THE SEAL AND WHALE FISHERY OF 1883. 125 



a very serious matter. The result is that the whalers never lose 

 a chance, and, compared with the days that are past, often 

 return with a very miscellaneous cargo. 



The notable feature in the fishery of 1882 was the capture 

 of a large number of Bottle-nose Whales, Hyperoodon rostratiim, 

 The whalers have long been in the habit of taking an occasional 

 Bottle-nose, and many years ago the ' Chieftain,' of Kirkcaldy, 

 caught twenty-eight of them off Frobisher Strait ; but it was not 

 till 1877, when the 'Jan Mayen,' then of Peterhead, having 

 missed the Seals, succeeded in taking ten Bottle-noses, that their 

 pursuit attracted much attention. Since that time, however, 

 they have been more sought for, and now most of the smaller 

 vessels hunt for them every season, while soma of the larger 

 vessels, in the interval between the finish of the Seal-fishery and 

 the commencement of the whaling, go south to the north-east 

 coast of Iceland for the same purpose. In 1880 Capt. Gray, of 

 the 'Eclipse,' killed thirty-two of these Whales, and in 1881 

 they came in for their full share of attention, 111 having been 

 taken. In the past season (1882) 463 of these aiiimals were 

 secured by the Scotch vessels alone, 203 of which fell to the lot 

 of our friend David Gray. 



Capt. Gray, from various causes, virtually missed the Seals 

 (killing only 468), and gave the whole of his attention to the 

 Bottle-noses. The first Whale was taken on April 27th, but owing 

 to continuous gales it was not till May 3rd that he got seriously 

 to work amongst them, the result being that by June 29th every 

 tank was full of blubber, all the coals (except those necessary 

 for the passage home), thrown overboard, and even the bread 

 removed from its tank to a temporary locker to make room for 

 the precious blubber. Thus he started for home on June 30th , 

 arriving safely in port on July 5th, with literally a "full" ship. 

 As the cargo was estimated to yield something like 230 tons of 

 oil, and Bottle-nose oil has proved to be little if at all inferior to 

 true sperm oil, being worth about ^60 per ton, Capt. Gray is to 

 be congratulated upon the results of his enterprise ; but, I fear, 

 their value having become fully known, it will in future go hard 

 with the Bottle-noses. A considerable number of these Whales 

 were also taken by the Norwegian fleets. 



Capt. Gray, during the season of 1882, devoted his attention 

 not only to the capture of these singular creatures, but has also 



