THE WHALE FISHERY. 



155 



further sell, has not been realized; for of the fifty-one whalers at home, we now want to sell twenty-five at least, 

 which is still another 15 per ceut. discount we would make on our fleet, aud unless we get bettor catches arid better 

 results in 1874 than in 1873, we can now safely apply for another reduction in 1875 of nearly 15 per cent. The thirty- 

 two whalers withdrawn, &c., represented 6,912 tons, and the one schooner added at Provincetown was 117 tons. 



The fleet at sea January 1, 1874, was one hundred and twenty-three vessels, against one hundred and fifty-five a 

 year ago. 



FLEET. 



ARCTIC FLEET. 



IMPORTED. 



We have given these comparative figures to show the inclined plane down which whaling is at present going. 

 Eight whaling is not remunerative, and cannot be unless larger catches can be made with smaller expenses attending 

 them. 



The Arctic Ocean had in 1873 thirty-two whalers, and the Ochotsk Sea two, and yet the aggregate catch was 

 about 21,000 barrels of oil and 250,000 pounds of bone, or an average of 600 barrels of oil and 7,500 pounds of bone, 

 worth about $20,000, one-half of which is used up in drafts, refitting for another season, and the expense of getting 

 oil aud bone home. The past season was a poor one for whaling, being open, free from ice, whales very scarce until 

 very late in the season, when they were plenty, but the weather became bad ; the remaining fleet, after a week of good 

 work, came out with a fair catch. Six whalers did not take a whale in the Arctic, and two got not even a walrus. In 

 1854 fifteen whalers out of forty-eight got nothing, and the season was a failure. The Progress found whales outside 

 and took seven, making 750 barrels oil; also the Louisa found whales on Kodiac, and got five, making 550 barrels; 

 and the Live Oak found whales in Japan Sea, and got nine, making 900 barrels. About 6,000 barrels walrus oil was 

 taken in the Arctic in July. Whalers went farther north this season than ever before. Four Arctic whalers will 

 return home, aud not one has been fitted out during the past year to go to the Arctic, nor will there be during the 

 year 1874. From present appearances, with the present feeling existing about Arctic whaling, wo should doubt if 

 any one of the fleet now out, upon their return home, would be fitted again to go there. About one-half of the 

 fleet went to San Francisco to refit and the balance to Honolulu, it having become evident that the gains at San 

 Francisco are not equivalent for advantages the Sandwich Islands have for getting and keeping crews and freighting 

 home catchiugs. In the fall of 1872 live whalers went to Panama to ship their catchings home; owing to unavoid- 

 able circumstances the oil was long delayed at the Isthmus, and was, on .arrival hero, found to have much leaked. 

 Panama Bay has been as good whaling ground the past year for humpbacks as in previous years, about 10,000 barrels 

 being the catch there, some vessels getting 1,000 to 1,400 barrels each. But little has been heard from the sperm 

 whalers humpbacking at the shoals and grounds in the Pacific Ocean. On the coast of Africa there were good catches 

 of humpbacks, some vessels taking 500 to 700 barrels each. 



The Crozette whaling was good, but two vessels visited the ground, the China and John P. West, taking 750 and 

 800 barrels, respectively. Cumberland Inlet aud Hudson Bay whaling was disastrous; the schooner Abbie Bradford 

 returned with a good catch, and brought news of the loss of the barks Ansel Gibbs and Orray Taft, of this port. 

 The schooner S. B. Howes, of New London, was also lost there. Many seamen died with scurvy. The bark Glacier, 

 of this port, returned with only about 70 barrels. South Shetland sealing and whaling was very successful, and another 

 fleet has gone to complete the work of extirpation. 



