132 WHALE FISHING. 



for the Frozen Ocean, which went as far as Greenland, and even 

 to Spitzbergen. At this period, whale fishing was in a most 

 flourishing condition on all the coast of Beam and of Aunis, and 

 continued on the same footing till the commencement of the 

 seventeenth century ; but then the Basques, finding no protection 

 under their national flag, were disturbed by jealous rivals, who 

 excluded them from the places most favourable for the fishery, and 

 exacted from them onerous contributions. This branch of in- 

 dustry then began to decline, and was lost to France, when in 

 1636, the Spaniards having taken and sacked Soccoa, Cibourn, 

 and Saint-Jean-de-Luz, seized fourteen large ships, from Green- 

 land, richly laden with oil and whalebone. 



The poor Basque fishermen were then forced to serve as guides 

 to their more powerful rivals ; they taught the art of harpooning 

 the whale to the Dutch and also to the English, who at that time, 

 were ardently devoted to maritime speculations, and understood 

 all the advantages that would accrue to them from this distant 

 fishery. 



The fishing of the Dutch began in 16 12, and, although thwarted 

 at first by the rivalry of the English, rapidly increased. Rich 

 companies were formed for pursuing this new branch of industry, 

 which continued to be a source of prosperity to the whole country 

 till the beginning of the nineteenth century ; but maritime wars 

 opposed an insurmountable obstacle to it, and since the peace, Hol- 

 land has made ineffectual efforts to revive the prosperity of her 

 whale fishery, which is doubtless the best school for forming 

 hardy and experienced seamen. 



While the whale fishery was so productive in the hands of the 

 Dutch, it did not prosper in England : but the enlightened govern- 

 ment of that country, appreciating its utility, made efforts to in- 

 sure its success. In 173'2, it granted high premiums to all vessels 

 fitted out for this fishery, and this encouragement not producing 

 the desired effect in 1 749, they were doubled and made nearly 

 equal to one tenth of the expense of the outfits. From that time 

 this branch of maritime industry rapidly increased, and now be- 

 longs almost exclusively to the hlnglish, and their ancient colonies 

 in America, the United States, which have become their rivals. 



We have already seen the ground of this fishery moving more 

 and more towards the north, in proportion as the whales were 

 destroyed or learned to fly from the dangers with which they 

 were threatened. Until the fourteenth or fifteenth century it was 

 carried on in the waters of England, France and Spain ; but in 

 the sixteenth, whales were no longer met with by fishermen except 

 in the seas of Greenland and Spitzbergen. These animals were 



