of the Fishery Board Jor Scotland. 



liii 



being washed overboard ; 2 were knocked overboard or killed by sails, 

 etc., and 3 met their death in boats taking harbour. 



The number of boats totally wrecked was the same as in 1909, 27 ; 

 but it is significant that their estimated value (£33,028) was 50 per 

 cent., or £11,023, more. Unfortunately, increases are also shown 

 under the other heads of the Table — boats damaged and loss of gear. 

 The total loss amounted to £126,304, or £19,449 more than in the 

 previous year. 



The figures given do not include the losses sustained by Scottish 

 fishermen at the English and Irish herring fishings, which, as will be 

 seen from the reports of the Fishery Officers (Appendix L), were more 

 than usually heavy. 



WHALING. 



In its modern form, whaling dates from the year 1880. By that 

 period the " right " whale (Balena mydicus), so valued for its whale- 

 bone, had become almost extinct, and operations had become largely 

 restricted to the capture of the sperm whale, no attempt having up to 

 that time been made to utilise the numerous other species known to 

 exist. For this there were several reasons. Fin whales, blue whales, 

 the common rorquals, &c., were of little or no value for whalebone, 

 while their yield of oil was limited. Their great activity, too, rendered 

 their capture by the old method of harpooning then in vogue hazardous 

 in the extreme. In these circumstances whaling as an industry 

 was rapidly dying out, when in 1880 a jSTorwegian sailor, named Svend 

 Foyn, invented the harpoon gun with explosive shell. This invention, 

 which has since been considerably improved, revolutionised the 

 whaling industry. It rendered the capture of the species previously 

 neglected a comparatively easy matter, so that what they lacked in 

 the individual yield of oil could be made up in numbers. Moreover, 

 finners, rorquals, &c., could be captured within a comparatively easy 

 distance from land, in contradistinction to the " right " whale, whose 

 habitat is the Arctic Ocean, and it was realised that if they were 

 brought to land the potential wealth represented by their huge 

 carcases need no longer be wasted. Factories were accordingly 

 erected, steamers with the new harpoon gun mounted upon their bows 

 fitted out, and a new era in the history of the whaling industry 

 entered upon. Since then the Norwegians have gradually extended 

 their sphere of operations, until now they are found all over the 

 globe, the shore factory being replaced where necessary by a depot 

 ship or floating factory. 



It is a matter for regret that the possibilities of this profitable 

 industry have not sooner been realised by our own countrymen, but 

 it is gratifying to learn that this reproach is soon to be removed. A 

 Scottish firm of fishing vessel owners is fitting out a floating factory 

 and two whaling vessels (Diesel oil engines furnishing the motive 

 power), and the expedition will start for the Southern seas in the 

 early summer of the present year. 



In Scottish waters, whaling has been prosecuted since 1903, in 

 which year certain Norwegian whaling companies erected factories in 

 Shetland and commenced operations. After these companies had 

 been at work for some time, it became evident that some supervision 



