NOTES ON THE SEAL AND WHALE FISHERY, 1895. 43 



in sympathy with the advance in leather, and further large 

 sums were made by those who manufactured them, much to the 

 advantage of the colonists. 



The Greenland sealing in 1895 has been a failure, both as 

 regards the young and old sealing. The Scotch vessels took no 

 part in it (the only Seals brought home being 4500 from the 

 station in Cumberland Gulf by the ' Alert'), and the fourteen Nor- 

 wegians appear to have secured about one cargo between them. 

 I have no precise figures with regard to the catch, but it is 

 evident they are now paying the penalty of their imprudence in 

 times past ; the extended close time so strenuously advocated by 

 Capt. David Gray, and to which the Norwegians would not 

 consent, had it been adopted, would, in all probability, have 

 staved off the inevitable result for some time ; but nothing short 

 of entire relief from molestation for a lengthy period could 

 have saved the Greenland pack from eventual extermination. In 

 1860, twenty-one British ships captured 67,876 Seals in the 

 Greenland seas ; in 1895, the British vessels have altogether 

 deserted the fishery, and the fourteen Norwegians had to be 

 content with something like the odd thousands. 



There were no British vessels in pursuit of Bottle-nose Whales, 

 but the Norwegians are reported to have been fairly successful in 

 this branch of the industry. 



The season of 1895 is again marked by the absence of any 

 Peterhead vessel in the Arctic Seas ; a fleet of seven steamers left 

 Dundee, two of which, the ' Active ' and the ' Polar Star,' went to 

 Greenland, the remainder to Davis Straits. 



The 'Polar Star' left Dundee on April 9th, and Lerwick on 

 the 15th, reaching the whaling grounds about the end of the 

 month. The frost was very severe, and for several days she was 

 frozen up ; but on May 19th five Whales were seen, and one 

 struck, which, after running out twenty-five lines, was lost, three 

 of the boats making their way back to the ship with very great 

 difficulty. The same misfortune occurred on June 1st through a 

 line breaking, but both these fish, as will be seen, were accounted 

 for by her colleague the ' Active.' On June 6th she took her first 

 Whale, a fair-sized one, with 10 ft. 6 in. bone. Bad weather then 

 set in, and she was driven off the whaling ground; but early in 

 July she succeeded in capturing a second Whale, about equal in 

 size to the first, the two yielding 32 tons of oil and 30 cwt. 



e 2 



