226 
Wild Life in Southern Seas. 
and the Policy , belonging to Hurry Brothers, 
of London. Reporting varying degrees or 
success, the vessels (except the Mary Ann) 
returned to Port Jackson in November and 
December. From that time the gallant Phillip, 
in his despatches of 1791 and 1792, makes 
frequent mention of the experiment, which he 
justly considered was not a fair trial of the 
Australian seas, although one reason he gave 
for want of success was not correct. Pie com¬ 
plained that “ the ships had not stayed out 
long enough.” The real reasons, however, 
were that while spermaceti and “ right ” whales 
were plentiful enough, the whalers had not yet 
learned their business, neither were they ac¬ 
quainted with the creatures’ migratory habits 
in the Southern Seas, nor could they distinguish 
between the profitable spermaceti, “right,” and 
“ humpback ” whale, and the dangerous and un¬ 
assailable fin-back. The Britannia , for instance, 
ten days after her departure had seen, according 
to her master, 15,000 whales, the greater 
number of them off Port Jackson. Now quite 
two-thirds of this enormous number were the 
swift and dangerous fin-back, a creature that, 
while producing a certain amount of oil and 
