News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-01-10
THE FISH OIL BUSINESS,
WHALING In THE ARCTIC.
Information About the BIubber-Seekers
From the Pacific Ports.

WHALING In THE ARCTIC.
Information About the BIubber-Seekers
From the Pacific Ports.
From the San Francisco Alta.
The whaling business is just now at
tracing good deal of attention in San
Francisco, from the fact that after hav-
ing for years seen the oil product of the
Pacific and Arctic sent East to be re-
finei, Ex-Governor Perkins, Charles
Gocdall, Captain Knowles and other
capitalists, have formed a corporation
for the purpose of erecting whale-o oil re-
fineries of sufficient capacity to handle
the entire product that finds its way to
this port and has heretofore been shippI d
to New Bedford. At the present time
the whaling trade engages in America
about $50 vessels, registered as follows:
Boston, s.; Barnstable, II; Edgarstown,
8; New Bedford, lit; New London, s,
and San Francisco, f. The vessels
registered in this port are mainly steam
ers, owned by the Pacific Whaling Com
pany. OF the 146 other vessels, from 80
to "a are employed on the Pacific side,
the balance on the Atlantic side. All
cisco vessels employed on this side, fit
out and bring their catch to this port
The 146 Eastern ships have an aggre-
gate of 80 500 tons, or an average of 221
tons burden each.
AT present the chief use of whale oil
IS for lubricatiDg axles and machinery
A thousand substitutes have been tried,
but nothing will do well except animal
Il of
ments, the big transportation companies
have fallen back on whale-oil. The
sperm oil is used largely for candles and
fancy toilet articles. From a sailors
standpoint, a whaler is the best of all
ships. No fancy wood or paint to be
cleaned, lots of time below, never short
handed, and above all, kindly and con-
siderate officers. No one ever hears of
beating or cruelty Furnishing seamen on
a whaler. Two cases of mutiny have
been heard of in this port, and in both
the men were the unreasonable aggres-
sors. One man was killed after he had
thrice snapped his pistol at his Captain,
who fred back in honest self-defence.
There are two reasons why seamen are
never abused aboard of whalers. One
is, they have an interest in the catch,
and it is to the officers interest to treat
them well, the other is, they are always
in a condition to protect themselves
from tyranny and abuse. The pay of
the officers depends on the catch, and
they do not want to anger the men, who,
if they liked, could scare every whale
away before a spout could come within
harpooning distance.
An arctic whale has not got any eyes
to boast of, but he is great on hearing
The slightest sound miles away will
scare him and cause him to make tracks
for the Lorth pole or elsewhere. When
nearing whale, the slightest whisper,
sneeze or cough, the tap of a boot on
the bottom of the botany sound, in
fact, but the rush of water would scare
the cowardly monster and make capture
impossible. Officers don't care to take
the chances of such loss. When a
whale is caught the men have to work
hard and long. Seventy hours at a
stretch is no uncommon thing when bad
weather is expected to make "cutting-
out" dangerous, so the men are eased in
every possible way when nothing i'm
portant is on hand. Talking about the
timidity of whales, old whaling captains
say that the animals have submarine
whale is struck every other whale for
miles around by some mysterious means
Is made aware of the trouble. Oars are
never used in going up to whale; sail
is the only practicable means of propul-
sion. Steam launches have been tried,
but the noise of the screw gave too
much warning and they had to be abaa-
doned. Going up to whale the men
keep out of sight and hold their breath
till the harpoon or boom has the whale
fast. Then they can veil as much as
they please, but have to keep on the
alert, for blow from his tail will cut a
boat in half. Not much danger of
drowning if this should happen, for
second boat is always at hand to pick up
the foaters, but it may risk the whale,
and that means lots of money. When a
whale Is struck and even brought along
side a ship and dashed there by chains
the capture is by no means complete.
Not until every bit of bone and blubber
have been stripped from him and hoisted
on deck can the men be sure that they
have completed their work. A storm
may come up and force them to let go of
the monster, and then good-by to that
whale. He will float around for couple
of days until the bone drops out of his
carcass and the natural heat engendered
by his mass of blubber will actually boil
the oil out of him, and nothing but
mass of debris will remain. The smell
of one can almost be felt-it is simply
frightful-but when the crew of whaler
catch Whit of this odoE, borne on the
wings of the wind, they always dare a
closer acquaintance, to see If there was
loft IN Ia
bone is worth from 81. so to 50 per
pound, and that price is high enough to
become an excellent deodorizer.
Among other benefits whalers enjoy is
almost total immunity from work in
the rigging. The weather is SO cold in
the arctic that but little can be done at
at rope-repairing and fixing, and all
damage that can possibly be passed is
left until the vessel returns to port.
The perlls OF the whaling business are
very great, but the Profits of good sea-
son are proportionately large, especially
of late years, since the price of bone has
steadily gone up from so cents per pound
to figure between 1920 and $500.
This being the case, many people wonder
why more capital is not put into the
business. The reason is that it is hard
10 get insurance, and then only at ruin
Gus figures, but the number of expert
Captains fit to be trusted with a whale
ship and the number of competent
officers are both very small. A first
class boat stcerer, as the harpooner is
called, is worth any amount of money.
When Captain secures such a man he
will do almost anything to keep him,
and to-day there is n good man in this
city who, for months of idleness, has
been retained at a salary of ST. 80 day.
A good whaling Captain is the most
Independent man in the world. A dozen
slips are always ready for him; his share
is large; most Of the Captains are part
owners of the ships they command,
and among them are several whose bank
accounts run high up in the hundred
thousands. They do not care to own
all the ship preferring to let much of
their money lay idle. The risk is very
great, and besides their ship may not
catch whale while all around them are
vessels with the oil from more than a
dozen On board.
When on the whaling ground the Arc
tic fleet are nearly always in sight of
each Other. By tacit agreement the
ship that first sights whale has the
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