[27] FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 297 



Pacific Arctic Ocean grounds were the most productive, yielding oil and 

 bone worth $1,249,990. From the Atlantic Ocean grounds oil and bone 

 were taken worth $908,771. 



Most of the vessels owned at Provincetown were of the smaller class 

 and employed exclusively in cruising in the Atlantic Ocean. The Hud- 

 son Bay and Davis Strait grounds have always been favorite resorts 

 for the New London fleet. New Bedford vessels are found in almost all 

 seas, with the exception of the Indian Ocean, which has been aban- 

 doned by American whalers. 



Besides the vessel fishery there is a boat or shore-whaling industry, 

 which at times is quite profitable. The only points on the Atlantic 

 coast where boat- whaling is carried on are at Provincetown, on Cape Cod, 

 and, one or two points in North Carolina. On the coast of California there 

 are several stations, manned mostly by Portuguese, and on the coasts of 

 Washington Territory and Alaska whales are taken by the Indians and 

 Eskimo. The principal species on the Atlantic coast is the finback 

 whale, and on the Pacific coast the California gray whale. Neither of 

 these whales yields bone of much value, and both furnish but a limited 

 quantity of oil. Humpback, sulphur bottom, and right whales are occa- 

 sionally taken along the California and Alaskan coasts, but seldom on 

 the Atlantic. 



The whale fishery of this country was in its zenith of prosperity about 

 the middle of the present century, when the fleet numbered 736 vessels, 

 aggregating 231,406 tons. From 1854 to the present time there has 

 been an almost constant decrease in the size of the fleet. The chief 

 cause of this decline has been the introduction of mineral and cotton- 

 seed oils, at very low prices, which made a great reduction in the value 

 of whale oils, and has rendered the cost of production equal to if not 

 greater than the market value of those articles. The products of the 

 whale fishery in 1854 were of greater value than for any year before 

 or since, being $10,766,521, against $2,056,069 in 1879, which was the 

 lowest value since 1828, when the fishery yielded $1,995,181. The 

 largest quantity of sperm oil was in the year 1837, when the fleet landed 

 5,329,138 gallons, worth $6,650,000. The largest quantity of whale oil was 

 in 1851, when there were landed 10,347,214 gallons, worth $4,656,000. 

 In 1853 the amount of whalebone taken was 5,652,300 pounds, worth 

 $1,917,000; the largest amount in any year of the history of the busi- 

 ness. The value of bone has, however, greatly increased since that 

 period, and is now more than of $2 per pound. 



The relative importance of the various whaling grounds during the 

 past years, from 1870 to 1880, is shown by the following facts. Of the 

 sperm-oil landed during that period, 55 per cent, was taken in the North 

 and South Atlantic Oceans, 33 per cent, in the Pacific, and 12 percent, 

 in the Indian Ocean. Of whale-oil, 58 per cent, came from the North 

 Pacific and the Pacific fleets, 24 per cent, from the North and South 

 Atlantic fleets, 10 per cent, from the South Pacific, 5 per cent, from the 



