WHALING 251 



The attention of the Hudson's Bay Company was early 

 directed to the whale fishery of Hudson bay. In 1719 a frigate 

 and sloop, under the command of Knight, were despatched from 

 Churchill, to explore the western shores of the bay to the north- 

 ward and to prosecute the whale fishery in those waters. The 

 disastrous ending of this venture, the entire crews dying of 

 scurvy and starvation on Marble island, put a stop to all pro- 

 jects of the Company as regards whale fishing, until one was 

 undertaken in recent years, but so little success attended the 

 venture that it was abandoned after three years' trial. 



Public attention was first called to the whale fishery of Hud- 

 son bay by Dr. Rae, in the publications on his voyages in 1846 

 and 1854 along the northwestern coast of the bay in search of 

 traces of the Franklin expedition. 



In 1860 the first American ships visited the northwestern 

 part of Hudson bay, wintered there, and returned with full 

 cargoes. Their success led other whalers to the same waters, so 

 that in 1864 there were fourteen American ships in Hudson 

 bay and Cumberland strait. 



Whaling in Hudson bay has since been almost wholly in the 

 hands of the Americans, and an idea of the value taken by them 

 from those waters may be obtained from the tabulated statement 

 at the end of this article. 



The first British vessel of modern times to visit Hudson bay 

 for whales was the Newfoundland steamer Nimrod, which, 

 according to Hall, was at Repulse 'bay in 1867. The Scotch 

 steamer Arctic made two or three voyages to the bay, the last 

 being in 1897, when she struck a rock in Hudson strait, and 

 was damaged to such an extent that she subsequently sunk in 

 Cumberland gulf. The Hudson's Bay Company's ship Per- 

 severance, already alluded to, was in Hudson bay from 1894 

 to 1896, and only took five small whales. Changing hands, a 

 couple of years later, this ship was at Cumberland gulf, and 



