246 A HISTORY OF THE WHALE FISHERIES 



The first American whaler passed through Behring 

 Strait in 1848, and this polar fishery has been well 

 described by Scammon. 



At the end of the nineteenth century the fishery in 

 polar waters was to a large extent coastal, in this 

 respect resembling the early days of Spitsbergen. 

 The ice off the north coasts of America and Asia 

 comes down much farther south than in Spitsbergen 

 waters, so that the whalers never went beyond 74 N . 

 in the former waters. The fishery off the north 

 coasts of Alaska and Asia was much more dangerous 

 than in Northern European waters, and the return 

 journey through the narrow Behring Strait much 

 more difficult than the homeward journey of the 

 Spitsbergen whalers, and consequently many more 

 ships were lost at this American fishery. 



These American whaling steamers usually made 

 nine knots, sailing vessels with auxiliary engines six 

 only. The whaling grounds were much farther from 

 San Francisco than the Spitsbergen grounds from 

 Norway or Great Britain. From San Francisco to 

 the Diomede Islands in Behring Strait is two thou- 

 sand eight hundred and sixty miles, from thence to 

 the mouth of the Mackenzie a further eight hundred 

 and seventy. The first part of the journey was 

 usually made under sail alone, the coal being reserved 

 for battling through the ice. A few whalers went 

 even farther than the Mackenzie; one hundred and 

 seventy-five miles to Cape Bathurst, and even two 

 hundred and twenty miles farther to Banks Land. 



The whalers aimed to reach the Gulf of Anadyr on 



