164 A HISTORY OF THE WHALE FISHERIES 



wastefully managed in boiling, and the fins were ill 

 cleaned; so that the products offered for sale only 

 fetched an inferior price. 



(4) The lines and fishing instruments were 

 injured from want of care and frequently embezzled. 



(5) The ships were extravagantly fitted; an 

 exorbitant price paid for materials and large sums 

 spent on incidentals, which ought to have been 

 saved. 



(6) The last ship sent out was unfortunately 

 wrecked, after securing eleven whales, a misfortune 

 which accelerated the ruin of the company. 



In a translation of " divers passages " from De 

 Witt's " True Interest and Political Maxims of 

 Holland and West Friesland," published by the 

 authority of the States General and translated into 

 English in the year 1702, advocating free trade, it 

 is stated that the authorised Dutch Greenland 

 Cpmpany made heretofore little profit by their 

 fishing, because of the great charge of setting out 

 their ships, and that the train oil, blubber, and whale- 

 fins were not well made, handled, or cured, and 

 being brought hither and put into warehouse, were 

 not sold soon enough, nor to the Company's best 

 advantage. " Whereas, now that everyone equips 

 their vessels at the cheapest rate, follow their fishing 

 diligently and manage all carefully, the blubber, 

 train oil, and whale-fins are employed for so many 

 uses in several countries, that they can sell them 

 with that conveniency, that, though there are now 

 fifteen ships for one which formerly sailed out of 



