Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1911-05-24
oLD-rrME WHALING.


Of twenty returning to port ssciean"-with
out having turned up I'm = and with
only seventy thousand pounds OF whale
bone to show for the cruise OF the whole
fleet, old whalemen find comfort in telling
again about the achievements OF Yankee
whaiers in the past and the big profits
some OF the cruises brought.
1t was New Bedford whsler, the Bed
ford, which was the first ship that ever
flew the ssrebellious thirteen stripes OF
America In any English port. She was sent
from Massachusetts the moment peace
was declared, and she arrived in the
Thames with her cargo Of oil before all the
acts Of Pariiamaet against the "rebeis"
had been rescinded.
In l7ss the log book of the Nantucket
ship Penelope recorded her arrival in Is
north latitude with 100 American whale
ships in sight"
Long before that, solitary American
whalers had penetrated into the frozen
seas. Indeed, in 1853 a Boston schooner
tried to find the Northwest Passage and
spent seven or eight months in the ice.
II was the sperm whale that first in
duced American wbalers to round the
Horn and enter the Pacific. In 1871 seven
ships sailed around the Horn from Nan
tucket and New Bedford.
Then began an era OF enterprise, during
which whale ships carried the American
flag into every spot on the globe, one Nam
tucket man entering even the Red Sea.
In those days the meeting ground OF the
whalers was of the islands OF Oahu and
Maui, in the Hawaiian group, and that
land was then, in practice, as American as
it is now in realty. The main station
was Q deserted coral reef far to the west,
known as Bakers island, where q cask on
a pole was used for the deposit OF letters
by every passing ship.
Even before the capture OF right and
bowhead whales had brought American
ships to the Attic ocean and the Behring
sea in force, small whalers from New
England had ventured into unknown seas.
Before 1913 two Russian war ships on q
voyage OF exploration sighted . group OF
islands In the Antarctic ocean and had be-
gun to send men ashore to take possession
Ia tuS bhtlc Va lug AS8t, " ncI tut
lifted and they were amazed to see little
sealing sloop from Long Island riding
quietly in the harbor. The Russians were
disappointed, but were honest enough to
name the islands Palmer's Land, after the
captain of the little saiiboat.
The British ship Caribou had . similar
experience 1t almost the same time, for
she thought she had discovered the land
now known as hurd's island, but on APP
preaching she found there the schooner
Oxford, OF Fsirhavcn, Mass, engaged in
whaling.
Many OF the ships that opened this Pa
cinc and Arctic fishery arc afioAt to-day
and catching whales - bravely as II they
were brand new.
The Morning Star entered the Pacific
fishery In 1858, and made rich hauls Of oil
and bone through the civil war evading
privateers successfully, and landing her
cargo ct time when the market had risen
10 dizzy heights.
In one cruise OF 30 days she killed 2o2
whales. She penetrated Hudson bay in
1854 and 1885, and brought back oil and
bone that made her two voyages net more
than 10000. This was ct the time OF top
prices, when oil was worth q IS . gallon
and whalebone was selling at q 40 pound.
Great ~ this record was, II was exoelled
In the same period by Captain Ebenezer
Morgan, who entered port in 1865 with
$4,000 worth Of bone and Oil.
Even before the Civil war, and without
the aid OF war prices, whalers made for
tunes in single voyages. In 1855 the
schooner Ala bama, under Capt. Consider
Fisher, OF Sippican, made months
voyage and came in with $4,000 worth Of
whales. The Alabama WAS worth only
ZOO originally with her full outfit, An
other schooner, the James, took SO 600
worth in three months.
Other great voyages were those of the
Captain Richmond, Of New Bedford,
which took s65, 600 worth Of whales in two
and one half years in the Pacific ocean in
1873. The Falmouth ship Uncas 20,
$4,000 worth inl two years and eight
months. The Lopez, OF Nantucket, got
$4,000 worth in fourteen months.
The Sarah, OF Nantucket, returned after
three years cruise with go 600 worth OF
oil.
In 1919 the South America, of Proyi-
dence, fitted at q total cost OF $4,000 for
ship and outfit, took sds, 900 worth Of bone
and Oil, thus paying her owners q divi-
dend OF 125 per cent. In the same year
the Russell, OF New Bedford, arrived home
with $4,000 worthlof oil.
one OF the wonderful records OF those
get-rich-quick whaling days IL that OF the
Envoy, OF New Bedford. In 1874 she was
condemned and sold to William c. Brow
nell to be broken up. He concluded to
Mt her for one more voyage, land Can't.
w. T. Walker took her out.
Nobody would insure her. At the FIRST
port she touched her captain found loo
barrels Of whale oil, saved from a wrecked
whaier, which he bought at . nominal
price and shipped from Manila to London.