THE SOUTHERN FISHERY 211 



Although the southern fishery was at first confined 

 to the Atlantic, after a time whalers rounded Cape 

 Horn, and hunted whales in the Pacific. Precisely 

 when this first occurred is not known. One of the 

 earliest, if not the earliest English whaling voyage 

 to the Pacific was that of Colnett, but there is some 

 reason to think that the Spaniards were there before 

 him for the same purpose. A search of the records 

 at Madrid would probably give further information 

 on this point. We know from the voyage of Anson 

 round the world (1740-4) that there was an extensive 

 Spanish trade in the Pacific at this time. Many of 

 the earlier Spanish voyages were precisely through 

 those areas where the Sperm Whale was most 

 abundant. 



The same year that Colnett was fitting out in 

 London for his whaling voyage to the Pacific, Sanez 

 Reguart 1 published his monumental work on the 

 Spanish fisheries. This dictionary contains in the 

 third volume under the heading " Harpon " one of 

 the most complete and best illustrated accounts of 

 whaling as practised in the eighteenth century. 

 Special reference is made to the attempts of the 

 Spaniards to resuscitate their whale fisheries by 

 means of a company founded to fish for whales off 

 the Patagonian coast and the Straits of Magellan, 

 Chiloe, and the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish Com- 

 pany was given a charter by Charles IV. in 1789. 



1 " Diccionario historico de los artes de la pesca nacional," 

 Madrid, 1791-5. 5 Vols., 4to. The third volume containing the 

 section on whaling was published in 1792. 



