WHALES AT HOME. 



431 



Newfoundland. There, to their unbounded 

 surprise, they found quite a fleet of whale- 

 ships, whose crews had nothing to learn from 

 them either in seamanship or whale-hunting. 

 Swarthy, keen-eyed, and black-haired, these 

 strangers presented the most striking contrast 

 to the blonde giants of the North. For they 

 were the Biscayans, descendants of those 

 gallant fishermen who had, by their courage 

 and persistency, turned what at first seemed 

 to be an awful 

 calamity into a 

 source of wealth 

 and comfort. 



Thus was the 

 hunting of the 

 whale for com- 

 mercial purposes 

 first begun ; thus 

 did it flourish, 

 gradually attain- 

 ing the chief 

 place among the 

 maritime pur- 

 suits of the civil- 

 ized world. Yox 

 sea- com merce 

 was as yet in 

 its swaddling- 

 clothes, so to 

 speak. The way 

 for its develop- 

 ment was pre- 

 paring, but the 

 honours of sea- 

 faring were about 

 equally divided 

 between war- 

 ships and whale- 

 ships. As usual, 



we came in late, 

 reaping where 



others had sown, but turning their experiences 

 to such profitable account that in the fulness 

 of time the trade seemed to lie about 

 equally in our hands and those of the Dutch. 

 By the dawn of the seventeenth century 

 scarcely any port worthy of notice around 

 England but was sending ships to the 

 Northern whale fishery, and at one time it 

 was estimated that there were in those icy 

 waters over six hundred sail of vessels, of 

 which the great majority were Dutch and 

 English. Then gradually our interest or 

 ability drooped, while that of the Hollanders 

 increased. 



The English whale-fishery dwindled more 

 and more as the Dutch grew and prospered, 

 until it is recorded that one season, out of 



A SEVENTEENTH CENIUKY WHALER. 



five hundred ships in the Arctic, only six 

 were English. A woful falling off; but then 

 came Holland's downfall. After a struggle 

 more heroic than any other in the world's 

 history she was crushed by land and sea, 

 and we again built up an Arctic whale-fishery 

 for ourselves, being now without any serious 

 competitor. For the next century and a half 

 we had practically a monopoly of the Arctic 

 whale-fishery, while the nation was gradually 



taking her place 

 as the paramount 

 sea-power. 



I have, per- 

 haps, lingered 

 over these early 

 whale-fishing 

 days somewhat, 

 but I feel that 

 few among us 

 have realized 

 what they meant 

 to commerce and 

 navigation in 

 general. Few 

 allow their im- 

 agination to 

 dwell upon the 

 startlingfactthat, 

 while the kindly 

 mellow spaces 

 of ocean spread 

 themselves in 

 silent invitation 

 all around the 

 globe, hardly fur- 

 rowed by any 

 wandering keel, 

 the now de- 

 serted, ice-in- 

 fested seas of 

 the Arctic Circle 

 saw with each returning summer a host of 

 thick -thronged ships, the keen and nipping 

 air rang again with the shouts of thousands of 

 hunters, while from shore as well as ships 

 arose the smoke of hundreds of furnaces 

 boiling down the spoil. 



In another paper I hope to supply the 

 complement of this story by giving an outline 

 of what happened in America when the hardy 

 admixture of Dutch and English stock found 

 that upon their coasts was to be met with 

 another species of mammal, as valuable, but 

 far more fierce and dangerous. In dealing 

 with the sperm whale and his tropical ac- 

 quaintances at home it will be necessary to 

 do this, but judging from experience the story 

 will not be withouc interest. 



