272 A HISTORY OF THE WHALE FISHERIES 



Coastal whaling has been practised in Japan for 

 centuries, and the industry there is at least as old 

 as the earliest Basque fishery. The whale is 

 extensively used as human food in Japan. There 

 are several Japanese books dealing with this fishery, 

 notably one published by Koyamada at Yedo in 

 1829. In 1889 the Japanese whale trade was worth 

 seven thousand five hundred pounds. Since then 

 the Japanese have adopted the modern type of 

 whaling steamer, and the industry has developed 

 considerably. 



Before the end of the nineteenth century 

 attention was directed to the last virgin field for 

 whalers the Antarctic. 



In the autumn of 1891 the Tay Whale Fishing 

 Company of Dundee sent four of their steamers to 

 the Falkland Islands, and thence to the Antarctic, 

 where they remained from December, 1892, to 

 February, 1893. The Scottish oceanographer and 

 explorer, W. S. Bruce, was on board one of these 

 vessels, the Balcena. Many seals but no whales 

 were captured, and the voyages were not successful 

 financially. Right Whales were not observed, but 

 Blue and Bottlenose Whales were numerous. In 

 1893 a Hamburg company sent a steamer to try 

 whaling and sealing in the Antarctic, and in 1894 

 two additional steamers. These vessels occupied 

 themselves exclusively with sealing; only a few 

 Bottlenose Whales were seen. 



The next attempt was Norwegian, on the steamer 

 Antarctic, from 1893 to 1895. This vessel, which 



