154 The Story of the New England Whalers 



coast of Africa, where they hunted sperm whales 

 around Zanzibar and the Seychelle Islands. 

 One of them, the Columbus, found her way into 

 the Red Sea. In the years following this venture 

 it was a common thing for the whalers to go to 

 that coast and then sail easterly across the Indian 

 Ocean and among the islands beyond, until they 

 met their neighbors who had sailed around the 

 Horn. St. Paul and Kerguelen Land became 

 stopping places on an easterly route to the Pacific. 



Of whaling around New Zealand it is recorded 

 that "large schools of great whales abounded." 

 "Several ships often get into a school of these 

 whales at one time, each vessel taking one or more 

 whales that yield TOO barrels of oil." Tasmania, 

 New Ireland, the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, 

 the Kermadec Islands, New Caledonia, New 

 Georgia, all these coasts were soon well known 

 to the whalers of the United States. So, too, were 

 the Sooloos, with their Malay pirates. 



In 1835 the Ganges, Captain Barzillai T. Folger, 

 of Nantucket, sailed along the northwest coast of 

 North America from latitude 50 to latitude 60 

 degrees, and found whales of enormous size. 



