The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-08-12


prevent the waters of the Hudson from their
destined meeting with the tides of the ocean
All the others were sent forth from New Suffolk
Greenport, and Sag Harbor, inconsiderable vii
lagos or hamlets on the outward coast of Long
Island. Massachusetts exhibits the same case.
Boston finds more lucrative employment for her
captain spindlcs, in railroads, and even in her
fields of ice and quarries of granite: and so
leaves the profits and tolls Of the whale fishery
to Freetown Falmouth, Sippican, Wareham,
Plymouth, Holmes Hole, Fall River, Province
town, Fairhaven New Bedford, and Nantucket,
towns which but for their pursuit of the whale
fishery would scarcely have been honored with
designation on the chart or names in the
gazetteer Most wOndrOus of all, Nantucket is
Il sandy island, fifteen miles long and three
miles broad, capable of maintaining by agri
culture only one hundred persons, and yet twas
the cradle of the whale fishery: and neither
any town in America, nor in England nor even
in France. has ever successfully established or
at all maintained the whale fishery, without
drawing, not merely its knowledge OF whale
hunting, but the officers and crews of its vessels
chiefly from that sandy shoal thus rising above
the surface of the sea.
Need | dwell here on the whale fishery rs
Il source of national wealth and an element of
national force and strength! The number of
those who are actively afloat in the pursuit
ranges from $4,000 to 10000, while twenty
times that greatest number Of persons are in
directly engaged in the culture Of hemp and
the manufacture Of cordage the building Of
ships, furnishing their supplies manufacturing
and preparing the oil and whalebone, IN send
ing them to market, and i'll the various other
occupations incidentally connected with the
trade. The wealth thus acquired leaves all
the resources of the country untouched. DIR.
Franklin cheered the fishermen of his day with
the apOthegm that whosoeyer took a fish out OF
the sea always found Il piece of silver in his
mouth, and our experience has confirmed its
truth, although it is now rejected by the COM
mercial writers Of England.
We are the second in rank among CONNER
cial nations Our superiority over 50 many
results from our greater skill in ship-buildng,
and our greater dexterity in navigation, and
our greater irugality at sea. These elements
were developed in the fisheries and especially
in the Northern fishery. We think that we
are inferior to no nation in naval warfare. The
seamen who have won our brilliant victories
on the ocean and on the lakes were trained
and disciplined in this the severest Of all ma
rne service; and our naval historians agree
that it constituted the elementary school of all
our nautical science What then, would com
pensate us for the loss or for the decline of the
whale fishery!
Mr.. President, have tried to win the favor
of the Senate toward the National whale
fishery for Il purpose. The whales have found
a IN lao Of
Anadir, south of Bhering Straits, and in that
part Of the Arctic Ocean lying north of them
In l8iS, Captain Roys in the whale ship Su-
perior, passed through those seas and through
the straits, Drawing the perils of an unknown
way and an inhospitable climate. He filled
his ship in Il few weeks, and the news of his
success went abroad. In lSl9. fleet of l5l
sail went up to this new fishing ground in
1850, II fleet Of IA; and in 1851, fleet of
li5. The vessels are manned with 80 persons
each and their value, including that Of the
average annual cargoeS procured there, is
equal to nine milliOns--and thus exceeds by
near two millions the highest annual import
from China But these fleets are beset by not
only such dangers Of their calling us custom
arily occur on well-expored fishing grounds,
but also by the multiplied dangers of ship
wreck resulting from the want of accurate to-
biographical knowledge-the only charts of
those seas being imperfect and unsatisfactory.
While many and deplorablc losses were sus-
tanned by the fleets of 1890, we have al
ready information of the loss of eleven vessels,
part of the whole fleet Of 1881.
many OF which disasters might have been
avoided had there been charts accurately in
dlcating the shoals and headlandS and also
places of sheltered anchorage near them
These facts are represented to us by the mer-
chants, ship-owners, and underwriters. and are
confirmed by Lieutenant Maury, who prcsdes
iii this department of science in the navy rs
well ~ in the labors and studies OF the Ma
tional Observatory. We want, then, not boun-
ties nor protection, nor even an accurate sur
vey, but simply an exploration and reconnois
sance of those seas, which have SO recently be-
come the theatre of profitable adventure and
brave achievement of our whale hunters. This
service can be performed by officers and crews
now belonging to the navy in two or three yes
sells which already belong or may be added to it.
and would continue at most only throughout
two or three years. Happily, the measure in
wolves nothing new, untried, or uncommon
To say nothing of our recent search for the
lamented Sir John Franklin, nor Of our great
exploring expedition under Captain Wilkes,
we are already engaged in triangulatng u
coast survey of the Atlantic shore. Charts,
lighthouses, and beacons, show the pilot his
way, not over that ocean and among its islands.
but along all our rivers and even upon our in
land lakes. The absence of similar guides and
beaOns III the waters now in question results
from the fact that the Pacific coast has but re-
Gently fallen under our sway, and Behring's
Straits aud the seas they connect have not until
now been frequently navigated by the seamen of
any nation. Certainly somebody must do this
service. But who will The whalers cannot
No foreign nation will for none is interested
The constitutional power and responsibility
rest with the Federal Government and its
means are adequate.
California is near this fishing ground. Her
citizens are already engaged in
this pursuit and henccforward the whale
hunters OF Nantucket must compete with new
rivals possessing the advantage of ncarness to
the scenes of their labors California, there
lore JOINS Massachusetts in this reasonable de-
mand,
Mr.. President the small exploring fleet
thus proposed would be obliged to quit the
Northern seas early in September, and could
not return to them until the succeeding June
propose that it should spend that long season
IN performing n service not dssmilar under
mllder skies, in that part of the Pacific Ocean
and It's al joining seas, which is usually travers-
Ell by vessels sailing from NJ York and San
Francisco to China and the Indies Remember
SIR, II you please. that not only has no Asiatic
prince, merchant on navigator, ever explored
this one of all the oceans, the broadcast and
most crowded and crowned with islands. but
that they have forbidden that exploration 10y
European navgators, who have performed
whatever has been done at the peril, and often
at the cost OF, imprisonment and death. We
have made no accurate survey, for we have
only just now arrived and taken our stand ON
the Pacific coast We are now on that OCEAN
nay we are only as of yesterday upon this con
tlnent; and yet maps and charts are as neccs-