SCIENCE -Supplement. 



FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 1887. 



THE AMERICAN WHALE-FISHERY, 



1877-1886. 



The American whale-fishery reached its flood- 

 tide of prosperity about the middle of the preseot 

 century. In 1846 the fleet numbered 722 vessels, 

 valued, with outfits, at nearly $20,000,000. The 

 most valuable catchings were in 1854, when the 

 oil and bone secured were worth $10,766,521. The 

 largest annual yield of sperm-oil was in 1837, 

 5,329,138 gallons, averaging $1.24| per gallon ; of 

 whale-oil, in 1851, 10,347,214 gallons, averaging 

 45ySg cents per gallon ; and of whalebone, in 1853, 

 5,652,300 pounds, at 34^ cents (gold) per pound. 



In 1877 the whaling-fleet numbered 163 vessels, 

 hailing from the following ports : New Bedford, 

 Mass., 118 vessels ; Provincetown, Mass., 21 ; Bos- 

 ton, 6 ; Edgartown, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Marion, 

 and Westport, Mass., 12 ; New London, Conn., 3 ; 

 San Francisco, 2. 



In 1886 the fleet cruising in the North Pacific 

 and Arctic had very largely transferred its head- 

 quarters and ownership from New Bedford to San 

 Francisco. The hailing-ports of the fleet during 

 this year, numbering 124 vessels in all, were as 

 follows : New Bedford, 77 vessels ; Provincetown, 

 12 ; Boston, 3 ; Edgartown and Marion, 4 ; New 

 London and Stonington, 6 ; San Francisco, 22. 



The distribution of the fleet in 1886 was as fol- 

 lows : 48 vessels, mostly schooners, cruising in 

 the North and South Atlantic ; 39 vessels, the 

 largest and best in the fleet, cruising in the North 

 Pacific, Bering Sea, the Arctic north of Bering 

 Strait, and in the Japan and Okhotsk seas, pur- 

 suing the bowhead and the Pacific right whale ; 2 

 vessels in Hudson Bay in search of the bowhead ; 

 20 vessels cruising, chiefly for sperm whales, in 

 the South Pacific and Indian oceans. Thirteen 

 vessels were detained at home ports throughout 

 the year, leaving the active fleet only 111 sail. 



The business is carried on by forty-nine firms 

 and general agents, with headquarters chiefly at 

 New Bedford and San Francisco. 



The following tables show the condition of the 

 industry during the last decade. There has been 

 a steady decrease in the number and tonnage of 

 the vessels. The annual yield of sperm-oil has 

 greatly decreased. The yield of whale-oil, which 

 includes oil of walrus and of all cetaceans other 



than sperm whales, varied greatly from year to 

 year. The value of sperm-oil from 1877 to 1886 

 averaged 92 cents per gallon ; whale-oil, 47^ cents 

 per gallon ; and whalebone, $2.44 per pound. 



Number and tonnage of vessels, and value of 

 oil and hone. 



The two principal branches of the industry are 

 the sperm-whale and the right-whale fisheries. 

 Vessels engaged in sperm-whaling are sometimes 

 employed ' between seasons ' in the capture of 

 humpback whales. The right-whalers take the 

 bowhead or polar whale and the ordinary right 

 whale of temperate waters. They also capture 

 walrus for the oil and ivory. 



