The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1893-06-29
WHALING IN NEW SEAS.
A Prospectips Cruise In the Ant
arctic Ocean.
New Grounds to BE Sought ON Ac
count Of the Growing Scarcity
Of Whalebone In Our sa
Markets. p &a

The bark Gsyhead, Of this city, is on
her way to the southern seas on an ex-
pedition the like of which has not been
undertaken since 1871, says the San
Francisco Chronicle. t.ttE !
In that year the British man-of-war
Challenger was sent on an exploration
to the Antarctic to ascertain whether
or not there was field there for the
catch Of whales, and she returned with
an adverse report.
Since that date many thousand yes
sells have doubled Cape Horn and fire.
quently have been driven many degrees
further south than was absolutely
necessary to make the trip. Invariably
they have reported a number of schools
of whales encountered on their voy-
ages.
BY reason of these reports the
whalers Of England and America have
felt obliged to doubt the accuracy Of
the Challenger's report, but In the
twenty-five years which have elapsed
since then NO one has had the daring
or enterprise to undertake personal
survey of the waters until the present
! time. -
In October last the Gayhead was
started from New Bedford with in
structions to spend couple of years in
the Antarctic, where she is to skirt the
ice foe as far south as she can possibly
reach. She is to fish for whales and
soc If new bunting ground cannot be
opened to commerce. The Gayhead
will extend her voyage over what is
called the New Bedford whaling cruise,
that ordinarily lasts one year, but that
will keep her ont about three years this
time.
The route calls her 70 pass st. Helena
and skirt Graham's land, from where
she will sail for Australian waters and
then go north, taking in the japanese
waters, Behring sea and the Arctic
ocean. San Francisco will be reached
about October, 1894.
The fact of the matter, and the one
point that has caused this extended ex-
ploration trip Of the Gayhead, is that
the hunting grounds in the north are
giving out very rapidly, and the
whalers have virtually ceased fishing
in Baffin's bay, Davis strait and in the
Spitzbergen whaling ground. The
anu UOW nSttu WHdl0S, "HlCu
are more desirable on account of the
bone they produce, are virtually ex-
tinct in these waters, and the whaling
feet now push on to Behring sea,
Okhotsk sea, and the Arctic proper.
| 1t is fact that whalebone and ivory
are two animal products which art or
science have not been able to repro
duce. In the good days Of plenty
whalebone sold at one dollar and a
half pound; its price to-day is six dol
lars. That gives fair idea of how the
supply has diminished in the last ten
years.
Little is known of the waters south
of seventy degrees sonth as compared
to the knowledge had of the waters
north of latitude seventy degrees
north. Next to nothing is known re-
garding the Antarctic ocean, and the
hope is entertained that the present
expedition will develop new field to
replace the old one that is dying out.
At the present time an English and
Scotch company is building three yes
sells at Dundee for the purpose of send
ing them into the Antarctic for whales
It is not unlikely, therefore, that in {
few years the whaling fleet that sail.
out of this port will steer south after
leaving the Hawaiian grounds, insteat
of going north, as they do at present.