No. II.
In order to make this little work as complete as possible, I have annexed the following accounts of the Dutch, English, and American whale-fisheries. The two former I have compiled from authentic documents, and the latter is extracted from the late valuable work of Mr. Pitkin on the Commerce of the United States.
Dutch Whale Fishery.—Towards the latter end of the sixteenth century, the whale-fishing on the coast of Spitzbergen became considerable. It was entirely in the hands of the English till the year 1578. This fishery was first carried on by a company, which sent thither annually a few ships, to the exclusion of the rest of their countrymen, and who also endeavoured to exclude foreigners. In the year 1613, the company’s ships amounted to seven sail, who, on their arrival at Spitzbergen, found there fifteen Dutch, French, and Flemish ships, besides English interlopers. Next year, the Dutch sent eighteen sail, of which four were men of war. In 1615, the king of Denmark sent a squadron of three men-of-war to assert his exclusive right, but with such indifferent success, that his majesty thought fit to give up the point. In 1617, our company were more lucky than in any other year, and actually made one thousand nine hundred tun of oil. The Dutch made, for many years after, very indifferent voyages; and, as their great statesman, M. De Witt, well observes, had certainly been forced to relinquish the trade, had it not been laid open by the dissolution of their Greenland Company, to which he attributes their having in his time, beat the English, and almost all other nations, out of that trade, which they then carried on to a prodigious extent.
The following is a list of the ships sent from Holland to the Greenland and Davis’ Straits whale-fishery, from the year 1661 to 1788, both inclusive, with an account of the number of whales catched each year:
A List of Greenland and Davis’ Straits Ships, from Holland, since the year 1661, with the number of Fish caught each year.
N. B. From the year 1719 are included the Davis’ Straits Ships.
From this period the Dutch whale-fishery rapidly declined, and was at length totally annihilated during the late war.
English Whale Fishery.—The English Whale Fishery, like that of Holland, was originally carried on by an exclusive company. The first association of merchants for this purpose was soon dissolved; but, owing to successive grants of the same kind, the trade continued fettered for a considerable period posterior to the Revolution. During this time, it was, as might have been expected, carried on with almost no success.—In 1724, the South Sea Company embarked largely in this department of industry; but, having, in the course of eight years, incurred an immense loss, they were glad to abandon it. In 1733, the government being determined to encourage this fishery, a bounty of 20s. per ton was granted to all ships of 200 tons and upwards, employed therein; as this bounty, however, was found insufficient, in 1749 it was doubled. This extraordinary encouragement, by factitiously determining a portion of the national capital into this channel, had at last a considerable effect; but a long time elapsed ere the English could, even with these superior advantages, successfully compete with the Dutch. Since this epoch many alterations have been made in the laws respecting the Greenland fishery; and at the commencement of the late war, the bounties were reduced, owing to the market being overstocked with oil.
The following account of the number of English and Scottish vessels employed in the Greenland whale fishery, and of their tonnage, from 1771 to 1800, both inclusive, is extracted from M’Phersons Annals of Commerce:
| England. | Scotland. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Years. | Vessels. | Tons. | Vessels. | Tons. | |
| 1771 | 50 | 14,700 | 9 | 2,797 | |
| 1772 | 50 | 15,378 | 9 | 2,797 | |
| 1773 | 55 | 16,712 | 10 | 3,016 | |
| 1774 | 65 | 19,770 | 9 | 2,773 | |
| 1775 | 96 | 29,131 | 9 | 2,773 | |
| 1776 | 91 | 27,047 | 7 | 2,251 | |
| 1777 | 77 | 21,917 | 7 | 2,251 | |
| 1778 | 71 | 20,291 | 5 | 1,587 | |
| 1779 | 52 | 16,907 | 3 | 956 | |
| 1780 | 50 | 14,900 | 4 | 1,282 | |
| 1781 | 34 | 9,859 | 5 | 1,459 | |
| 1782 | 38 | 11,122 | 6 | 1,764 | |
| 1783 | 47 | 14,268 | 4 | 1,095 | |
| 1784 | 89 | 27,224 | 7 | 2,047 | |
| 1785 | 136 | 41,741 | 13 | 3,865 | |
| 1786 | 162 | 49,426 | 23 | 6,997 | |
| 1787 | 219 | 64,286 | 31 | 9,057 | |
| 1788 | 216 | 63,399 | 31 | 8,910 | |
| 1789 | 133 | 38,751 | 28 | 7,846 | |
| 1790 | 130 | 30,290 | 22 | 5,898 | |
| 1791 | 93 | 27,598 | 23 | 6,308 | |
| 1792 | 73 | 21,496 | 28 | 5,487 | |
| 1793 | 38 | 8,437 | 14 | 3,813 | |
| 1794 | 47 | 12,906 | 13 | 3,480 | |
| 1795 | 34 | 9,135 | 10 | 2,613 | |
| 1796 | 42 | 11,516 | 9 | 2,317 | |
| 1797 | 50 | 13,757 | 10 | 2,614 | |
| 1798 | 56 | 16,140 | 10 | 2,614 | |
| 1799 | 57 | 16,731 | 10 | 2,629 | |
| 1800 | 51 | 15,077 | 10 | 2,652 | |
From 1788, this table is made up from the annual accounts laid before Parliament; and the number of ships, and the tonnage, always refers to the number of those who actually cleared out for Greenland. We have already given Dr. Colquhoun’s estimate of the value of the whale oil and whalebone imported into Great Britain from 1805 to 1810.
American Whale Fishery.—The whale fishery first attracted the attention of the Americans in 1690, and originated at the island of Nantucket, in boats from the shore. In 1715, six sloops, of thirty-eight tons burden each, were employed in this fishery, from that island. For many years their adventures were confined to the American coast, but as whales grew scarce here, they were extended to the Western Islands, and to the Brazils, and at length to the North and South Seas[35]. For a long time the Dutch seemed to monopolize the whale fishery, which they followed, with success, in the Greenland or Northern Seas.
As early as 1663, they had two hundred and two ships employed in this fishery, and in 1721, as many as two hundred and sixty; in 1788, the number was reduced to sixty-nine, and for many years past, not only has this branch of their commerce, but almost every other, been completely annihilated. In 1731, the Americans had about thirteen hundred tons of shipping employed in this fishery along their coast. About the year 1750, the whale left the American coast. The hardy enterprise and activity of the American sailor, however, soon followed him in every part of the Northern and Southern Seas.
From 1771 to 1775, Massachusetts employed, annually, one hundred and eighty-three vessels, of thirteen thousand eight hundred and twenty tons, in the northern whale fishery, and one hundred and twenty-one vessels, of fourteen thousand and twenty-six tons, in the southern; navigated by four thousand and fifty-nine seamen. The peculiar mode of paying the seamen, in these hazardous voyages, has contributed not a little to the success of the voyages themselves. Each has a share in the profits of the voyage, and is dependent on his own exertions for the reward of his toils. Whether he shall be rich or poor, depends on his activity in managing the boat, in pursuit of the whale, and his dexterity in directing the harpoon. This has led to a spirit of enterprise and hardihood, never surpassed, if ever equalled, by the seamen of any nation in the world.
During the war of the American revolution, this fishery was destroyed; on the return of peace, it recovered, by degrees, and, from 1787 to 1789, ninety-one vessels, of five thousand eight hundred and twenty tons, were annually employed in the northern fishery, and thirty-one vessels, of four thousand three hundred and ninety tons, in the southern, with one thousand six hundred and eleven seamen. The quantity of spermaceti oil taken annually, from 1771 to 1775, was thirty-nine thousand three hundred and ninety barrels, and of whale oil eight thousand six hundred and fifty. From 1787 to 1789, the quantity of spermaceti taken annually was seven thousand nine hundred and eighty barrels, and whale oil thirteen thousand one hundred and thirty. In the representation made to Congress in the year 1790, by the legislature of Massachusetts, it is stated that, before the late war, about four thousand seamen, and twenty-four thousand tons of shipping were annually employed, from that State, in the whale fishery, and that the produce thereof was about £350,000 lawful money, or about 1,160,000 dollars. A great part of this fishery has been carried on from Nantucket, where it originated, a small island about fifteen miles in length, and two or three miles in breadth, situated about thirty miles from the coast. Before the revolutionary war, this small island had sixty-five ships, of four thousand eight hundred and seventy-five tons, annually employed in the northern, and eighty-five ships, of ten thousand two hundred tons, in the southern fishery. From 1787 to 1789, it had only eighteen ships, of one thousand three hundred and fifty tons, in the northern, and eighteen ships, of two thousand seven hundred tons, in the southern fishery. For many years past, this fishery has been carried on from this island, and from New Bedford, a large commercial and flourishing town on the coast, in its neighbourhood, and has employed from fifteen thousand to eighteen thousand tons of shipping, principally in the Southern Seas. Although Great Britain has, at various times, given large bounties to her ships employed in this fishery, yet the whalemen of Nantucket and New-Bedford, unprotected and unsupported by any thing but their own industry and enterprise, have generally been able to meet their competitors in a foreign market. The value of spermaceti and common whale oil, whale bone, and spermaceti candles, exported since 1802, has been as follows:—
| Whale (common) | Spermaceti oil | |
|---|---|---|
| oil and bone. | and candles. | |
| Dolls. | Dolls. | |
| 1803 | 280,000 | 175,000 |
| 1804 | 310,000 | 70,000 |
| 1805 | 315,000 | 163,000 |
| 1806 | 418,000 | 182,000 |
| 1807 | 476,000 | 139,000 |
| 1808 | 88,000 | 33,000 |
| 1809 | 169,000 | 136,000 |
| 1810 | 222,000 | 132,000 |
| 1811 | 78,000 | 273,000 |
| 1812 | 56,000 | 141,000 |
| 1813 | 2,500 | 10,500 |
| 1814 | 1,000 | 9,000 |
The common whale oil finds a market in the West Indies, Great Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal. The greatest part of the spermaceti oil is carried to Great Britain. The late war between the United States and Great Britain has again almost annihilated the cod and whale fisheries.[36] While in the years previous to the restrictive system and the war, the fisheries furnished articles for exportation to an amount of more than three millions of dollars, in 1814 the exports of the produce of the fisheries is reduced to the sum of 188,000 dollars.