THE WHALE KISI1EUY. 71 



Holland. It must appear obvions that our whale ships are exploring in a more effectual manner 

 than twenty national ships could every part of the vast Pacific. They have discovered many 

 islands, reefs, and shoals, which navigators sent out expressly for exploring purposes had passed 

 unseen." 



The extraordinary success of the fleet of whalers led to a rapid increase in the number of 

 vessels engaged, so that in 1839 the fleet of the United States numbered 555 vessels, whose aggre- 

 gate tonnage was 169,354 tons. Nearly 500 of these vessels were ships and barks, a large propor- 

 tion of which were in the Pacific sperm whale fishery. In 1842 the number was 594, at which 

 time, according to Scammon, the foreign whaling fleet amounted to 230 sail, and the combined 

 fleet of the world engaged in whaling- was 824 vessels. The fleet from the United States reached 

 its highest number in 1846, when 678 ships, 34 brigs, and 17 schooners and sloops, a total of 

 729 vessels, measuring 230,336 tons, were engaged in this industry. It is impossible to give the 

 exact number of these vessels that were engaged in sperm whaling, but it is probable from a 

 careful estimate that nearly one-half of the entire fleet followed this branch of the whale fishery. 

 In 1844 the sperm-whale fleet of the United States numbered 315 vessels, of which 242 were ships 

 and barks in the Pacific, and 73 schooners in the Atlantic sperm fishery. At about this time the 

 Now Holland branch of the English whale fishery was rapidly growing, the proximity of those 

 whaling ports of Australia to some of the most productive cruising-grounds enabling the ships 

 fitted out there to perform three voyages while the English and American were performing two. 

 The number of whale ships from French, German, and Danish ports at this time, according to 

 Cheever, was between 60 and 70, and the English fleet, which in 1821 numbered 323 ships, was 

 reduced to 85. 



The fleet from the United States began now to decrease, and the receipts of sperm oil became 

 less and less, until in 1860 the entire production of sperm oil by American vessels was only 

 2,:-)06,934 gallons. The price of this oil, however, had advanced from 82 cents in 1837 to $1.41 

 per gallon, and the entire fleet of whaling vessels was reduced to 560 sail. In 1870 the receipts 

 of sperm oil had further decreased to 1,738,265 gallons, and the whaling fleet numbered 316 sail, 

 of which number 231 were principally sperm whaling and the balance right whaling. These 

 sperm whalers were distributed over the various grounds as follows: 125 in the North and South 

 Atlantic, 41 in the Indian Ocean, and 65 in the Pacific Ocean. In 1875 the sperm-whale fleet 

 numbered 134 sail and the entire whaling fleet 163 vessels, and the receipts of sperm oil were 

 1,342,435 gallons. 



The general decline of the whale-fishery, resulting partly from the scarcity of whales, has led 

 to the abandonment of many of the once famous grounds, and cargoes of sperm oil are obtained 

 only after the most energetic efforts in scouring the oceans. In the Western Pacific Ocean, the 

 Indian Ocean, and the Japan Sea, where once large fleets of vessels cruised, there are now but few. 

 The results of this branch of the whale-fishery during the year 1877 on the different grounds were 

 varied. In the North Atlantic Ocean eighty-two vessels took 13,500 barrels, the largest yield 

 for many years. Good catehes were also taken by the fleet off Chili, on the Off-shore Ground, at 

 New Zealand, and the Sooloo Sea. Vessels in the South Atlantic had fair success, while but little 

 oil was taken in the Indian Ocean. 



In 1880 the Indian Ocean and Sooloo Sea sperm-whale grounds were abandoned by the Ameri- 

 can fleet. 



LENGTH OF VOYAGES. The length of a sperm-whaling voyage in the North Atlantic, where 

 it is generally carried on in the smaller class of vessels, is from six to eighteen months, though 

 occasionally a vessel may return with a fair cargo in five months, while another vessel of large size 



