Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-09-29
coal from Philadelphia and lumber to

coal from Philadelphia and lumber to
New York.
is told in statistics. In 1886 there
were 1856 vessels carrying the Ameri-
can flag practically all were from
New Bedford), hunting whales in
every corner of the watered world,
from Ollhotsk to Arabia. That was
mighty fleet. Of it today are left but
SO small barks and schooners. Jan. 1,
1889 year before the civil war be-
gan, there were 625 vessels; by 1866,
the figure had fallen to 263.
The annals of ruined New Bedford
fortunes will tell how much of the
decrease was caused by the vindictive
Alabama. The whalers would be COM
ing home from four-year-long cruises
in the Arctic. They knew nothing of
the war that had begun since they left
in peace. They were loaded down with
oily cargo, and the crews reefed and
tackled cheerfully enough to the
thought of homeward bound. Then
would come the astonished encounter
with the Alabama, and the whaling
captain would pace the Confederate's
deck a prisoner and watch the fruit Of
his toll roll off across the sea in big
billows of dense black smoke.
The Alabama scourge was artificial.
After the war the trade picked up. In
1869 there were 1893 vessels. Then
came the striking of oil in Pennsyl-
vania, and the whaling industry was
doomed.
OF the remnant of the fleet still aloat
"a hail from New Bedford, four from
Provincetown, two from Boston and
ten from San Francisco. These are
scattered through the North and South
Atlantic, in Hudson Bay and in the
Japan and Okhotsk Seas. With the
sailing vessels the old fashion of long
voyages that took a large gap from
the sailors lives still persists. Some
Of the New Bedford whalers have
been away from port since '96. But
on the Pacific coast are half dozen
steam whalers which go out for but
few days at a time and tow their
prizes to shore to be cut up and boiled.
This method will soon entirely super
sede the old one, and the steamers
will monopolize what is left of the
whaling industry.
These figures are for America tand
in the whaling business, America"
meant New Bedford, until a compare
lively few years ago, when San Fran
cisco began to hunt for whales with
steamers) Indeed, no other calling in
the world demands the highest quail
ties of courage and daring. Compared
to 1T soldering, even in time of war,
is comparatively serene business.
The percentage of casualties ON an
old-fashioned whaling trip would
make the battle of Colenso look like
a child's picnic. 1t is only natural
that such a calling should attract the
most self-reliant men in the world,
the men who sought fortune in an
unpeopled world, and the descendants
of those men. AS early as ITS New
Bedford, with a fleet of $50 ships, mon
opoliZed the whaling business of the
world. This monopoly is maintained
so long as the industry lasted. 1t is
estimated that in 1916, when New
Bedford had $50 ships on the water,
the total investment of money was
$70000000, and the number of people
dependent on this harvest of the sea
was 10000.
Comparatively the industry has
dwindled to mere nothing. 1t may
even dwindle yet more. But it will
never entirely disappear. There will
always be some slight business in the
products of the whale. But New Bed
ford will not be it's headquarters. The
twenty-four ships that sail from New
Bedford will disappear one by one.
The whaler OF the future will hunt
with oteam. He will build his boiling
establishment on some shore near
which the whales congregate. From
this station he will go out every morn
ing, shoot his whale with a harpoon
gun, instead of in the old manner, and
tow him in to be cut and boiled the
next day, while he steams off after
more game. Within the past five years
this process has been introduced at
three places-on the coast of Norway,
OH the Pacific coast of the United
States and on the coast of Newfound-
land.