In the Later Days 415 



With the growth of the importance of the Arc- 

 tic whaling, due to the decline in the price of oil 

 and the increase in the price of bone, San Francisco 

 became the real home port of the American whal- 

 ing fleet, though to this day more whalers are 

 registered at New London than at the Pacific 

 port. 



The first whaler to sail from San Francisco 

 was the Popmunnett. She cleared out for a 

 sperm voyage in 1850. During thirty years 

 thereafter, however, no more than eight whalers 

 were registered there in any one year. In the 

 meantime, a coast whale fishery was established 

 in California, beginning at Monterey in 1851. 

 The habit which certain whales then had of 

 visiting sheltered waters of California and Lower 

 California (Magdalena Bay, for instance), to 

 bring forth their young, and the migrations along 

 the coast, gave a great impetus to this fishery. 

 But the whales were nearly exterminated, and 

 with decreasing production came decreasing prices. 

 Neither the Arctic nor the coast fishery could 

 make a whaler port of San Francisco, until after 

 the destruction of sailing ships in the Arctic ice 



