THE WHALE FISHERY. 235 



common carriers, aud continue her voyage in pursuit of other whales. Oil shipped in this manner 

 is known as " freight oil," to distinguish it from the oil the vessel herself has derived from her own 

 captures. A vessel may be spoken at sea and report 1,425 barrels of sperm oil aud 380 barrels of 

 whale oil, " all told," and 500 barrels of whale aud 150 barrels of sperm " on board." This would 

 make her total catch, at the time she was spokeu, 1,805 barrels, 1,155 of which amount had been 

 shipped by another vessel. Or a vessel may arrive at her home port and hail for 1,200 barrels; 

 500 barrels of this amount may be freight oil and belongs to another firm, upon which the owners 

 of the vessel realize merely the cost of transportation, and the balance, 700 barrels, the property 

 of the vessel, upon which her owners realize the full market value. 



Taking into consideration the great distances traversed by whaling vessels, sometjjn^s cir- 

 cumnavigating the globe during their voyages; the dangerous localities visited in'both the 

 northern and the southern hemisphere, the treacherous coral reefs and the insidious teredo of the 

 South Pacific, and the dangerous ice-fields of the Arctic regions; the unusual risks to which they 

 are exposed from the nature of their calling, the imminent danger of attacks on the part 

 revengeful aud ferocious whales, or of complete destruction by conflagration'through fire communi- 

 cated by the try- works, or by the act of incendiarism at the hands of muMnous crews, it is a matter 

 of surprise that so few are lost at sea.* Unless, however, some fataJ / talisrnan has found a place 

 aboard the whaler, her life on the average is as long as that of xfther vessels employed in other 

 branches of the service. The destroying angel, the emissary^ three several wars, has done more 

 to annihilate our whaling fleet than all the elements cprfibined. Harassed and annoyed in its 

 infancy by the depredations of French and Spanish privateers upon the English commerce in 

 1741, when the fleet was excluded from the grounds of the Davis Strait fishery, and crippled by 

 the French privateers in 1755 and the ensuing years, it was again despoiled by the French and 

 Spaniards in 1771. Paralyzed by the Revolution, it had scarcely regained its footing when it was 

 exposed, in 1798, to the ravages of the French privateers, which ravages gave rise subsequently 

 to the French spoliation claims. It was then kept in a state of feverish excitement and annoyance 

 until, just prior to the war of 1812, when the Pacific fleet was exposed to the depredations of the 

 Peruvian pirates, who plundered the vessels aud prevented them from entering Chilian ports where 

 the fleet was accustomed to obtain its "recruits."t The war of 181 2 burst upon the American 

 whaling fleet like an angry storm cloud, and so disastrous were the effects when the cloud passed 

 over, that, with the exception of a few vessels belonging to Nautucket, it may be said the whale 

 fishery was practically abandoned ; but the whalemen with their characteristic energy built and 

 equipped other vessels, and when the late rebellion came upon us like a thief in the night, the 

 majority of the vessels were scattered over the seas in all parts of the world; or, with a sense of 

 security under the American flag, those which were at that time in port were fitted out and dis- 

 patched on their accustomed voyages; but in both cases they were exposed to the attacks of the 

 Alabama or Shenandoah, whose commanders lay in wait for them on the highways of commerce, 

 and by making bonfires of some, attracted others to the scene in order that they might be treated 

 in a similar manner. During this war some of the ships were also transferred to the merchant 

 service, and forty were purchased by the Government and sent with the two "stone fleets" which 

 were sunk off the harbors of Charleston and Savannah to blockade these ports. Scarcely had the 

 fleet recovered from the disastrous effects of the rebellion when the news of the terrible destruction 

 of the Arctic fleet in 1871 reached our ears. Thirty-three vessels were crushed in the ice off Point 

 Belcher, representing a loss that exceeded $1,000,000. 



* The reader is referred to a chapter of accidents, by Alex. Starbuck, entitled " The Dangers of the Whale Fish- 

 ery," in Report of Commissioner of Fish arid Fisheries, Part IV, p. 114 et aeq. 

 t Provisions, supplies, &c. 



