316 A HISTORY OF THE WHALE FISHERIES 



solitary record of a Bristol voyage to the whale 

 fishery of Newfoundland (1594) except for a 

 spasmodic effort on the part of Bristol in response to 

 the Bounty Act of 1 749. 



Yet it is almost certain that Bristol, with its ancient 

 connection with the soap trade and its former 

 maritime supremacy, must have been closely con- 

 nected either with the whale fishery or its products. 

 The author has seen in the church of St Mary 

 Redcliffe at Bristol the " Rib of a whale from 

 Newfoundland "* which, according to the legend 

 current in the city, was the rib of a cow which 

 supplied the whole of the city with milk. 



No connected account of the first British whale 

 fishery, that at " Greenland " (Spitsbergen), has yet 

 been written which can be compared with the corres- 

 ponding works of Miiller (Dutch) or Brinner 

 (German), and the second British venture in these 

 waters, that of the South Sea Company in 1724, is 

 still only accessible in manuscript form (in the British 

 Museum). 



There is slight evidence that prior to the supposed 

 first British whale fishery at Spitsbergen, English 

 ships took part in whaling voyages to Norway or 

 Newfoundland. Diligent search may yet reveal 

 evidence of these voyages. Apart from the records 

 of actual whaling voyages, evidence of the train oil 

 and whalebone trade is to be sought in the Port 

 Books, a manuscript catalogue of which is to be 



1 Figured in Traill and Mann, " Social England," Vol. ii., 

 P. 673- 



