The morning call., 1892-01-17
A DYING INDUSTRY.

THE CALL is indebted TO Mr.. NJ. Melon
aid, United States Commissioner of Fisher
les, for advance sheets of the census return
on the whale fishery Of the United States.
They Indicate a gradual decay n an indus
try which was once very important indeed.
At the time of the War of Independence
800 whaier5 sailed out Of American ports,
chiefly from ports in Massachusetts,, Con-
necticut and Long Island; in 1916 the num-
Der had increased TO 7&5 vessels; in 1880 it
had declined to aOCut 10 vessels and now
the census report shows only l0l craft en-
gagged In the chase of the whale. OF this
number 81 sailed out Of New Bedford
and y out of San Francisco. About half
the Iaukee whaIers fitted cut in this port
and sold their catch here.
Ia the last century, and the first half of
this, the chief whaling grounds were the
seas which wash the coast of Greenland on
tie north, where the right whale Rb0uuded
and the South Pacific and Indian oceans,
where the sperm whale was found. Now.
there are few whales left in Hudson Bay
or on the coast Of SpitzberCeU, and the era Of
whale fishing among PJlynesiau islands
which was the dream Of young sailors half
a century ago. las come TO au end. or the
whole whaling leet IN 1889 only SO vessels
pursued the whale in Atlantic waters from
Bafin Bay to tie Falkland Islands. and
only eight followed their calling in the
South Pacific: while j. f,hed the icy waters
of the Arctic and Behring Sea, aud zine the
sea of OkhOtsk and the waters of Siberia.
by indjscriminate slaughter, The whale Of
our ancestors has nearly been eXterminated,
leaving behind him a small number Of his
family, such as IS seen off the coast Of this
State, which possess little commercial value.
IN former DAYS the most valuable whale
was the sperm whale, which yielded whale
oil and sperm for Illuminating purposes,
and occasionally lump OF ambergrIs. But
the discovery of coal oil has destroyed the
value Of fish oils and their IesiJuum for
Illuminating uses, and ambeTgri5 is rarely
found Thus the right whale and the bow
head Of the Arctic and BehTing Sea have
come to be more valuable by reason Of the
whale bone they yield than the sperm whale.
The number OF sperm whales taken in 1889
by American whaleIs was 81 per cent Of the
total catch, as against % per cent Of right
whales and bowheads; bat the latter real
lied 70 per cent Of the total yield Of the
fishery, as against 80 per cent realized by
the sperm whales
The whaling Industry was the first in
NlltCH CD-D Dtl alum Wis tStdUttSutlA. Lively
man who ships on a whaler except the cook
is 4 partner in the enterprise from the
captain to tie ships boy. When the cargo
is sold each is entitled TO his lay" as il IS
called The Law Of a captain sailing out Of
this port is usually Is per cent, that Of
mate 20 per cent, that Of an able seaman a
share equal to LID per cent, that Of a ships
boy LIS per cent. Most ships pay wages
Z vrall a a Inv NJ or "a LaI orr no
confront iceberg5 and icefloes, as we'll as
the ordinary dangers of thu sea. the wages
Of the crew are generally pretty good. 1t is
not as easy to spend money OF Cape Bar
row as it used to be among those lovely
isles, where the skies forever smile and tie
blacks forever weep.
1t was whale which first demonstrated
the northwest passage A whale wounded
off Behring Straits was found in Hudson
Bay with the iron CT the harpoOn ia him;
whereby the existence Of a continuous body
Of water along the north coast Of North
America was proved. 1t Is on the cards
that other whales emuious Of their long
lost brothers fame, will presently assist in
the exploration Of the Antarctic continent
by demonstrating that the range Of the
Southern whale, like that of the right
whale Of the Arctic, is circumpolar. Our
present maps depict a continent to which
they give the name of Antarctlca surround
ing the South Pole. But our knowledge of
that continent is derived from distant OBJ
seryatOns Of ice-clad plateaus, mountains
and volcanoes, seen from the decks of pass
ing ships. Ths points observed may be
! islands scattered round the meridian Of TO,
and inside Of them there may be an open
sea such as surrounds the North Pole. IL
the exploring expedition which is now
being fitted out to coast the border of the
! supposed continent should find a spot where
! it could break through that border and get
! into a navigable sea nearer the pole the
/ Southern whale might prove an efficient
! ally in the work.