xii SPERM WHALE FISHERY 175 



North America, especially of the part then called 

 New England, at first only from the shore, but 

 afterwards in sea-going vessels from New Bedford 

 and other ports, which gradually extended their 

 voyages into the Indian and Pacific Oceans. 



From the year 1775 vessels engaged in the trade 

 (assisted by Government bounties) regularly left 

 the mouth of the Thames for the South Seas, 

 making voyages of three or four years' duration ; 

 but since 1853 the business has been abandoned 

 by the English, and what little remains of it has 

 reverted almost entirely into the hands of the 

 Americans. Sperm oil has fallen so greatly in 

 price that its production is now hardly a remunera- 

 tive undertaking, and it has found a rival in all the 

 qualities which render it of special value in the oil 

 of an allied but much smaller species, the bottlenose 

 whale (Hyperodon), which has consequently become 

 the object of a regular fishery in the North Sea, 

 especially to the Norwegians. 



The extraordinary fact of the absolute and com- 

 plete destruction of at least two species of right 

 whale by the reckless greed of the whalers was 

 first made public by Flower, who may properly be 

 regarded as almost the discoverer of the Basque 

 whales as a separate species. Of these (the North 

 Atlantic right whale) he says : 



It is a singular fact that the existence of the species was quite 

 overlooked by naturalists until lately. All accounts of it which are 

 to be found in the numerous records of European whale fishing 



