THE AMERICAN WHALE FISHERIES 249 



to sixteen per cent for sailing vessels. The cost of 

 fitting out a steamer for a season was estimated at 

 fifteen thousand dollars; the first cost of such a 

 steamer from twenty to twenty-five thousand dollars. 

 To fit out a sailing vessel cost eight thousand 

 dollars. This was much cheaper than the expense 

 of a steamer, for the latter the coal alone cost from 

 six to ten dollars a ton. Before starting from 

 'Frisco each sailor received an advance of forty 

 dollars, each boat-steerer from fixe hundred to one 

 thousand dollars. If the ship returned clean, i.e., 

 empty, then the crew were paid off on return at the 

 rate of one dollar per man. A whale which yielded 

 from fifteen to seventeen hundred pounds of whale- 

 bone usually gave from seventy to ninety barrels 

 of oil. A certain amount of trade was done with the 

 natives, Esquimaux, and Indians, along the coast. 

 On an average, a whaler could reckon on getting 

 from seven to eight hundred pounds of trade bone 

 from the natives in exchange for meal, biscuit, 

 provisions generally, knives, and old whale boats, 

 the latter being much sought after. 



There is much information of this fishery in the 

 San Francisco newspapers of the last decade of the 

 nineteenth century. Though of great interest, the 

 details cannot be quoted here. There was also a 

 small Russian whale fishery at this time in the North 

 Pacific. It does not appear to have attained any 

 considerable magnitude. 



Although not an American fishery, it is 

 convenient to mention here that one of the few 



