The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-08-15

the Chase of the Great Leviuthans-
 Lots of Luck in Whaling.
 In the New London Day William Kerschbaum, of New Bedford, writes interestingly of a great but now dying industry as follows:
 Tn the days of whale oil lamps and candles, Nantucket New London and New Bedford were places as well known in this country, if not the world over, as Boston, New York and Wash ington are to-day, simply ecabuse the great supply of material whicth fur nished light for the masses came prin- cipally from those seaport towns, and fthe names of these places was mat ter of every-ay conversation.
 But with the discovery of oil wells in Pennsylvania, the great wealth gained in the whale fishery was turned into other channels. Nantucket, far out from the mainland, hadn't the oppor- tunity that her rivals enjoyed and for years she remained inactive, only to come into prominence as a seashore re- sort, while New Bedford, considered the wealthiest city in the Union of her size at that time shook off her lethar- gy like a duck out of water and went in deeper-this time in the conton in- dustry and she to-day boasts of the second largest numebr of spindles in the United States. New London also proved successful in her manufactur- ing ventures.
 The wealth acquired in whaling gave the people of New Bedford every op- lportunity in the world to turn from the whaleboat to the loom, and the men of means were not slow to take advantage of the promise of paying advertisements. To some extent whal- ing is still carried on from that city. Tn fact she has monopoly of that in- dustry on the Atlantic coast, fitting out annually dozen ships But that isn't a patch to the record of half 9 century ago. Why in 1853 these three whaling centers alone sent one hun dred and thirty-five ships to sea. Just imagine the money invested in that number of vessels, for it is safe to say that ship could not fit for less than twenty thousand dollars, for then the voyages were for three years or more. During that year New London sent fifteen ships to sea and three years later she doubled the number fitting no less than thirty to New Bed- fords ninety-t two. It was these wealth producing voyages of years ago which gave New London and New Bedford the foundation for a change when the time arrived. Some of those cruises seem incredulous to those who only knew of the whale fishery as sone- thing of the past.
 lELEMENT OF LUCK IN CALLING.
 There are people who contend that there is no such thing as luck in busi- ness, but any old whaleman will tell you that there is a great deal of luck in whaling, and the lucky shps of the past never had to wait long for a crsew, while reftting, Some of these voyages netted almost fabulous sume and 1t Is no wonder that owners of such vessels gained riches speedily. Of the lucky ships in the palmy days of American whaling there were many and some of these remarkable cruises may be interesting.
 One of the earliest record voyages was that of ship Barclay, Capt. Gideon Randall, which sailed from New Bed- ford in 1909 and returned to port May 9, 1811 with 2,000 barrels of sperm oil Several of the smaller vessels in Nantucket and New Bedford that same year returned home full, but the Barclay made the best cut,
 Trere were two Swifts engaged in whaling just after the war with Eng land in 1872, one sailing from Man. Itucket and the other from New Bed- ford. Both were lucky vessels. The New Bedford ship returned from a two years cruise in 1878 with 1,S0O barrels of oil, and two years later the William and Eliza, another New Bed ford whaler slowed down 2,5O0 bar rels, which was the high hook catch until 1923 when beaten by the Will mington and Liverpool packet with 2,6OO barrels,and the following year Iby the Phoenix.
 That same year whaling agents had something to talk about for the Man. tucket Swift discharged a cargo which netted thirty-one hundred barrels, and she but two years from the home port This voyage, so it is said, surprised everybody and was the talk for years In fact the years of PA, '25 and '26 was a wealth-producing period, and New | ,foI, ,1 t.. with the Carrier found herself much in evidence that time with the Ann Ma ria, Commodore Perry, Connecticut and stonington,
 PROFIT ON MAIDEN VOYAGE.
 The Young Phoenix, which began hel career in 1926, sailing from New Bed ford November IA, returned December 26, 1929, with eight thousand barrels her maiden voyage. This same vessel which was built for the late John 1 Avery Packer, in fourteen voyages from 1880 to 1878, took no less than 23, 419 barrels of sperm oil, and her car goes brought the great sum of $1,096, 0O9.
 The year 1880 was the record year fol Nantucket, while several crack voy-
 ages were made by other whale ships
 The Loper, of Nantucket, after an ab. sence of only fourteen months, sold hel
 catch for fifty thousand dollars; and the Sarah, hailing from the same port returned inside of three years witt : 3,497 barrels of sperm oil valued al } eighty-nine thousand dollars. It was or May l, 1880, that the ship Phoenix 0, New London returned from her naider . Q | l. -r- .