperm 

 whales approaching near the shore, especially in 

 the neighbourhood of the right whale fisheries, had 

 often fallen a prey to man. The systematic cap- 

 ture of this species began about the end of the 

 seventeenth century from the Atlantic coasts of 



