Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1894-07-13
WHALING IN NEW SEAS.
4 Prospective Cruise IN the Ant
arotc Cc-an-
New Grounds to Ee Sought OIL Ac
cou1s Of the Growth; scarcely
OF VIVA e!,orc In Our
MS.GeSs.

The bark C3yheai, OF THIS city, IS on
her way to the southern seas on al e..
petition TIE like Of which hos not bee;
undertaken since 1871, says the San
Francisco Chronicle
In that wear the British inac-of-war
CHALLENGER was sent on an exploration
70 the Antarctic u ascertain whether
or not there wac nell there for the
catch Of whales. and sha returned with
On diverse report.
Since that date many thousand yes
sells have doubled Ct pe Horn AID f-e-
quently have been driven many DEGREES
further south than WIS absolutely
necessary TO male the trip. Invariably
they have reported a number Of school
of whales encountered on their voy.
ages.
By reacoa of tsesc rarorts the
whalers Of England and America have
felt OBLIGED to Goaht the accuracy OF
the ChallcaGcr's report. but 10 the
TWENTY-FIVE years which have elaDSed
since then no ono has hal the daring
or enterpr;ae to undertake a personal
survey of the waters until the present
time.
In October last the Gayhead was
started from New Bedford with in
structions to spend a couple of years in
the Antarctic. where she is to skirt the
ice foe as far socth 81 she can possibly
reach. She is to fsh for whales and
see II new hunting ground cannot he
opened to commerce. The Gayhead
will extend her voyaTe over what is
called the New Bedford whaling cruise,
that ordinarily lasts one year, but that
will keep her out about taree years this
time.
The route calls her to pas st. Helena
and skirt CrahaIr's land, from where
she will sail for Australian waters and
then 90 north. ta,:ing il tho japanese
waters, Eehring 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 arc
giving ont very rapidly, and tho
whalers have virtually ceased fishing
in Baffin's bay. Davis strait and in the
Spitzberren whaling ground. Ths
''riCht'' and "bowhead" whales, which
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 a fact that whalebone and ivory
! arc two animal products which art or
science have not been able to repro
duce. In the good days of plenty
vha'ebone sold 1T one dollar and a
half Mound; IFS price to-day is six dol
lars. That rives a far iien OF how the
/ supply has diminished in the last ten
/ years
! Little ia known OF the waters south
of seventy degrees south as compared
to the knowlc1-e had of the waters
north OF latitude seventy degrees
north. Next to nothing is known re.
! harding the Antarctic ocean. and the
hope is entertained that the present
expedition will develop q new field u
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 eead
inc them into the Antarctic for whales
1t is not unlikely, therefore, that in ;
few years the whaling fleet that sail
out of this port will steer south afte
leaving the Hawaiian grounds, instead
OF going north, as they do at present