THE DUTCH WHALERS PREDOMINANT 167 



thousand five hundred and thirty-seven whales, the 

 produce of which sold for over twenty-six million 

 florins, of which four and three-quarter millions was 

 clear gain. 



The publication in London in 1721 of a list of 

 ships employed in whaling to " Greenland " and 

 Dayjs Strait appears to have aroused interest. 

 This list was : 



From Holland 251 ships. 



From Hamburg: 55 



From Bremen ... 24 



From Biscayan Ports 20 



From Bergen 5 



At any rate, shortly afterwards the South Sea 

 Company took the matter up, with what success the 

 next chapter shows. 



In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the 

 Dutch fleet left the Y and the Zaan every April for 

 Spitsbergen. In war-time the fleet was protected 

 by warships, i.e., in 1697 the whalers were protected 

 by a Dutch and Hamburg convoy. After 1718 the 

 whalers visited Davis Strait. A list of the whale 

 ships from 1719 to 1770 gives the names of forty- 

 four Dutch ports participating in the whale fishery. 

 The Dutch statistics were : 



1669-1778 14,167 ships. 561 lost. That is four per cent. 



In 1733 the Dutch East Indian Company 

 imported whalebone into Holland from the East 

 Indies. The Dutch Greenland adventurers immedi- 

 ately protested against this, alleging it would ruin 

 their trade if permitted to go on. Their statement, 



