150 
RISE AND PROGRESS OE 
1793 in the expense of fitting out a ship, commanded 
by Captain James Colnett, to undertake a voyage to the 
South Seas, with a view to extend the sperm whale fishery 
there; but in this year, 1819, formed the scheme, and 
actually fitted out at his own expense a large ship of 
500 tons burthen, called the “ Syren,” commanded by 
Captain Coffin, with a crew of thirty-six seamen, for the 
purpose of sending her on an experimental voyage to 
the far distant sea of Japan, to prosecute the sperm 
whale fishery in that remote part of the world. 
The “ Syren " sailed from England on the 3d of 
August 1819, and arrived off the coast of Japan on the 
5th of April 1820, where she fell in with immense num- 
bers of the spermaceti whale, which her crew gave chase 
to with excellent success ; for they returned to their 
native land, on the 21st of April 1822, after an absence 
of about two years and eight months, during which time 
they had by their industry, courage, and perseverance 
gathered from the confines of the North Pacific Ocean 
no less than the enormous quantity of three hundred and 
forty-six tons of sperm oil, which was brought into the 
port of London in safety and triumph, shewing a success 
unprecedented in the annals of whaling, and which 
astonished and stimulated to exertion all those engaged 
in the trade throughout Europe and America. The 
success which attended this expedition not only rewarded 
the seamen and others who composed her crew, but the 
spirited owner who had sent them out also must have 
felt the solid and weighty considerations which he no 
doubt received in return, for the great and successful 
enterprise to which he had given origin. 
