THE AMERICAN WHALE FISHERIES 235 



general use, lubricating oils were manufactured 

 from the residuum, and the introduction of the wax 

 or paraffin for making candles finally sealed the 

 battle. 



But before this happened the American whale 

 fisheries were founded on whale products. From 

 1835 to !86o the whaling fleet averaged six hundred 

 vessels annually with an aggregate tonnage of 

 190,500. The annual imports averaged 117,950 

 barrels of sperm oil, 25,913 barrels of whale oil, and 

 2,323,512 pounds of bone a total annual value of 

 over eight million dollars. 



In 1846 the fleet numbered six hundred and eighty 

 ships and barques, thirty-four brigs, and twenty-two 

 schooners, with a total tonnage of 233,262. The 

 value of this fleet exceeded twenty-one million 

 dollars, whfle the whole business interests connected 

 with the trade were estimated at seventy million 

 dollars, giving employment to 70,000 persons. After 

 1847 tne P r i ce f sperm oil never fell below a dollar 

 a gallon for thirty consecutive years. 



Although 1846 was the year when the largest fleet 

 was employed, the real value of the fishery con- 

 tinued at a high level for many subsequent years. 

 Between 1846 and 1856 sperm oil rose from eighty- 

 eight cents to $1-62 per gallon; whale oil from 

 thirty- four to seventy-nine cents; and whalebone 

 from thirty-four to fifty-eight cents a pound. In 

 1857 a financial crisis in the country brought a 

 sudden slump in the price of oil, and this was really 

 the beginning of the end of American whaling, as a 



