New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-10-02
NO FEAR FOR WHALER.
only One american VesseI i'm
Hudson Bau.

New-Bedford. Mass. Oct. (SpeciaD.-The secret
OF the steamer Neptunes expedition to Hudson
bay IeVeaieo IN the st. Johns correspondence Oh
The Tribune last week has caused no worry to
the New Bedford whaling merchants In fact
only one or them is directly interested In the
voyage OF the Neptune. for there is only one Amer
lean whaling vessel in Hudson Bay. This ship Is
the uItle schooner Era, Captain Conner. owned oy
lhonnas Luce q Co. OF this city. She sailed Hon
this port last spring and will spend two winters
IN the bay unless she is interfered with This
hrm is the only one that has sent ships to Hud-
son Bay for several years, as 1t has been consld-
ered a poor field for whaling. year or two ago
the schooner Frances Allen, one of this firm s
SHIPS was lost IN the ice in this bay ana her ere"
was brought down by the Era last fall The Era
spent two winters there and her total catch was
seven small right whales
Contrary to the belief in Canada. Hudson Bay
Is not alive with whales, local merchants say ana
Captain Conner alone has been successful during
the last ten or twelve years. About ten years ago
j. q W. r. Wing, the largest whaling firm In the
world sent three of its whaling barks to HUDSON
Bay. but their catch was such poor one that
since then the FIRMS local fleet has been sent 10
the South Atlantic and Hatteras GROUNDS Ior
sperm whales.
The only other vessel that has frequented the
Hudson Bay grounds in the last decade is Dun
dee steam whaling craft. According to reports or
last seasons catch from Scotland. only one small
whale was caught in Hudson Bay, while the fleet
of six or eight steam whalers in Bafhn Bay took
about dozen whales. This a Scotch feet by
the way. and ii is said by local whalemen that II
Baffin Bay is under the control of any country 1t
is denmark. so that if American craft are violat-
ing any principles of international law in Hudson
Bay English ships doing the same thing in
Baffin Bay
1t may not be easy task to find the Era If the
Neptune gets in Hudson Bay this winter. Captain
Conner goes into winter quarters wherever the ice
nips his vessel. and it is supposed that by thls
time his craft is tightly held by the Ice which
makes usually early in September II the Nepten9 me
sailed on August 20 as reported here, she may &c.
into the bay short distance before she is caught
PARTIES this Wnter but otheP P the Ssp5Ene
crew would hardly be likely to meet CAPTAIN CAPTAIN
Bay is big, open sea. and the finding of schoon-
END whSeS Rer as t as HePue %a at Hud
son Strait for the Era to come out, she may az
1905, for unless Captain Conner has better luck
than ever before and gets a full cargo next sum
mer and starts home just before the ice makes. ne
we had been led to believe" said Charles T.
Luce. of the firm Of Thomas Luce & Co. that
the Canadian expedition is an excuse 20 take
government auspices. Whaling has peen permitted
in the bay for years. and If there was no inter-
the bay from THIRTY to nifty ~ ago qe
any trading in the bay
ordered out of the waters?" was asked
~ should S say that he would not be Sey 10
Russian Government seized the Cape Horn Pigeon.
paid handsomely for it. To be sure, this did not
happen in Hudson Bay. International law and
the treaties between countries too much for
me TO interpret, but have always supposed
that Hudson Bay was open sea, and that there
restriction regarding whaling there. II
there is, 1t has never been enforced"
What about the statement that the Neptune
agreed to take letters to the shiD?'
No proposition was made to US We had no
communication with the Canadian Government,
and have sent no letters" said Mr.. Luce
known for nearly year, and in the mean time
the Era's owners, many of whose ships have sailed
less about the chances of her being seized than
they of receiving word that she has been
crushed in the ice.