THE BOUNTY SYSTEM 193 



Whales come into the harbour and play close inshore 

 where we kill now and then one with harpoons fired 

 out of a swivel." The Rising Sun left for England 

 in July, arriving in the Greenland Dock, London, in 

 August. 



It was in the second half of the eighteenth 

 century that Hull commenced to take a prominent 

 part in the northern whale fishery. 1 The first ship 

 from Hull for the northern fishery set out in 1598, 

 and there are records of Hull whalers in 1610, 1612, 

 and 1613. 



In 1618 King James privileged the Hull 

 merchants with a grant of the Jan Mayen Island 

 whale fishery. The earlier efforts were, however, 

 somewhat spasmodic, and it was not until after the 

 passing of the Bounty Act of 1750 that a regular 

 fishery was established from Hull. 



In 1753 a whaling company was established there 

 with a subscription of twenty thousand pounds. 

 From 1754 to 1762 the Hull merchants sent vessels 

 every year to the whale fishery, but the circumstances 

 were not favourable. During most of the time 

 England was at war with France, so the whalers 

 had to be well armed and protected by warships. 

 In 1758 the Humber and York of Hull, returning 

 from Greenland, were captured off the coast by 

 French frigates and taken to Dunkirk. In 1761 

 the Hull whaler Leviathan, which carried a letter 

 of marque, recaptured a ship off the Scottish coast 



1 See Hull Museum Publications, No, 31, " Hull Whaling 

 Relics," Hull, 190$, 



N 



