Leviathan. 
223 
for two or three poorly equipped and manned 
whaleships rrom Tasmania, and the shore whaling 
parties of Norfolk Island ? A glance at such 
records as exist of whaling in the early days 
makes still more remarkable its decadence at 
this end of the century. 
Even as far back as Dampier (1699) whales 
were known to be plentiful in the two Pacifies. 
“ The sea is plentifully stocked with the largest 
whales that I ever saw,” wrote the scholarly 
buccaneer. But this knowledge was not turned 
to account until 1791 ; and this is how it came 
about. 
An enterprising London shipowner, named 
Enderby, fitted out the Amelia , and sent her 
round Cape Horn to endeavour to discover the 
sperm whaling grounds. She left England in 
September, 1788, and returned in March, 1790, 
with 139 tuns of sperm oil on board. The news 
spread, and a year later half a dozen American 
whalers were cruising along the coasts of Chili 
and Peru, and there was a great increase in the 
quantity of oil imported into Great Britain. 
Captain Phillip, who commanded the ships of 
the “First Fleet,” sent to Australia in 1788, 
had also reported having seen a “ vast number 
