102 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



Largo (ares of whale oil are more easily taken than of sperm, arid the business is of a more lively and exciting 

 nature, while the usual high price of whalebone makes it more profitable. May success attend the efforts of the many 

 vessels who are to follow that branch of the fishery during the present and coming years! 



Our present fleet numbers 177 vessels at sea and in port, against 178 last year, ISG in 1879, aud 187 in 1878. 



Sperm whaling bas not been a success, vessels in the North Atlantic making a fair average, aud those on River 

 Plate and Tristan doing poorly, while on the coast of Africa catches were good, and some vessels took large fares. 

 On New Zealand the fleet met with poor success, excepting oue vessel, aud on Chili sperm whales were not so abun- 

 dant as formerly. Near Gallipiigos Island and vicinity two vessels did well, and the Indian Ocean and New Holland 

 wefe entirely neglected. The continued low price for sperm oil and the scarcity of whales have discouraged many 

 who have long followed this branch, and the success of right whalers induces them to change to that which appears 

 more remunerative. 



Eight whaling has yielded good results. In the Arctic Ocean whales were very abundant, and the quantities of 

 oil taken were limited by the size of the vessels and the number of casks, the fleet averaging 1,400 barrels of oil mid 

 22,000 pounds of whalebone, being the handsomest return for many years. No tracrs wnv found of the two whalers 

 missing the year previous. In the different southern oceans right whaling was prosecuted by a large number of ves- 

 sels with varying success, and during the summer large catches of humpback were made on the coasts of South 

 America and Africa, the high price compared with other oils stimulating many in that direction. 



Sperm oil opened the year at |1 per gallon, advanced' to $1.07 in March, declined to $1.02$ in May, and to 87 

 cents in July ; advanced to 90 cents in August, to 95 cents in September, and to 98 cents in October, closing the year 

 at the latter figure. The stock of crude oil in hands of importers, manufacturers, and others, botli in Europe and this 

 country, is much less than at this time last year. The quantity afloat is 4,500 barrels less. 



The consumption of sperm oil has been fully equal to that of the past few years, and possibly somewhat increased, 

 and in Europe it. is expected the figures when received will show that the consumption there was nearly if not quite 

 up to the average of previous years. 



Arctic whale oil opened the year at 60 cents per gallon, declined to 50 cents in April, and to 46 cents in May, 

 advanced to . r >5. cents in August, and declined to 50 cents at the close of the year. South Sea and humpback oils have 

 sold at from 'I to 3 cents less per gallon than Arctic. 



Arctic whalebone was at $2.25 per pound in January, 2 in May, aud $2.30 in June, advanced further to $2.50 in 

 August, but declined in November to $1.30, closing the year at that figure, the heavy catch weakening the market. 

 The price of South Sea whalebone has ruled at about 25 cents per pound less than Arctic. 



TRADE REVIEW, 1858 TO 1881. 



The Oil, Paint, and Drug Reporter, of November 23, 1881, gives the following interesting review 

 of the whale fishery in an article entitled "Whale and sperm oils": 



The appearance of large bodies of whales in the Atlantic along the United States coast during the summer and 

 up to a very recent date has suggested the possibility of resuming operations on the ground abandoned years ago. The 

 reason, perhaps, that the presence of those whales has not attracted more attention is that they belong to the. hump- 

 back [mostly finback] species, which produce no whalebone, and therefore are not a profitable catch except in times 

 of high prices. The only demonstrations that have been made against them so far have been the shooting of a few in 

 Provincetown Harbor, Massachusetts, and the fitting out of a schooner from that port. This vessel cruised along the 

 coast of Maine during the summer and took about 100 or 150 barrels humpback oil. This result was not sufficiently 

 alluring to induce others to follow the example of the owners of the schooner, thoiigh we believe a menhaden steamer 

 did cruise in the neighborhood of Block Island for a time without making a haul. The recent appearance of a largo 

 school of sperm whales in the Middle Atlantic, however, suggests the idea that the whaling industry might be profit- 

 ably revived in these waters at no distant day. There are many considerations to be taken into account before such 

 a venture could be made, the most important of which are the prices that can be obtained for the oil. Since the time 

 when whale aud sperm oils began to be supplanted by cheaper illuminating aud lubricating oils, the whale fisheries 

 have been, naturally, on the decrease, as the result of competition has been to force prices down to a point barely 

 covering the cost of catching. The cost of catching sperm oil largely depends, of course, upon the price of labor at 

 the port where the vessel is fitted out and the cost of such fitting out, an important article of which is the provision, 

 which, for a long voyage, such as is now made, is composed largely of salt pork, beef, and canned goods. The lowest 

 prices at which sperm oil can now be laid down in New Bedford is variously estimated at 90 to 95 cents per gallon, 

 which at the best prices at present obtainable for export or home consumption leaves a very small margin of profit to 

 the whalemen. The profits in right-whale oil fishing are largely dependent upon a freak of fashion. At first sight 

 such a statement might seem somewhat ludicrous to the ordinary reader, but nevertheless the change in the mode of 

 female attire plays an important part in the market rates of whale oil. If it is the fashion to wear much whalebone 

 in articles of dress, then the demand for that article becomes of such importance that the whale-catcher derives ft 

 sufficient profit from its sale to render the price of oil a matter of secondary importance. But it would require an 

 enormous demand for whalebone to do away with the necessity of obtaining something for the oil, and although the 

 fashion in dress for a number of years past has required the annual use of immense quantities of whale l.>one, still this 

 has not been sufficient to keep the whaling industry from going into a decline, because a sulliciciit id urn could nDt be 

 had for the oil. As sperm oil has to depend npon its own men Is, Hie sperm whale yielding no other valuable prod ml, 

 its competition with other oils lias seriously detracted from its importance, and at 1 lie same I ime reduced Hie profits 

 of tile industry to a point, as we said above, a little more than half the cost of catching. 



