Leviathan. 
237 
with its population of sixty adults to-day, 
was originally settled by seamen from whale- 
ships, many of whom are still living—one, an 
American married to a Gilbert Island woman, 
has been upon the island for fifty years. At 
Norfolk Island boat whaling is now carried 
on by the descendants of the mutineers of 
the Bounty , most of whom, it will be remem¬ 
bered, emigrated there from Pitcairn. 
So much for the beginning and heyday of 
whaling in the Southern Ocean ; the decline 
of the industry, and the causes of this, and the 
possibility of its revival, are worth discussing, 
but would perhaps be dull reading except to 
those of commercial mind. But the history of 
both the American and English whaling fleets 
are full of romance and daring adventure. 
Many and many a ship that sailed from the 
old New England ports and from Tasmania 
and New Zealand met with terrible experiences. 
Sometimes, as was the case of the Globe of 
Nantucket, they were cut off by the savage 
natives of the South Sea Islands, who, under 
the leadership of ruffianly beachcombers or 
escaped convicts, murdered every soul on 
board. Others there were who were actually 
