The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-12-12
THERE SIZE BLOWS"
Especial Corrcs,on,lcnc,


THERE SIZE blows
iantic and several III southern waters in
search of sperm whales, have not been
heard from since midsummer, but no great
news is expected from their adventures.
rive OF the fortunate steam whalers, with
l33 whales to their credit are shut in by
the ice and must winter in the Arctic The
Narwhal is reported rs having taken &c
whales which is something almost unprece-
denied in the history of American whaling.
The average annual slaughter Of whales
the world over has been about l 800 for the
past 80 years, with yield of $500, 900 gal
Ions of whale oil, or 1900 per carcass. A
catch of "A whales by single whaor from
Scotch port was thought remarkable 50
years ago, when whaling on the whole was
more profitable than it has been for the
past 40 years. That is believed to have
been the greatest whaling cargo ever
brought into British port. The whole
product OF that catch was worth about
100000. For many years the greatest
catch of h New England whaler was that
OF the Pioneer of New London, Conn.
which returned in September, 1865. after a
year i'll the north Pacific, with |, 39l barrels
OF oil and Il great load of bone, worth in
all Sl50,000. Before that u New Bedford
whnlcr's cargo, valued at SIZE, $50, was the
best catch of an American whalcr at
even the present low price of oil and whale
bone the catch of the arctic fleet ought to
be worth considerably over 81 ,OOO,OO An
authority here estimates the catch Mt
rather more than 400 pounds of bone and
at 800 gallons of oil per whale This
would give the Narwhal nearly 10000
pounds OF bone and about $4,000 gallons OF
oil
The American whaling fleet now num-
bers rather less than 100 vessels, and the
entire tonnage of the fleet cannot greatly
exceed 10000 tons. New Bedford is still
the hailing port of more 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 whalers rendezvous mt
San francisco, because by far the larger
part OF the whaling is done northwest of
that port, and IL is expensive business
steaming home through the straits of Ma.
gellan and up the Atlantic coast of South
America.
The popular notion that whaling is PLAYED
out received Shock TWO years ago when
the Mary d. Hume. which this season is re-
ported with ii whales. took 80 whales in the
Arctic. The decline OF whaling is not alto
gethcr to he traced to the chcnpness of min
eral oils, the discovery of substitutes for
whalebonc and the scarcity of whales One
determining influence has been the timidi-
" of whales and the difficulty of finding
them in their old llaunts. Whales have an
parently become scnrccr during the last 10
years, and they certainly have changed and
limited their habitat.
The first whalcr to enter the Arctic by
way OF Behring straits was New bedford
vessel away back in 1S4S. She found i'm
mense schools of whales, and her example
was promptly followed by other vessels
The European whaling business had al
ready begun to decline, and in spite of the
discoveries in the Arctic the lucl; of Amer
lean whalcrs soon after began to fall off.
Nearly 200 years before. the Dutch had tax
ell loD00 whales III {. single decade in the
arctic waters of Europe a century and n
half later the Basqucs were catching MANY
small whales in the bay of Biscay, but their
trade gave out long ago, although n whale
OF the species that once haunted the bay
was Killed i'll the Mediterranean ONLY 10
years ago. Coast whaling is still pursued
TOT about three months of the year ut n few
points along the coast of California. Here
the gray whale used to be taken in great
numbers 1t WAS the habit of these crea-
lures to breed i'll the shallow bays along
the coast, and great schools of the females
gathered at such times in these protected
waters while the males disported them
selves outside the reefs. The business of
pursuing the gray whale was SO sharply
prosecuted that the species almost disap-
peared from the coast.
Steam whaling is Il comparatively recent
thing, and 1t is prosecuted chiefly in the
Behring sea and the Arctic ocean. The
steam whalers also carry sails. Few of
them exceed 500 tons, and they are built in
peculiarly strong fashion so as to resist the
cutting power of the ice and as well to
stand the strain that comes upon vessel
when nipped in the foe. Each steamer has
tankage for 200 to $50 tons of oil Such YES
sci may be built in Europe for about $50, 600
to $50 900, and here for perhaps n little more.
The cost of running II steam whaler of 400
to 500 tons is about $500 per month. Pay
ment is mainly in lays" but sometimes
part of the crew receives wages and part
both lay and wages. The 'lay" of II cap
tain in the New England whaling fleet is
about one-twcfth of the catch on the aver
age, while in the san Francisco fleet it is
about one-iifteenih. The shares decrease
rapidly, and II cabin boys lay is on the
average one-one Kindred and sixty fifth in
the San Francisco fleet and one-two hun
dred and twenty-fifth in the New England