The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-06-23

suggestive. The ship continued beset for
several days, during which time great
numbers of whales and narwhaleS were
seen in the holes in the surrounding ice.
A Threatened Imprisonment in Ice
Another time when L was on the Es
off Brown Island. We were therefore
cast Off and, in company with the other
ships, steamed cautiously round the IN
side of the island into an open water
which had recently formed. Rocks and
reefs were on all sides, and the whlte DOT
tom could be easily seen from the snip :
bows at some parts. We ,boxedf ,s soIne
ing of two very thick and heavy foes, but
found it impossible to go through IL, the
foes crushing against each other with
great force. The broken up ice and debris
drifting in on the ships wake, prevented
our backing out sufficiently to run at the
ice, and latterly hemmed in the ship sc
flrmly that We had to warp out aSterI
with hawser and ice anchor.
Next morning on more closely inspect
ing the neck which oCcaSioned us SO much
trouble. it was found to be crushing with
great force, the pieces during the night
having become interlapped three and fouI
fold, and the peculiar humming sound,
like that of bees, being quite audible. II
IS due to the vibration of the Hoes. At
p m. the crack was reported to be open
ing, and as 1t was the only outlet, the
fleet at once got up steam with a view 10
box through. Our ship made dash at it,
but after crushing through her own length
with magnificent force, came TO a dead
stand, locked in the brol1en-up ice on both
sides. We backed out and rammed at ii
several times, but to nc purpose, the foes
apparently still nipping, and with even
greater force than before. We therefore
steamed back into the water TO wait d
more favorable opportunity, which did
not come for three days
Dundee No Better OFF Than New Bed
ford Nantucket.
The decline of Dundee as a whaling cen
tire has been more rapid even than the de-
cline of New Bedford or Nantucket. A
direct and immediate result OF the falling
off in the whales brought to market is the
fancy price now commanded by whalbone.
This price is a good gauge of the condi-
ton of the industry. IN the days when
whales were plentiful bone sold for be-
tween $3.50 and $3.50 per ton. For something
like fifty or sixty years the price has adj
Vanced with scarcely any serious break.
1t reached the maximum i'll 1891, when in
Dundee it fetched $i3,250 per ton. In 1873,
following upon the fine takes of the Amer
lean whalerS in the Behring sea, bone sold
for $1,000 per ton. Last year, consequent
upon bad season experienced WhalerS
(the latter command the situation because
they are numerically large and have a
better ground to work upcn) the price
went up with Il rush, and after the i've
tons brought to Scotland by the Eclipse
were disposed of at the rate of $1,000 per
ton, there was another rise and one lot
brought $3.50 per ton The total catch
of the Nova Zembla, EsquimauX, Terra
Nova, Balaena and Eclipse at the Davis
Strait fishery last year was $50 tons of
oil and 121a tons of bone, valued in all
at S134, $50. The catch OF the Active. Diana
and Polar Star on the Greenland fishery.
for the same season was lG2i2 tons Of
bottenosed whale ard seal oil and H. tons
of bone. Scotland first took to whaling IN
1749. The initial venture was Il failure
but second undertaking by three ships
III 1152, was so successful that more YES
sells were dispatched from Aberdeen.
Leith, Dundee, Glasgow, Dunbar and
other ports, ana in 1885 these vessels
captured 81 whales. In 1857 there were
thirtry-one, and they brought home 81
whales. and COL seals. During the four
from Scotland was 1914 and the total catch
was l,6S whales. which yielded 1854 tons
os oil. and S9l tons of bone. English ships
IN the same four years, made 3g2 voyages
and the total catch of whales was 3.34S
The year 1911 was singularly favorable
one. Seventy-siX English and Scottish
SHIPS on the coasts OF Greenland CAP
tured 1.i37 whales. which Welded Z. 152
tons of oil or an average of 1906 tons per
ship. The average of the Davis Strait
fishers was about tWO-thirls of this and
the gross value of the freghtS of the .tWo
fleets Including the government bounty
of SOS per tom, with oil at S16) and whale
the one year. In this same year the ResC-
luton of Peterhead captured A whales by
herself, and her gross profit, with bounty.
was nearly $55. 000-a figure high but bv
no means uneXampled. FOR both the elder
and the younger Secretly the one in the
John and the other in the Esk, exceeded
this total IN the previous seasons. II is
for catches such as these that whaIers
are paying through the nose NOWADAYS
NJ. REESE DAVIES