THE AMERICAN WHALE FISHERIES 247 



the Asiatic side of the Strait in the middle of May. 

 In the middle of June they were able to enter the 

 Arctic, and this they usually did on the Asiatic side 

 as the ice conditions were generally more favourable 

 there. Whilst waiting for the ice to disappear from 

 Point Barrow, the whalers cruised westward along the 

 Siberian coast, occasionally getting a whale. After 

 this between-season they went for Point Barrow and 

 thence to Point Hope, north of Behring Strait, and 

 then east along the coast to winter quarters off 

 Herschel Island, which lies near the coast somewhat 

 to the west of the mouth of the Mackenzie. Some 

 went still farther to the north-east to Franklin Bay. 



Those vessels which wintered off Herschel Island 

 generally got free of the ice by the loth July, whereas 

 those frozen up in Franklin Bay were fast until 

 August. Usually there is open water from Point 

 Barrow to Cape Bathurst, north-east of Franklin 

 Bay, for three summer months. 



Steamers find very little difficulty in making this 

 passage, but for sailing vessels it is troublesome. 



In autumn the whalers went west to Herald Island 

 in north-east of Behring Strait in 70 N. and 171 E. 



The details of this fishery show that even at the 

 end of the nineteenth century it was possible to make 

 profitable voyages, though on the whole there is an 

 evident decline. 



The statistics show clearly that the American 

 whalers at this time hunted the whale chiefly for the 

 whalebone, and on many occasions took no trouble 

 to recover the oil. This is seen when the number 



