CHAPTER VIII 



THE LAST PHASE OF WHALING 



The introduction of steam The harpoon gun and the capture of 

 Rorquals The disappearance of the old right whalers The 

 Norwegian whalers Gradual extension of their operations 

 The Scottish and Irish whaling- stations Antarctic whaling. 



THE first two steam vessels employed in Arctic 

 exploration were the Pioneer and the Intrepid, which 

 under the command of Sherard Osborn took part in 

 the search for Franklin in 1850. 



The experience gained by these vessels led the 

 whalers to attempt the introduction of steam into the 

 Arctic whalers with extraordinary results. The first 

 attempts were made in the fifties of the nineteenth 

 century, when ships fitted with auxiliary steam 

 engines engaged in combined sealing and whaling 

 cruises in northern waters. The seals were looked 

 for at the west ice off Greenland, and subsequently 

 the ships went to the whale fishery at Davis Strait. 



The first Hull whaling steamer set out in 1857; 

 in 1858 there were several steamers mainly engaged 

 in sealing, but it was not until 1859 that a really 

 determined effort was made to establish a steam 

 sealing and whaling trade. The results were almost 



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