The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-11-06
STILL SOME WHALERS LEFT
fNTERNArfONaI tGREENENT
ON INF TNDs sTRY PROPOSED.


Il
NEW BEDFORD. Nov s-Ths New York
geological Society's proposal TO limit
whale fshng by international agreement
Affects four New England towns which
still have n small stake in the business
OF catching whales. These are New
Bedford. which even In this day OF the
decadence OF the industry owns seven
teen vessels devoted to whaling: Norwich,
Conn. which q schooner and brig some
where searching for bone and oil claim a.
home: Stamford. which has one schooner.
and Provincetown. which has three
vessels. one Of them built recently
The whaling industry. a. matter Of
| fact. has maintained. 80 to speak. \ fairly
| even keel for some years past II does
not grow bigger and IL does not grow
less The figures OF that little trade pub
LEGATION. the Whaismsn's Shipping Lis.
which George X Phillips has published
every week at New Bedford since lsi3.
prove at least that not all the big cetaceans
have vanished. Mr. Phillips himself. now
past eighty years OF age. is neither bull
nor bear on whales While naturally
bewailing the glories OF the days of ~
when feet Of COS vessels represented New
Bedford on the seven seas. he does not
believe that the wharves opposite Fair
haven will be altogether deserted by the
whalers just yet. He observes that some
OF the ships which have returned to New
Bedford this fall have averaged nearly
500 barrels Of oil month on this voyage
whereas in former days il was good
ship and well manned that made 100
barrels a month This showing. however.
II in part due TO the present custom of
stopping At swhahng stations to pick up
part OF the cargo
The figure Of the impors at ions Of sperm
oil. whale oil and whalebone are those
OF an old time industry which just keeps
alive. or sperm oil there have been
brought in since 1897 1913 .?s7 barrels. .
yearly average OF 1928 barrels The
! fluctuations have not been very con-
siderable. In 1897 the total was the
smallest in the history OF the fishery.
10 $50 barrels. The most successful 81
recent years was 1897 when 20 go barrels
were recorded. The last two years 1904
and 1909. represented about a normal
average. with respectively la0TS and
ie.7SS barrels.
This sperm oil which Gomez 10 New
Bedford in casks 10 thick and OF dirty
brown appearance II is refined in local
toCNOFueS. III INV pToCe1SeS HINt
q crude oil. than refined sperm oil and
| finally spermaceti
Then there 10 the whale oil quite a
different subst Ance from sperm oil. which
10 still in some demand for illuminat ing
purposes. especially for the headlig hts
of engines. In twelve years the i'm
port atoms have totalled ~ .OO7 barrels,
or q yearly average OF 4. 500 barrels
Thu wh a lAl.nnA IA
to be the most profitable part OF the indus
try. although there Is a secrecy about it
which prevents very much from being
accurately known. century ago whale
bone was worth not more than si25 a ton.
To-day the same quantity fetches from
81. 500 no
The importations Of whalebons show
greater variations than those of oil One
/ man controls practically the whole out
| put and no ID probably more Interested
! In keeping prices mp than IN flooding the
market with the product Their. have
been received since 1907 SIC $50 pounds
! representing an annual average of 1872
s42 Ais pounds The banner yield was
that OF $50. SyO. 100 pounds. In 1879 the
kept, one Of only -. LOO pounds, was
reached. On this subject Mr.. Phillips
says:
Owing TO Tho privacy OF abou' all the
! irsnzs ctions IN This article II IL almost i'm
! possible 10 present any satisfactory report
OF the market during the last year Hut IL
| is generally understood that bur limited
| quantity OF prime Arctic was disposed Of
owing to the extreme high prices demanded
! for II. and which II was expected would b.
realized IN view OF the very small quantity
| TO he imported. the usual number of vessels
not being sen, out 20 secure IL.
Despite the diminished importance. OF
the whaling business the section Of New
Bedford doclss devoted TO il is still pic
turesuue Most OF the ships are al least
20 years old; some OF them antedate the
civil war.
The determination OF the New York
Geological Society 10 bring the recent
report on the whaling industry. written
by Frederick Lucas, curator IN chief
81 the Brooklyn Institute Of Arts and
Sciences, 70 the attention Of the various
civilized Governments WAS prompt ed
by practices which threaten the exter-
nina'ion OF all varieties OF the great
The New Bedford whalers. equipped
with modern appliances. which are far
more effective than the ancient wea pons.
have done and are still doing their share
toward driving out fhe finer varieties Of
the species Their pursuit i. primarily
Of the kind OF whales that do not ching
closely 10 the shore. particularly the
sperm and tho bovhead Now and then
OF CDuTbS bOHe opportunity cOfntrs Tor a
little Of the offshore whaling even on the
New England coast Thus there was
great excitement in Provincetown last
winter when a forty foot monster becan.
entAn9led IN the Ash weirs and was gal
lantiy harpooned by Capt. Joshua =
| Sicksrson.
For the most part. however. the New
England whalemen still go far afi.Id
Much Of the fishing is carried on in the
south Atlantic. A considerable number
OF sperm whales arr taken Oh the south
African coast The right whales. those
which yield whalebone. are found only
in the more frigid waters north and south
and on account Of the depletion Of the
fishing grounds none too commonly
there. Thus the barls Piatina from New
Bedford three or four years ago made "A
lucky strike on her first voyage to the
grounds near Cape Horn. taking ten good
sized right whales there. She tried IL
again on her last trip. meeting only rough
weather and "a couple Of whales which
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