THE WHALE FISHERY. 145 



ground (the latter farther south) have been favorite cruising grounds for the Provincetown fleet. 

 In 1840 the Imogene was condemned and four vessels were added to the fleet, the brigs Franklin, 

 Fairy, and Phconix, and a schooner (probably the Belle Isle). The Phoanix went to the Gulf of 

 Mexico (where she obtained 300 barrels of sperm oil), the others to the Western Islands, where the 

 Phoenix followed them. From that time the whale fishery began to increase. In 1841 there were 

 nine vessels, oiie schooner, one bark, and seven brigs. In 1842 there were thirteen. In 1869 

 the fleet had increased to fifty-four vessels, at which time the whale fishery was larger than ever 

 before or since. Ever since 1837 the Hatteras ground has been much visited. At one time many 

 vessels went to the eastward of the Grand Banks, principally for black fish. Three or four went 

 year after year. They would be gone from May to October, and sometimes got 250 to 300 barrels. 

 During the war the whaling business prospered, but began to fall off from 1869 to 1871 as the 

 whales became scarcer. 



9. STATISTICAL REVIEW OF THE AMERICAN WHALE FISHERY. 



The American whaling fleet was smaller in 1880 than at any time within the past sixty years, 

 except in 1875 and 1876. The decrease in the number of vessels has been -going on since the year 

 1840, when there were seven hundred and twenty-two vessels, measuring 231,406 tons, in the fleet. 

 Accurate statistics for the period prior to 1840 are wanting. Just before the Revolutionary war a 

 fleet of over three hundred and fifty sail was engaged in this business, but after the war the 

 number was very greatly reduced. There was a gradual growth in the fleet from this time until 

 the war of 1812, which proved another disaster to whaling commerce. After the war the business 

 again revived and there was a steady increase in the size of the fleet. 



On January ] , 1844, the fleet belonging to the United States numbered six hundred and seven- 

 teen vessels, valued at $19,430,000 at the time of sailing, and their entire value at that date, includ- 

 ing the catchings at sea, was estimated at $27,784,000. The annual consumption by the fleet for 

 outfits at that time was $3,845,000, and the value of the production of oil and bone in the year 

 1844 was $7,875,970. In 1846 the fleet of vessels had increased in number to seven hundred and 

 twenty-two, the highest number ever employed in the fishery at one time, and was valued at about 

 $21,000,000. The entire capital invested in the industry and its connections at this time was 

 70,000,000, and the number of persons deriving from it their chief support was 70,000. 



After 1846 there was a rapid decrease till 1850, when the tonnage was 171,484 and the number 

 of vessels five hundred and thirty-nine; then an increase till 1854, when there were six hundred 

 and fifty-two vessels, measuring 208,399 tons ; from 1854 till the present time the decrease has 

 been almost constant, the tonnage in 1865 being reduced to 79,696 tons, and the vessels to two 

 hundred and seventy-one ; in 1875 the decrease was still greater, when there were only one hundred 

 and fifty-two vessels, measuring 37,733 tons, and on the 1st of January, 1880, the fleet numbered 

 one hundred and seventy-three vessels, of 39,433 tons measurement. 



The most valuable production of the fleet was in 1854, when the value of the oil and bone 

 was $10,766,521.20, against $2,056,069.08 in 1879, which was the lowest since the year 1828, when 

 the production yielded $1,995,181.15. The year ending December 31, 1880, was somewhat more 

 profitable than 1879 because of the success of the Arctic fleet, the yield this year reaching 

 $2,659,725.03. 



The largest fleet in the .North Pacific and Arcti* Oceans was in 1846, when two hundred and 

 ninety-two ships were there, and obtained 253,800 barrels of whale oil, averaging 869 barrels to a 

 vessel. The largest quantity of sperm oil was produced in 1837, 5,329,138 gallons ? averaging in 

 SEC. v, VOL. ii 10 



