The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1852-04-09

Heot Tor tnOSc grounds, ana IN lS49 Captul
Roys was followed by one hundred and fifty
four sail Of whaeships, each vessel (said to be
worth on the average, with her outfit, $4,000
and manned by thirty able bodied seamen each
This fleet took that season 2O6 $50 barrels wha
oil, and 2,4Sl 500 pounds of bone.
in the summer of 1850, there went up
whaling fleet of one hundred aud forty fou
American vessels, manned rs above, and Of
like average value. This fleet, in the course o
the few weeks left for their pursuits in thos,
hospiiable regions, took 243,6S0 barrels whale
oil, and 3,654,O00 pounds of bone.
sin the current year O85I) there went up
fleet OF about one hundred and forty five Anne
rcan vessels; hut their returns have not been
received; partial accounts of wreck and disas
ter only have reached lis. They are startling.
"The lives and property at stake there for the
two years for which we have complete returns
may be thus stated:
l849 Number of American seamep, 1850
Value of ships and
outfits, $4,65O,0OO
| Value of oil taken, 2,6075lO
| Value of bone, 8l4,ll2
| --$8,0 70,622
1850. Number of American seamen, 1920
| Value of ships and
outfits, $4,320,000
Value of oil taken, 3,76l ,20l
Value of bone, l,26O,630
-- 9,34l 1881
Total ships in 2 years, 299
Total seamen, 1910
Value Of ships and cargoes, l7,4l2,453
"The losses during the year 1851 have been
unprecedented, so far rs heard from. No less
| than seven sail of this fine fleet of l85l-the
| Honqua, the New Bedford, the Arabella, the
America, the Armata, the Mary Mitchell, and
the Henry I'hompson-have been wrecked
there and left behind as monuments Of the dan
gers which meet these hardy mariners in their
adventurous calling. There are reports of other
losses and wrecks; these are certain and
| though several ofthem were lost, not on shoals,
but otherwise, yet these are enough to tell OF
| imperfect photography, and to show the national
| Importance of looking to it; for it may be so
that in case of loss in the ice, the knowledge
of a sheltered anchorage near, and which sur
vey would give, would have prevented the ex-
posture to the ice which induced the loss.
"All our commerce with what is called "the
East" is not so valuable as this was for l849
| and 1850.
| "Wo see by the above statistics that in these
| TWO years inOIc AWeTlCuH WcTc Gil
gagged in that small district of ocean than are
employed in our whole navy at any one time
that in these two years these hardy mariners
fished up from the bottom Of the sea, and by
their own energy created and added to the ma
| tional wealth, the value Of more than eight mil
lions of dollars And we moreover see that,
owing to the dangers of the land and ice, the
hidden rocks and unknown shoals, one vessel
in every twenty that went therein during the
summer of 1851 has been left behind total
wreck, and that the lives of their crew, or of not
less than ono man for every twenty engaged in
that business, have been put in jeopardy, most
ly for the want ofproper charts No protection
that our squadrOns can at this moment give to
our commerce with any of the States of Christen-
dom can compare with that which good chart
of that part of the ocean would afford to this
nursery of American sealnen and to this branch
of national industry.
al learn that in lat GA deg Is min. ~ long.
l78 deg. W., Captain Middleton, of the barque
'Tenedoz,' of New London, discovered shoal
having only eight feet water on it, and was two
acres in extent. That the ship Ajax of lla-
vre, was lost on rock south of the Isle of ST.
Lawrence, ten miles from land That the en-
tire fleet Of whaemen in the Attic ocean com
plain much that charts are wrong. That the
coast is badly explored, but little known &c
That several of our vessels have been near
being wrecked by unexpectedly making land or
rocks under the bows at night That they have
found in the Artic Circle low sandpits, extend
ing five or six miles out That also, in Ochotsk
sea there are hidden DANGERS That the Honqua,'
in 1851, was totally wrecked on a sunken rock
in that sea-
81 am also informed that 'the Indians are very
friendly; that they wanted to trade that the
whalemen frequently went on Shore &c. That
Captain Taylor brought specimens of ores of
metals from the Arctic shore;' that he obtained
information from the natives of the existence Of
gold among them, as also iron ! that when
shown Implements Of various kinds, they gave
him to understand, plenty in The mountains.
Such also was the case with gold they knew
the metal, and pointed, as such existing among
them"
With these facts before the department, |
have no hesitation in expressing an opinion ia
vorable to the measure suggested in the resou-
ton, nor in recommending such reconnaissance
and survey as will establish accurately the posi-.
tons of the prominent capes, bays, headlands,
and harbors.
To fix the positions of the rocks and shoals
that endanger the navigation there, and to ex-
| anime the Fox or Aleutian Islands, would be
the work Of two OF three properly-appointe
vessels only for short time. When the season
is closed for these lattudes, the same vessels
could be most benefcialIy employed in an ex-
animation of the seas of China and Japan, and
the regions thereabouts, whose photography is
so defective, and an ACCURATE Knowledge Of
which is becoming every day of more and more
importance.
In reply to the latter clause ofthe resolution,
viz: whether any vessels belonging to the
service can be- used for that purpose, and also
what would be the expense of such a recon-
noissanee," respectfully state that this depart
ment has not at ito command the vessels nHces.
| u..,, e., al. v,lo., H., -