PORTER’S JOURNAL. 
195 
whether it be a hump-back, fin-back, black whale, right whale 
(or whale producing the whale-bone), or spermaceti whale. The 
latter is remarkable for throwing the water directly forward, and 
freaking a short bushy spout of but a few feet above the surface of 
the sea; whereas some of the others will throw it the height of 
30 feet or more. Their motion is also different, being slow and 
regular, except when pursued; and their head is remarkable for 
its length, the nose for its bluntness, and the eye for its smallness, 
not being larger than that of an ox. The striking of them is at¬ 
tended with more danger than that of any other whale, and they 
are frequently known to attack and destroy both men and boats. 
Thirdly, the fishery is considered by Great Britain of such 
national importance, that, in the year 1792, that government sent 
captain James Colnet, of the navy, in the ship Rattler, into the Pa¬ 
cific ocean, for the purpose of discovering such ports for the South 
Sea whale-fishers, who voyage round Cape Horn, as might afford 
them the necessary advantages of refreshments and security to 
refit. This voyage was planned in consequence of a memorial 
from the merchants of the city of London concerned in the South 
Sea fisheries, to the Board of Trade, and stated the calamitous 
situation of ships’ crews employed in this trade, from the scurvy 
and other diseases incident to those who are obliged to keep the 
seas, from the want of that refreshment which is afforded by in¬ 
termediate harbours. 
The Spaniards about that time had admitted British vessels into 
their ports, for the purpose of refitting and refreshing, but under 
so many restrictions as almost to amount to a prohibition, in which 
it was expected to end; it therefore became an object of great 
importance to obtain such a situation as the British commerce 
then required, independent of the Spaniards, as it was expected 
it would in a great measure lessen their jealousy, and at the same 
time accomplish the wishes of the British merchants. With this 
object in view, captain Colnet sailed from England on the 4th 
January, 1793, and returned on the 1st November, 1794, after 
having doubled Cape Horn, running along the coast of Chili, Pe¬ 
ru, and Mexico touching at the islands of St Felix and St. Am- 
brosio, the Gallapagos, Cocos, the isles of Santo Berto, Rocca 
