The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-01-20

amount to something in value In 1928
the finest kind was worth only 3 s1iI-
lings a pound in Philadelphia. In 1890
TO 1921 it was worth only from 8 TO 10
cents pound. In 1887 whalebone was
selling for Is cents pound. The price
of sperm oil then was o. cents and OF
whale oil IS cents a gallon
HAWAII SIXTY YEARS AGO.
In those days the meeting ground OF
the whalers was off the islands Of Oahu
and Maui in the Hawaiian group, and
that land was then, in practice, as Amer
lean as it IS now in reality. The mai
station was a deserted coral reef tar
to the west, known as Bakers Island,
where cask on a pole was used tor
the deposit OF letters by every passing
ship.
Even before the capture of right and
bowhead whales had brought the Amer
lean ships to the Arctic ocean and the
Boring sea in force, small wllalers from
New England had ventured into IN
known seas.
Before 1919 two Russian warships on
a voyage of exploration sighted group
OF islands in the Antarctic ocean, and
had begun to send men ashore TO take
possession in the name of the car when
the fog lifted and7they were amazed to
see a little sealing sloop from Long Isl
and riding quietly IN the harbor. he
Russians were disappointed and DIS
gusted, but honest enough to name the
islands "Palmer's Land" after the cap
tain of the little sailboat. The British
ship Caribou had similar experience
at almost the same time, for she
thought she had discovered the land
now known as Hurd's Island, but on
approaching she found the schooner
Oxford of Fairhaven, Mass, there, en-
gagged in whaling.
Many of the ships that opened this
Pacific and Arctic fishery are afoat to-
day and catching whales as brayely as II
they were brand new. There IS the
famous old bark Morning Star, which.
when last reported had sailed out OF
Fayal, in the Azores, with I25 barrels
of sperm oil which she had obtained
since last July. when she left New Bed
ford on her cruise.
THE FAMOUS MORNING STAR.
The Morning Star entered the Pacific
fishery in 1853. and made rich hauls OF
oil and bone even through the civil war,
evading privateers successfully and
Id1QlIiS
market had scared to dizzy heights.
In one cruise of 80 days she killed
2o2 whales She penetrated Hudson's
bay in 1864 and 1866, and brought back
oil and bone that made her two voy-
ages net more than 100000.
This was at top prices, when oil
was worth $I.65 a gallon and whale
bone was selling for $40 a pound.
Great as this record was it was ex-
celled in that same period by Capt.
Ebenezer Morgan. who entered port in
1865 with $4,000 worth Of bone and
oil.
Even before the civil war, and with
out the aid of war prices, the whalers
of those days made fortunes in single
voyages.
In 1855 the schooner Alabama, under
Capt. Consider Fisher of Sippican,
made SIX months voyage and came in
with $4,000 worth Of whale She was
worth only $2,2oo originally with her
full outfit Another schooner, the James
took $4,000 worth in three months
Other great voyages were those OF
the Captain Richmond of New Bedford,
which took $4,000 worth of whale in
two and one-half years in the Pacific
ocean in 1929. The Falmouth ship I'm
cas- got $4,000 worth in two years and
eight months. The Lopez of Nantuck-
ct got $4,000 worth in fourteen months.
The Sarah of Nantucket returned aft
err three years cruise with $4,000
worth OF oil.
In IS4o the South America of Provi-
dence fitted at total cost of $4,000
for ship and outfit, took $4,000 worth
of bone and oil, thus paying her cost
in one cruise and earning for her own
ers dividend of rs per cent.
In the same year the Russell of New
Bedford arrived there with $4,000 worth
of oil.
ENJOYS WONDERFUL VOYAGE.
One of the wonderful records of those
'get-rich-quick" whaling days is that Of
the Envoy of New Bedford. In 1874
she was condemned and sold to VIII
liam c. Brownell to be broken up. He
concluded to fit her for one more voy-
age, and Capt w. T. Walker took h-r
out Nobody would insure her. Al
the first port she touched her captain
found 1000 barrels of whale oil save
from a wrecked whaler, which he
bought at nominal price, and shipped
from Manila to London. Then ne
cruised in the Pacific ocean, and in
fifty-five days took 1850 barrels of whale
OIL and 10000 pounds OF Done lie put
into San Francisco, where he sold part
of his cargo and shipped the rest home.
Then he sold the ship for $4,000. Al
together, the voyage brought $I3S45o,
and the. total cost of purchasing and
fitting out the Envoy was only $1,000.
Big as the profits were when ship
made lucky voyage. losses were still
more heavy when they occurred, for
the owners had absolutely no control
over their ships once they had left port
They could not even feel sure that in
case of misfortune the limit of their
loss would be the sum that they had
invested in the ship and her equipment,
for the captain of whaleship had I'M
limited and complete authority to draw
on them for any sum he might need.
sell his cargo anywhere at whatever
terms his Judgment might dictate and
even to have the ship condemned and
1 =, : I,a -Trrl3r n