Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1893-12-02

THERE SHE BLOWS"
Iantic and several in southern waters in
search OF sperm whales, have not been
heard from since midsummer, but no great
news is expected from their adventures
Five Of the fortunate steam whalcrS. with
lgS whales to their CREDIT, are shut in by
the ice and must winter in the Arctic. The
Narwhal is reported Is having taken IL
whales, which i sonnet hing almost UupU-Cs-
deuted in the history Of american whaling
The average annual slaughter Of whales
the world over has been about $50 I, r the
past 80 years, with a yield Of S,soOtUn gal
Ions of whale oil, Or 2,2nn per C.trva~>- y
catch II Al whales by a single whIlcv from
Scotch port WAS thought remarkable ~
years ago, when whaling ON the whole WAS
more profitable than il has been for the
Uast ~ years. That Is believed 10 have
n the greatest whaling cargo ever
ought into a British port The whole
product of that catch was worth about
S2OO,uOO For many Years the greatest
catch Of Il New England whalcr was that
OF the Pioneer Of New London, Conn.
which returned in September, l~,l'. after
year in the north Pacific, with 1881 harr,-ls
of oil and great load uf bone, worth i'll
all $4,000. Before that u New Bvdford
whalrr's cargo. valued at Sl;S1. ~ WAS the
best catch OF an American whaIcr. At
even the present low price of oil and ~ hale
bone the catch vi the arctic fleet on -ut To
be worth considerably over Sl,OtO.puI. An
/ authority here estimates the catch ut
/ rather more than .40O pounds Of bone and
at l.JUn gallons Of oil per whale. This
/ would give the \arwhal nearly 5000
I pounds Of bone and about gJ,uu0 gallons Of
! Oil
/ The American whaling fleet now num-
/ bcrs rather less than lUn vessels and the
entire tonnage vi the fleet cannot greatly
! exceed gO.UOu tons. New Bedford Is still
the hailiug port Of morr than half the YES
sells, but most Of the steam whalerS hail
from san Francisco, and they alone have
been the lucky vessels this time. Even the
/ New Bedford steam whalyrs rendezvous at
SAN Francisco, because by far the larger
part of the whaling Is done mort Invest of
that port, and il Is expensive business
steaming home through the straits Of Ma
| Sellau and mp the Atlantic coast OF South
! America.
Inc popular Lo;ioa THAI whaling Is played
ont received shock two Years ago when
the Mary y. Hume. which this season Is IL
ported with ! whales, took - whales in the
Arctic. The decline of whaling is not alt O.
Gcther to be traced to the cheapness OF min
[ eral oils, the discovery Of substitutes for
whalCbouc AMI the scarcity of whales, One
determining influence has been the tlmiGi-
" of whales and the difficulty Of finding
them in their old haunts. Whales have aI,-
parently become scarcrr during the last 10
years, and they certainly have changed ard
limited their habitat.
The first whalrr to enter the Arctic by
way Of Behriug straits was "A \e.v Bedford
vessel away back in lSiS. She found inn
mense schools OF whales, and her example
WAS promptly followed by other vessels.
The European whaling business had al
ready begun to decline, and i'll spite of the
discoveries in the Arctic the luck Of Amer
lean whalers soon after began To fall OFF.
Nearly 10 years beforr, the Dutch had tax
en- 10000 whales in a single decade in the
arctic waters of Europe. y century and u
half later he Ba>qucs were catching many
small whales i'll the bay OF BiScay, but their
trade gave out long ago, although IA whale
of the species that once haunted the bay
WAS Killed in the Mediterranean only IL
Years ago. Coast whaling Is still pursued
for about thrre months OF the year at few
points along the Cusl>t of California Here
the gray whale used To be taken in great
numbers, 1t was the habit of these crea-
lures to breed in the shallow bays along
TIE coast, and great schools of the females
gathered ut such times in these protected
waters while the males disported them,
| selves outside the reefs. The business OF
pursuing the gray whale WAS 50 sharply
prosecuted that the species almost disap-
ptarvd from the coast
Steam whaling i a comparatively recent
thing, and ii j. prosecuted chiefly in the
Behrjug sea and the Arctic ocean. The
steam wLalers also carry sails. Few oi
them exceed JCp tons. and they are built in
peculiarly strong fashion so As To resist the
cutting power Of the ice and As well ID
stand the strain that comes upon a vessel
when nipped in the foe. Each steamer has
taukace for 10 TO 80 tons Of oil Such a YES
sci may be built in Europe for about ~, OOO
to 50, 700, and here for perhaps little more.
The cost OF running n steam whAler of 4OO
to 800 tons is about s., 500 per month Pay
mcnt is mainly in Jays but sometimes
/ part of the crew receives wages and part
both lay and wages. The lay" OF Il cap
tain in the New England whaling fleet is
about ouc-tw.lfth of the catch on the aver.
age while in the san Francisco fleet it is
about one-tiftcenth. The shares decrease
rapidly. and cabin boys lay Is on the
Az cra.,c ont~oEe hundred and sixty fifth in
the SAN Franc 500 fleet and one-two hun
dryl and twc,I y-lifth in the New England
uvvt +. y. NALLANpIGHAM.