34 Correspondence as to Whaling. 



Writing to Mr. l\. H. Chapell, he said : 



You know the value of exploring expeditions, how they opened up the 

 Spitzber*ien whale-fishery, and those of Davis Strait, Baffin's Bay, and Hudson's 

 Bay. I am greatly in liopes of demonstrating to you on my proposed expedition 

 that a channel exists north of Hudson's Strait and running eastwardly from Fox 

 Channel, which will be found to abotmd hi whales, and through this channel an 

 American passage to Hudson's Bay will be found, the right to which England 

 can never question. Tlie great area of our commerce should not be allowed to 



g(» (1(»\V1I. 



lie received the following- reply : 



You ask of me some information relative to the iiuportant and growing 

 branch of the whale-fishery now prosecuted l)y American vessels in the waters 

 west of Greenland and Baffin's Bay. Within the last six years this new ground 

 has opened up a new and fruitful field for the enterprise of our hardy seamen. 

 From 184G to 1852 btit one American vessel fished in these waters. She made 

 six voyages, taking in all about 3,500 barrels of oil and 51,000 pounds of bone ; 

 and from 1853 to 1858 five different vessels returned from these waters bringing 

 75,000 barrels of oil and 115,000 pounds of bone, worth $130,000. 



Owing to the dangers of ice navigation and want of knowledge of the coun- 

 try, tlie business on the whole had not to this time been profitable to those who 

 prosecuted it. Since 1850 more energy has been displayed and greater risks 

 incurred in following this trade. In 18G0, two fine ships were fitted out from 

 Fair Haven, ]\rass., at a large cost, for the express purpose of pushing still far- 

 ther west toward Fox's Channel or Hudson's Bay, where no American vessel had 

 ever been, in search of a new and better whaling ground. 



Without accurate (;harts, in waters totally unknown, among much ice and 

 strong currents, in short days and long nights, in fogs and gales of wind, with 

 hirgc comi)ass variations, these adventurous navigators pushed their way and 

 icaclicd the longitude of OOo west, spent a winter there, when the thermom- 

 eter fell to (KP below zero, obtained cargoes worth sonu^ $00,000, and returned 

 to the Cnited States in 1801. 



At the ])resent time there nn' fourteen American vessels engaged in whaling 

 in the.se waters. Seven of these have passed the last winter there, and will be 

 exj.ected home the coming fall with cargoes worth nearly $400,000. 



Ill the |)rosecuti<»ii of this business wo need, vory much, good charts. The 



