THE DUTCH WHALERS PREDOMINANT 163 



in 1707, should be free of all duty, custom or impos- 

 ition whatsoever, for any oil, blubber or whale-fins 

 caught and imported by them during the said term. 



The company, however, was so unfortunate partly 

 through bad management, partly through real losses, 

 as to expend their whole capital some years before 

 the expiration of their term, so that they broke up 

 entirely. This failure was all the more surprising 

 because in 1697 the Dutch whale fishery was univer- 

 sally successful. The superintendent of this fishery 

 reported that when lying in one of the bays with his 

 ship, the Four Brothers, having a cargo of seven 

 fish on board, a richly laden fleet assembled at that 

 place, consisting of one hundred and twenty-one 

 Hollanders with one thousand two hundred and 

 fifty-two whales, fifty-four Hamburgers with five 

 hundred and fifteen whales, fifteen Bremeners with 

 one hundred and nineteen whales, and two 

 Embdeners with two whales, and not a clean ship 

 among them. 



Elking 1 attributes the ill success of the English 

 to the following: 



(1) The ships were commanded by persons 

 unacquainted with the business, who interfered with 

 the fishery, whereas the chief harpooner ought to 

 have commanded at this time. 



(2) The captains had fixed pay ; they should have 

 been paid by share. 



(3) The blubber taken home was slovenly and 



1 Elking, " A View of the Greenland Trade and Whale Fishery, 

 with the National and Private advantages thereof," London, 1722. 



