WHALE FISHERY THE Whale Fishery, or Greenland Fishery, as it has been called, has been long carried on by the different nations of Europe. The Biscayans seem to have been the first people who prosecuted the capture of whales, but the first authenticated notice of a fishing for whales is the account of the voy age of Ohthere, the Norwegian, by Alfred the Great. This voyage seems to have been under taken about 890, some time after the discovery of Greenland. He stated to the king that the best whales where hunted on his own land, and that their length was 48 and 50 ells.
About four or five centuries later, the whale fish ery, as a general occupation, was carried on by the French, Spaniards, Flemings, and probably the English; and during the isth century, the Bis cayans had not only established a fishery for fin whales on their own coasts, but had pursued it to the shores of Iceland, and subsequently to those of Greenland and Newfoundland.
The earliest voyage made by the English, in pursuit of the whale, was performed in 1594. Se veral ships sailed for Cape Breton, and the Grace of Bristol brought borne 800 whale fins from the bay of St. George, where two large Biscayan fish ermen had been wrecked three years before.
There can be no doubt that the discovery and the first prosecution of the whale fishery on the coast of Spitzbergen, belong to the English, who preceded the Dutch by four years. The merchants of Hull had, in 1598, begun to fish for whales on the coast of Iceland, and at the North Cape, and after the rediscovery of Spitzbergen by Hudson, in 1607, they were among the earliest adventurers to that distant fishery.
In 1611 the Russian Company fitted out two ves sels, one of' 160, and another of 60 tons, with six Biscayans, expert in killing whales, and furnished with the necessary apparatus. The ships were unfortunately lost, but the crew and boats, and part of the cargo, were saved by a Hull ship then at Spitzbergen.
The advantages of the whale fishery being now recognised, the Dutch, Danes, and Hamburghers, embarked in the adventure, and though the English endeavoured to prohibit them from fishing in the Spitzbergen seas, yet they persisted in carrying on the fishery, and discovered new bays to which the whales resorted in abundance. The monopoly of the Spitzbergen fishery was afterwards claimed by various nations; but these claims have long ago been set aside, and the antarctic seas are now open to the enterprise of all nations.
In 1613 the English Russia company received a monopoly of the whale fishery. The grant was renewed in 1635 by Charles I., but this branch of trade fell into decay, and notwithstanding various attempts to revive it, it sunk into absolute insig nificance.
At this time the Dutch pursued it with renewed vigour, and between 1699 and 1708 they equipped 1652 ships, which caught 8537 whales, which pro duced 26,385,120 florins, of which 4,727,120 was clear profit.
In order to revive the whale fishery, the British government resolved in 1773 to grant a bounty of 208. per ton on the burden of every ship that en gaged in it. This was successively raised to 30 and 408. per ton, and again reduced to 25 and 208., at which last rate it has continued since 1795. These measures had the effect of placing the whale fishery upon a permanent basis. The Scotch em barked eagerly in the speculation after the bounties were established, and have enjoyed their full share in this trade, as Nvill he seen from the table of the state of the fisheries from 1750 to 1788.
The following table shows the number of ships fitted out each year from England and Scotland: Imo Bit 1812 1813 1314 1815 1816 1817 1818 Eng., 75 76 83 94 97 98 97 100 104 Scot., 22 22 27 43 46 49 49 50 53 The number of vessels sent out from each of the different ports of England and Scotland during the above period of nine years, including repeated voyages, was as follows: Berwick, 16 Newcastle, 43 Kirkaldy, Grimsby, is Whitby, 80 Kirkwall, 6 Hull, 481 Aberdeen, 98 Leith, 79 Liverpool, 17 Banff, 8 Montrose 25 London, 161 Dundee, 68 Peterhead, 62 Lynn, 13 Greenock, 8 "In the four years," says Mr. Scoresby, "end ing with 1817, 392 vessels sailed from England to these northern fisheries, the amount of whose car goes was 3343 whales, besides seals, narwhales, bears and sea-horses; and the produce 35,824 tons of oil, and about 1806 tons of whalebone, to gether with a quantity of skins. The average quantity of oil produced per ship on each voyage, was 91.4 tons, and about 4 tons 12 cwt. of whale bone. From Scotland there sailed in the course of the same period of four years, 194 vessels to the whale fisheries, the amount of whose cargoes was 1682 whales, &c., and the produce 18,634 tons of oil, and about 891 tons of whalebone, besides skins. The average cargo procured per ship on each voy age, produced 96.3 tons of oil, and about 4 tons 12 cwt. of whalebone; being the same quantity of whalebone, but 4.9 tons of oil more than the average procured by the English fleet during the same time. It therefore appears, that of late years, the people of Scotland have sent out their full proportion of ships on the fisheries; and with a degree of success which has been equal, if not su perior, to that of the English fishers.