The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1859-12-15

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better than in former seasons, but the whales
very swift, and inclined to keep close to tne
Ice. The great northern ice barrier Is stated
to have come much farther south this season.
and appears to have changed the usual course
of the currents in the Arctic. BY some OF the
ships whales were observed in countless num-
bers, but generally in the ice or in very rough
weather, when a boat could with difficulty be
lowered. One fact appears settled, that whales
in the Arctic are as numerous now as they
ever were, but that, owing to the generally
stormy weather there, and the fact that whales
keep in the ice fields, it is the most uncer-
tain whaling ground in the Pacific.
There have cruised, during the past season,
on the Kodiack and Arctic grounds, 80 vessels,
hailing 35, Cos barrels of oil, or an average of
446 barrels to each. On the Ochotsk, 69,l25
barrels have been taken by 113 vessels, giving
to each an average of Gil barrels.
1t is reported that Capt. Simmons of the
bark Caeone, of New Bedford, spoken last in
September, purposed wintering in Plover Bay.
This experiment, we think, has never been
tried by u whaler, and may result favorabIy
in securing a cargo of oil earlier in the spring
than it is possible for ships to go through the
straits, or it may result disastrously in a loss
of his men.
The whaling feet for 1860 will he somewhat
smaller than that of the past year. As near
rs we can now determine, the decrease will be
about as follows:
Ships condemned (), sold (), lost l,.........".,.. 9
Total ships withdrawn.
TIE fleet of 1859 consisted of 2lS vessels.
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But this number will be increased by new
vessels on the way out, probably not less than
%, which will make our North Pacific fleet
for 1860 number, at a low estimate, l73 yes
sells. Many of the vessels that have cleared
from home whaling ports during the past year,
have simply cleared for the Pacific - but
the probability is that when the Southern
grounds have been cruised over by them and
whales found scarce there, they will, az here
fore, return TO the North Pacific.
If our estimate in regard to the number of
ships i'm the Feet next fall is correct, there is
no need of the hue and cry that has been
raised by croakers, that the whole fleet will
vanish and business stagger. BY reference to
our table, it will be seen that the fleet of
1857 numbered only los vessels, of which
number fourteen were sperm whalers, and
that of 1856 but III. A decrease in the num-
Der of vessels employed cruising north will
unquestionably increase the amount of oil and
bone to each ship. so that really the trade of
the port will not suffer by the decrease.
When the Dutch or Portuguese held a
monopoly of the East India trade, it is a his
torical fact that, after gathering the whole
nutmeg and spice crops of the islands, and
paying the natives for the same, it was their
custom annually to burn one-half the crop,
and ship the remainder to European ports.
After years of experiments made both by ship
ping the entire crop and the half crop, they
found that their profit was greatest when only
half was sent. Hence they established the
custom of annually destroying a part. The
same theory may hold good in regard to the
relation which the American whaling fleet
bears to these islands. When there is an ex-
cess of whalers in this ocean, their catchings
are small, and when they come in port, the
amounts they have to pay off and disburse are
necessarily small. A reduction of the fleet may
increase the catchings, and consequently increase
the amounts to be disbursed at the islands for
seamen's wages, &c. So that, even should the
fleet of 1860 be reduced below our estimate of
what it will be, there is every probability that
it will bring in an equal amount of oil, and
prove better for the general trade of the
islands.