The Washington herald., 1917-03-25
There she blows"'

mere she blows"
"whereaway?"
A hundred years ago there was scarce
ly one. Yankee sailorman and those were
the days when there were lots Of Yam
kee sailormen-who had not shouted
these words time and again. Those were
the rich old whaling days when sperm
OIL was prime necessity. Then came
whale oil lamps to supplant candles and
Tor so years they illuminated the houses
OF all the well-to-do. Whales Just had
to be caught, for the whale oil must be
supplied.
Every New England port sent out its
Meet whale hunting all over the earth,
and the seven seas were dotted with the
white sails Of Yankee ships. It was q
mighty big and profitable business and
bore much the same relation to those
days that the Standard Oil operations
bear to ours. except that in those days
nobody had thought out the idea Of a
combination Of capital and interests and
the pooling Of issues Not only was the
oil necessity of civilized life, but whale
bone was also in great demand
Then came the discovery of petroleunn
In Pennsylvania and kerosene rapidly
pushed sperm oil on the commercial
map. Also substitutes for whaIebone-
which answered the purpose and only
cost half as much-came on the market
In time and the bundles Of whalebone dis
appeared from the shelves of the store
keepers.
And to all intents and purposes whaling
was supposed to have died; not because
there was not still a market for the oil
ana the bone in manufacturing and In the
arts, despite their high price, but be-
cause 1t was supposed the great dena nd
mad caused the sperm whale to be hunted
out OF existence. There is a general and
widespread belief that this monster of
the deep is now practically extinct, and
that the reason whaling has almost
ceased 10 be classed as an occupation
10 because 1t does not pay to 70 whaling.
as there are no whales left to catch. Sort
OF ike getting up a buffalo hunt out
West where once they were SO common.
1t isn't done. simply because there are
no buffalos. All Of which, SO far as
whales are concerned, I am surprised to
learn is not at all true
Instead Of being extinct. there are Just
as many whales in tho ocean as there
ever were. In fact, they have been hunt
ed so little of late years that they are
probably more plentiful now than they
were in the palmiest days Of the whaling
industry.
As to being profitable, why q whaling
vessel returns . bigger percentage of
profit now than ever in the past, barring
few years at the close of the old whal-
ing period. when sperm whales were
really getting scarce and sperm oil was
tho chief Illuminating agent Then It
reached a price of $3.50 a gallon. 1t Is
now % cents a gallon. higher than It has
been for years.
Even after kerosene had come into
general use. whale oil was still used
In lighthouses. as 1t gave q much bet
ter light than mineral Oil. And, of
course. 1t cost more. However. when
electricity came into the field. with its
far-reaching brilliancy. oils Of all
kinds were at once discarded when
ever possible. Naturally. there are still
many lighthouses where an electric
light 10 out of the question.
A fellow-passenger with me on the
'Parima," recently bound from New
York to the lesser Antilles, was Capt
Henry Mandley, jr- of New Bedford.
Mass. Capt Mandley IL one OF tho few
Americans who cling to the whaling
business. He has been in II all his
life and purposes to stick to IT why
shouldn't her 1t pays too well to get
cut The only reason there are not
more men in It today is simply be-
cause It has gone out Of fashion.
To Capt Mandley I am indebted for
. great deal Of information-a kind of
Information that is not easy to be had
there are very few people who are able
to give It Capt Mandley was on his
way to Barbados to bring home a
whaling vessel which had put in there
for the alleged purpose of getting
stores. but in reality to give the skip
per . chance to hit the high waves
and to paint the town a much brighter