The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-08-12
WASHINGTON. ID. &.
THE WHALE FISHERY, AND AMERICAN COM
MERGE IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN,
SPEECH OF WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

connoissance Of Bhering's Straits, the Arctic
Ocean. and the courses Of trade between Amer
ica and China, was read.
Mr.. SEWARD rose and said:
Mr.. President. Some years ago when as
cendng the Alabama. saw a stag plunge INTO
the uycr. and gallantly gain the western bank
while the dcspondmg sportsman whose rifle lac
had escaped, sat down to mourn ms Ill lack
under the deep magnolia forest that shaded
the eastern shore YOU sir are dweIler IN
that region, and are. rs all the world knows
"A gentleman OF cultivated taste and liberal for
tunes. Perhaps, then, you may have been that
unfortunate hunter llowsoever that may have
been. wish to converse with you now of the
chase and vet not OF deer. or hawk, or hound.
but Of a chase upon the seas; and still not Of
anglngor trolling, nor Of the busy toll of those
worthy fishermen who seem likely to embrol
MS certainly without reluctance on our part in
a controversy about their rights in the Bay of
Fundy. but of a nohler sport and more adycn-
tnrous sportsmcn than Izaak Walton, or Dan
el Boone or even Nimrod the mightiest as we'll
as most ancient of hunters. ever dreamed Of
the chase of the whale over his broad rangC
Of the universal ocean.
order on unprohtahle or unworthy Of this higl
presence The PhmnicianS, the earliest mrr
camille nation known to us, enriched thcmSrl,c
by selling the celebrated Tyran dye ;spd glass
made Of sand taken from the sea and they
acquired not only those sources Of wealth, bus
the art ID navigation itself in the practice OF
their humble calling rs fishermen. A thousand
years ago King Alfred was laying the lounda-
tons of empire lor \ omg England, as we are
now doing for Young America. The monarch
whom men Justly nave Surnamcd the Wise as
we'll ~ the Great did not disdain to listen 10
Orther. who related the adventures of voyage
along the coast Of Norway. 80 far north ~
commonly the whale hunters used to travel: "
nor was the stranger suffered to depart until
hc had submitted to the King a most Just sur
yry and description of the Northern Seas not
only rs they extended upwards TO the North
Cape but also As they declined downwardS
along the southeast coast OF Lapland. and 50
following the ley beach of Russia to where the
river Dwina discharged its waters into the
White Sea. or, rs it was then called, the Sea of
Archaugel. Perhaps my poor speech may end
in some similar lesson The incident have
rrated is the hmthen Of the earliest historical
notice Of the suhipgation Of the monster of the
seas to the uses OF man. The fishery was car
ried on then, and near six hundred years after
wards by the Ba>Yucs BiScayans, and Norwc-
giaus for the food yielded by the tongue and
the oil obtained from the fat of the animal
Whalebone entered into commerce in the ff-
tcenth century, and at first commanded the
enormous price of seven hundred pounds ster.
ling per ton, exceeding value in this age Of
ten thousand dollars Those were merry times.
If not for science. at least for Royalty, when,
although the material for stays aud hoops was
taken from the mouth, the law appropriated
the tail Of every whale taken by an English
subject 10 the use Of the Queen for the supply
OF the Royal wardrobe
La 1886 the Portuguese reached the Cape of
Storms, and in happy augury of an ultimate
passage to India, changed ITS ill-omened name.
to that Of Good Hope: and Immediately
thereafter the Northern States of Europe espe-
cially England and Holland began that series
Of voyages, not even vet ended, in search Of
passage to the East through the floating fields
and mountains Of ice in the Arctic Ocean. The
unsuccessful search disclosed the refuge of the
whales IN the bays and creeks Of SpUbcrgcn
In 1915 a London merchant wrote to Il foreign
correspondent for advice and direction ~ to
the course of killing the whale, and received
instructions how to build and equip vessel of
two hundred tons. and to man it exclusively
with experienced whale hunters of Riscay The
attraction ct dominion was stronger in that age
than the lust of profit The English now
claimed Spiizbergrn. and all it's surrounding
ice and waters by discovery The Dutch, with
truth, alleged an earlier exploration, while the
Danes claimed the whole region as II part Of
Grcenand-a wctcnsion that could not then be
RI L L
forces upon the fishing ground less to protect
their few fishermen, than to establish exclusive
rights there After some fifty years, these ma
tons discovered, first that it was absurd to
clam jurisdiction where no permanent posses
SION could ever be established by reason of the
rgOrs Of climate; and secondly. that there
were fish enough and room enough for all
competitors. Thrnrclorward the whale fish
cry IN the Arctic Ocean has been free to all
nations
The Dutcli perfected the harpoon, the reel
the line and the spear, as we'll as the art of
using them And they established ALSO the
system which We have since found indispemsa-
bic, OF rcWurdmg all the officers and crews en-
pIoyed IN the fishery, not with direct wages or
salaries, but with shares in the spoiIs Of the
game proportionrd to skill and experience
("mhnmG with these the advantages of IA
'"rahI' position, and Of lrugalty and pcrscye-
rance quite pruyerbial the Dutch even founded
fishing settlement called Smcerenhurgh. ON
the coast of Spit2hcrgrn within eleven degrees
oi the North Pole. and they took whales in it,
'rmly IN such abundance that Sims were
needed to 60 ont III ballast, to carry home the
turpluS oll and bone above the capacity of the
whaling vessels. The whales, thus vigorously
attacked, again changed their lurking place.
SPibbrrgcn was abandoned by the fishermen,
and the very site OF Smccrcnhmgh is now un-
known ln the year 1916 Sebastian Cabot. in
ia" spirit ct that age, seeking ii northwestern
ra~ag" to the Indies, gave to the world the
discovery "l Prima sta, or, ms W: call it, New.
l"udland. and the Basqucs, Bscayans. Dutch.
And English immediately thereafter commcnc-
eel the chase lorwhalcS in the waters surround
ing it,
scarcely had the colonSts of Massachusetts
planted themselves at Plymouth. before the
strrlity "i the soil and the rgor of the climate
forced them to resort to the sea to exc out their
subsistence. Pursuing thc whales out from
their own lays, IN vessels Of only forty tons
burthcn, they appeared ON the fishing ground
oil Newfoundland in the year 1890 Prodting
10y neamcSs of position and economy in build
ing and equipping ships, aud sharing also in
the bomtlcS with which England was then
stimulating the whale fishery, thoy soon excel
led all their rivals ON the Newfoundland wa
ters as well rs in lIalin's Bay and of the coast
OF Greenland Thus encouraged, they ran
down the coasts of America and Africa, and in
the water, rolling between them they discover
ed the black whale, a new and inferior species
yet worthy of capture and then stretching of
toward the South Pole, they found still another
spccics, the sperm whale, whose oil is still pre-
irrcd above all other; and thus they enlarged
I'll" whale fishery for the benefit of the world
which SINCE that time has distinguished the two
Lranchc- OF that enterprise geographically by
the designation of the Northern and Southern
fisheries. La li7j the fisheries were carried ON
lU ihp 4 tnari...,,.s a.. II, 10Th 800.