24 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES. 



Okhotsk Sea and the Arctic Ocean. They are not large, and yield on an average only about 30 

 barrels of a reddish oil. They are said to be the most dangerous to capture of all whales. The 

 bomb-lance or the whaling rocket is generally used in the chase. On the Californian coast the 

 best season for the capture of this species is from November to April or May, after which time 

 they move north. They appear in October and November off the coast of Oregon on their return 

 south. This whale is known only in northern latitudes, and is not found in the Atlantic Ocean. 

 No great number has ever been taken. Captain Scammon, in 1872, estimated that the whole 

 number captured or destroyed since 1846, when bay- whaling commenced, would not exceed 10,800. 

 DISTRIBUTION OF BLAOKFISH AND PORPOISE. There are several other species of cetacea, 

 as the blackfish and the porpoise, that are widely distributed over the oceans, and are often taken 

 by whaling vessels, though they are not special objects of pursuit. Those fisheries for these 

 species are discussed in the next chapter. The white whale or beluga is found principally in the 

 icy waters of the north, and several hundred of them are annually taken by the natives of the 

 countries bordering those seas, as also by the Scotch whaling vessels visiting Davis Strait. These 

 vessels in 1877 took 935 white whales, and in 1876 they captured 700. According to Scammon 

 large numbers are captured by the natives of Alaska and of Eastern Siberia, where they ascend 

 the rivers for several hundred miles. They are taken in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and also by 

 the Norwegians at Spitzbergen. Nordenskiold * states that in 1871 vessels from Tromsoe alone 

 caught 2,167 of this species in nets. Their value was estimated at about $15 each. Both the 

 blubber, hide, and carcass are utilized, the latter by the guano factories in Norway. They are 

 also taken in nets by the Russians and Samoyeds at Chabarova. 



ROUTES TO GROUNDS; SUPPLY STATIONS. 



EOUTES TO WHALING GROUNDS. Vessels engaged in the Atlantic Ocean fishery are of two 

 classes, those of small size on short cruises and those of large capacity that make longer voyages. 

 The former cruise principally in the North Atlantic, and are always on the alert for whales, work- 

 ing on all the grounds in this ocean, but especially those near the Azores or on the Hatteras 

 ground. They usually leave home in the spring and return in the fall, proceeding first to the more 

 southern and working toward the more northern fields. Some of these small vessels, however, 

 remain out for a year or even more, spending the winter months on the tropical grounds aud often 

 cruising in the South Atlantic, where they obtain a quantity of oil to be transshipped from St. 

 Helena to the United States. They will work toward home, stopping in the principal equatorial 

 and northern grounds. The second or larger class of vessels are gone from home for from two to 

 three years, often cruising on all the grounds in both the North and the South Atlantic. They 

 usually go first to the Western Islands and from there work south or north as the abundance or 

 the scarcity of whales on the different grounds may suggest. They frequently resort to ports at 

 the Azores or Cape Verde Islands, in the north Atlantic, and St. Helena, in the South Atlantic. 



The Hudson Bay or Davis Strait fleet is composed of vessels of all sizes. They make voyages 

 lasting from eight months to one or two years. Many of them have been accustomed to leave 

 home in the spring and to proceed at once to the Straits in time to enter the bays and gulfs at the 

 breaking up of the ice. They spend the summer in search of whales, and may return home in the 

 early fall, or remain to winter in the ice in order to take advantage of the early movement of 

 whales in spring. There are no refitting ports to which they can resort, so that if the vessel be of 

 small carrying capacity she will generally prefer to winter at home rather than in the icy regions. 



/ i _ i _ i _ i- 



* Voyage of the Vega, vol. i. 



