14 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
liable to disaster, but the additional cost of building and running has prevented a rapid 
increase of this class of vessels. 
In recent years schooners ranging from 80 to 150 tons have come into favor for ice 
fishing. These vessels are lighter and handier than sailing barks of 300 tons or more 
and can work to greater advantage through leads in the ice. Besides, they are much 
less liable to be crushed, since their light draft, which generally does not exceed 10 to 11 
feet, enables them to get close to the “ground ice” or “shore ice,” or perhaps to work 
into coves or crevices to avoid danger from floe-ice that may be driven in against the 
coast. The barks usually draw about 14 feet, and, with rare exceptions, will take bot- 
tom outside of the shore ice. They are thus exposed to the danger of being crushed or 
driven in so hard on the bottom that it is difficult or impossible to get them afloat again. 
The small size of the schooners is no special disadvantage to them so far as capacity 
for their catch is concerned. As a rule they save only the whalebone or the hides and 
ivory of walrus, and the smallest of them usually have ample room for these products. 
The following notes relative to steam whaling vessels are extracted from an unpub- 
lished report on fishing craft of the United States that was prepared by the writer. 
2. Introduction of steamers in the whale fishery . — With the single exception of the 
Pioneer , a former Government transport, which was transformed into a steam- whaler 
in 1865, the whaling fleet of the United States previous to 1879 was composed wholly 
of sailing vessels.* 
The many perils encountered in the whale fishery of the Arctic seas, where the 
vessels are constantly liable to be nipped by the heavy ice; the necessity for making 
rapid passages from one whaling ground to another; the demand for the prompt trans- 
portation to market of the products of the fishery, combined with the influence which no 
doubt was exerted by the example of the English, Scotch, and Newfoundlanders (who 
as early as 1857 to 1863 had employed steamers in the seal and Arctic whale fisheries),! 
led to the introduction of steam vessels from the United States for the prosecution of 
the North Pacific and Arctic whale fishery. 
* ‘ ‘ Tlie first steam whaler from the United States,” writes Mr. J. T. Brown, “was the hark Pioneer, 
212 tons. She was built at Charlestown, Mass., as a Government transport, and rebuilt in 1865 for 
the whale fishery. The projectors of this enterprise were Messrs. Williams & Havens, of New Lon- 
don, Conn., whose names are prominently connected with the Grinnell expeditions. The Pioneer 
sailed from her home port April 28, 1866, for the Davis Strait fishery, and returned November 14, 1866, 
with 340 barrels of whale oil and 5,300 pounds of hone. During her second season, in July, 1867, she was 
crushed in the ice and abandoned. The hark Java sailed from New Bedford, October 2, 1872, with a 
doukey engine, which was used as a power for hoisting purposes.” 
t“In the year 1863,” writes the Rev. M. Harvey, of St. Johns, Newfoundland, “ the great inno- 
vator, steam, entered the field, and the first steamer took part in this [the seal] fishery. The value 
of steam in connection with Arctic explorations had previously been demonstrated, and its intro- 
duction has revolutionized the sealing industry. It was soon found that steamers strongly built and 
armed for encountering ice possessed an immense superiority over the old sailing vessels. They 
could cleave their way through ice in which the sailing vessel would be powerless; could hold on to a 
‘seal patch’ when the other would be blown off; and, carrying larger crews, could bring in immense 
loads of pelts when the seals were met with in abundance. In consequence, the number of steamers 
rapidly increased and the number of sailing vessels still more rapidly diminished. In 1866 there 
were 177 sailing vessels and 5 steamers; in 1873 there were 18 steamers; in 1882, 25 steamers. Since 
that date the number of steamers has lessened, and is now [1885] about 20. * ‘ During the last few 
years 6 of the Dundee steamers formerly engaged in the Greenland seal fishery have come out here 
each season and, after shipping Newfoundland crews, have taken part successfully in this fishery. 
When it closes, they leave for the whale fishery in Davis Straits, and return to Dundee in October.” 
