268 A HISTORY OF THE WHALE FISHERIES 



American whalers " are at the Antipodes, and 

 engaged under the frozen serpent of the south." 



In 1775 the first British attempt was made at the 

 southern fishery. 1 Ships of from one hundred to one 

 hundred and nine tons burthen were sent to South 

 Greenland, the coast of Brazil, the Falkland Islands, 

 and the Gulf of Guinea, but as the principal resorts 

 of the Spermaceti Whale were not then known they 

 met with little success. 



In 1776 the Government extended the benefits of 

 the bounty system to the southern whale fishery, and, 

 consequently, the Custom House returns show the 

 number and tonnage of vessels fitted out in Great 

 Britain. The table opposite shows the number and 

 tonnage from the commencement of the bounty 

 system up to 1783. 



A statistical table for the southern whale fishery 

 for the years 1800 to 1834 is given by McCulloch 

 (see Appendix III.). 2 



It will be noticed that there is a marked discrep- 

 ancy between the number of ships at sea and the 

 number of ships returned in any year. 



According to McCulloch the southern whale 

 fishery consisted (in 1835) f three distinct branches ; 

 the chase of the Spermaceti Whale (Physeter 

 macro cephalus], that of the common black whale of 

 the southern seas, and that of the sea elephant or 



1 Beale, " Natural History of the Sperm Whale," p. 143, 

 London, 1839. 



a " Dictionary of Commerce," 1832 edition. Supplement, 

 1835. P- 57- 



