Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1905-09-12
WHALING HAS REVIVED.
GOOD LUCK OF THE PROVINCE
TOWN AND NEW BEDFORD MEN.
The New England Copper Bottoms
Come LaziIy Homeward Loaded
with Fat Freight of "Sparum" and
Ivory from the Seven Seas.

WITH = at Freight OF OPdTufn dHo
Ivory from the Seven Seas.
"Thar sh' blo-o-ows" The ancient
call, trumpeted by leathern lungs
from cloud-aspiring 'crow's-nests,
rings anew DER all the time-honored
Atlantic whale grounds" AS OF
yore, the New England copper bot
TOMS" come snoring homeward, bear
ing fat freight of 'sparum" and ivory
from far southern seas. Again is
profit accruing from a pursuit long
deemed unremuneratiye, for the Ply
setter family has multiplied apace in
recent years and sperm whaling IS
coming to its own again.
With the exception of the schoon-
er John R. Mania, of Provincetown
-four months at sea on her maiden
voyage not one of the whaling yes
sells now sailing from New England
ports is less than twenty-five years
old, while many of the lot were built
for other work. The Ellen A. Swift,
twenty-five years old, and the Pearl
Nelson, twenty-three, were Goldfish
ermen originally; the Adella Chase,
twenty nine, was mackerel catcher;
the Charles H. Hodgdon and Mary E.
Simmons, forty years each, and the
Eleanor B. ConweH, forty-two were
Grand Bankers, while the Pedro Va
rela, forty-eight years old, was a rev.
enue cutter.
OF the tiny Atlantic fleet of the
present, two were constructed in the
sos, five in the 70's, five in the Co.'s
six in the SOS, two in the 4Vs, wnlle
the bark Canton. patriarch OF the
whaling fleets of the world, made
her first courtesy to Father Neptune
away back in 1S35-sixty-nine years
ago.
All engaged in the pursuit are well
preserved and in fine fettle, however,
and good for many more years or
similar service, and the splendid sue
cess achieved by the mass during the
last three years presages the revival
of the work and the speedy enlist
ment of more, perhaps, newer, bot
toms.
Some startling lucrative voyages
have marked the progress of the bus
mess of late. The Morning Star, the
Canton, the Sunbeam and others OF
the older ships have eXcelled their
best previous records in point or phe-
nomenally rich cargoes brought nome
to swell the bank account of owners
and officers. Even the smallest OF
the schooner class have "struck luck,
and the renewed spectacle of lone
whalers boiling here and there over
all the track of the sea from the
Azores south to Walfish Bay, west
coast of Africa, reminds of the palmy
days of the American whale fishery,
when "spouts" were legion in all the
western ocean.
Take the case of the schooner Flea
nor B. Conwel That craft left
Fayal, where she had landed her pre-
vious catch, early in October, 1903,
to cruise south "sparmin'." The hur-
ricane that swept the Azores ON Oc-
tober 9, caught her in it's track, and
stripped her of all boats, ETC., driv-
ing ner to Cape de Verde to report.
Obliged to proceed to st. kits, West
Indies. to procure new boats and re-
pairs, she diG not resume whaling I'M
til March, when she was rushed north
10 the Hatteras grounds. She found
whales there. and in twenty-seven
days after sighting her first spout
she was homeward bound, a full snip
reaching New Bedford June g. with
400 sperm and decks still bearing
traces of the last "cut," the last
whale having been taken only four
days prior to arrival.
The bark Canton, whose sixteen
months voyage, ending September,
1902, yielded 1920 barrels of sperm,
a record equaling the best of the
palmy day voyages, garnered might
ly among the whale herds south dur
ing the voyage just ended 1880
sperm constituting her total catch
from May, 1903 to August &c, last.
the date of arrival at her home port.
The bark Sunbeam, too, whose
catch of the voyage Immediately pre-
ceding is said to have been worth
$65,000, was a prime factor Of fortune,
this lucky box of a ship reaching
New Bedford on June 26, from a TWEEN
ty-two months trip with a grand to-
tai of 1900 barrels Of sperm, almost
the banner catch, time and quantity
considered, of the entire whaling rec
ord.
The Sunbeam's latest voyage, good
for $4,000, proved money winner
from A to 2. When she entered
Fayal in October, 1902, only two
months from home, she had $50 bar
rels of sperm on board When next
she touched there april, 1909, after
c southern cruise, her total was 1875
barrels. The summer trip proved less
productive than the two next pre-
ceding, still 225 barrels additional
were under matches when the bark
reached Fayal in August.
The luck of the Sunbeam is being
shared by the rank and file of the
fleets sent out for long or short
cruises by the world-famous firm of
J. & w. R. Wing and their contem-
poraries. The Ieonora, still at sea, took
500 sperm from May to September;
the Morning Star at Fayal, Septem-
Der %, had taken 1885 barrels OF
oil during the fourteen months pre-
ceding; the John r. Mania had Sc
cured, when only two months from
port. 230 sperm worth $4,000, and
fifteen-pound lump of ambergris of
first quality, worth $4,000 more. But
the star of the luckiest of the one
score luck Atlantic "blubber hunters"
pales in the light of the mastery rec
ord established by the bark Josephine
on her present voyage.
The Josephine left New Bedford