The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1856-10-09

tined at some future day to play a part in the con
meree of the Pacific, compared with which our pre-.
j ent trade may be insignificant
We frequently see in our Sar Francisco exchange
long articles prepared to show the supposed superior
: ity Of that port as a recruiting depot for whale ships
ever these islands. Several of these papers lie befor
US now, and so far as their statements are correct, W
have no fault to find with their honest efforts to entic
whalers from us. But several Of these papers labo
under serious mistakes, and make such misstatement
as can never insure their cause. 1t is stated tha
wood, water, fresh and salt provisions and money
are furnished at San Francisco cheaper than at these
islands or at any other port in the Pacific. This is
incorrect, % far as these islands are concerned. We
have taken the trouble to examine the accounts of a
whale ship which recruited at San Francisco, and find
that the charges on each Of these items are greater
than the same could have been procured for here. In
the item of fresh provisions, the cost was double what
the same would have cost here, and poor at that. In
addition, a charge of five per cent is made on the
ships bill, which must be considered equal to a dis
count of five per cent. Here no charge for disburse-
ments is made by the ship chandler. Capt. James of
the ship UncGS, who visited San Francisco in 1855.
states that he could have procured his supplies in
better order and az less expense at this port. The
disadvantages of that port are seen at a glance, and
tilGy arise from CAUSES WHICH L VIII take many years
to do away with.
In the first place, ships supplies cannot be furnished
there cheaper than here. Every thing that a whale
ship wants fuctuates in price so in San Francisco,
that though he may procure his wood at So or $50
per cord, and his water at 10 cts per barrel, he ma
yet be obliged to pay SIS per barrel for his potatoes.
uncertain nature of the San Francisco
market that makes one of the risks of visiting that
port. But let the owner endeavor to avoid this by
out his ships stores, and the high charges
or storage and commission bar a repetition of it.
%, too, with seamen this fall he may find a crew
With no trouble, but in six months from now, he
night have to navigate to this port with only his Off
,ers and steward, as has been the case once or twice.
An uncertainty and risk attends his visit to that port.
md should owners of whale ships withdraw from their
hlp masters, the right which they very properly give
o them, to recruit where they choose, and compel
hem to visit San Francisco, a more disasterous step
0 the whaling business could not be taken.
But should these disadvantages of provisioning
at San Francisco, be eventually overcome,
here is one obstacle that yet will remain and doubt
prove insuperable, and that is the trouble be- j..
Teen the seamen and the captains ON entering port.
Re believe that whale ships returning home to their
eaboard ports invariably find their crew unmanape- /
OF have more or less trouble with them. The Q
nited States laws are such that they do not meet the L
and it is doubtful whether they can be framed
remedy it. But in a. foreign country, in all diff
llties between seamen and captains, so far as wages P
'e concerned, the authority of the Consul is su- s.
'eme-there is no appeal from it. And in this
Ingdom especially, consular rights in this matter
i've always been respected. This is one point that :
YES these islands their superiority over erery port -
the Pacific [; and we know of no place that can \
mpare with them unless it be New Zealand. -
We have penned these lines to show to our San
nelghbors the futility of their attempts to
cate a change in the whaling trade. These islands
ford all the facilities needed for shipping oil and u
ey furnish all the s+amen wanted. Wood can be liz
occurred at $5 to $40 per cord water, for the labor W
filling the casks up to II cts per barrel ; potatoes tie
81 per barrel pigs, fowls, goats and bullock for B
tie or nothing, and that too, in trade, Il. G. bar b
ring goods with the natives at the outer ports. J M
l excellent postal arrangement exists here by dt
they get advices from home in forty or fifty ia
VS. ana more than all they are welcomed here by &C
and look back to their visits at ssOwhyhee' as Al
long the pleasantest chapters in their VOYAGES ca
.reafter, too, they will have a journal devoted to
9r interests, and we have 10 doubt they viii sec
the enterprise with the enthusiasm for which Pc
y have ever been noted, for certain it is we shall tn
ourselves and our sheet to promote the whale ca
in the North Pacific. hi
About a year ago, when there was considerable OF
Sc III the California papers about whalers irving ou
II chances in recruiting at San Francisco. and I'D
ting the superior advantages of that port for ae
rying on the whaling business, solely from prox- asc
ty to the whaling grounds, an article appeared in sa
New York Times, which showed most clearly o
t WhateFer changes might take place in the bus- Pc
$, 1t would never find q home in San Francisco. res
extract a paragraph l. or two from the Times:
The whaling business has certain peculiarities about it which \,
lently fit it for the places where it has been carried on so
ana so successfully. Nantucket has been the fruitful parent eAc
i the whalers in the world, who have sprung from two or wit
{ hardy FAMILIES by whom that sterile island was first nao- o,+
In the quaint History of Nantucket. written NV 0hod o"'
It Is related that one of the settlers of the island standing Hot
Jay on a bluff, pointed to some whales which were disnort;n9
lseiVes among the blue waves, and exclaimed. " Wonder l. Iof
neh Where our children will reap their haryes+s.p Tho NH
messy mas been remarkably fulfilled. The first merchant shin
~ Fesse winch carried a cargo Of oil to London and Co. ooo
y years nantucket carried on the business more extensively
any othe pace IN the world. 1t was from this little island unC
ew Begforie amy ng b emigr rn q VINO established the business din
IS rom Nantucket, too, that emigrants established the busi, see
III Dulklf and Hayre, in France, and in London and Gov Inv
But Nantucket i is No u Inn a "a t9e Oe e6ief aD nhdI sha
d her ships engaged in the trade do not now number more meC
nny whIle her offspring, New Bedford, leads off in this no
be rest of the @u o prS"an,y mas more capital engaged in it than tina
istant when the business viii be abandoned aitnGe limo De spec
substance will be discovered that viii supersede the use of ing
: OIL, \. IL mas already become too dear to be used for the bill
oSe OF Illumination. and even in Nantucket the ab;to- N