The northern whale-fishery

by William Scoresby

The fluctuating value of shipping renders it difficult to give a fair estimate of the expenses of a whale-ship. The Resolution, of Whitby, burden 219 tons, when new, in the year 1803, cost but £7,791, including all expenses of stores and outfit, premiums of insurance, and advanced money of seamen; while the Esk, of 354 tons of measurement, launched and fitted out at the same port in 1813, cost about £14,000. The ship Resolution was sold in eight shares, and the sums subscribed by the owners and deposited in the hands of the managing owners was £8,000. The balance in favour of the owners of the Resolution for fifteen voyages appeared to be £19,473. 10s. 2d., besides the value of the ship, and the value of the outfit for the sixteenth voyage. If we reckon these at £6,520, the profit derived from £8,000, originally advanced, in addition to the interest of the capital embarked, will amount to £26,000, notwithstanding the last three voyages were but indifferent, of which sum £25,200 has actually been divided. It is, however, necessary to mention, that the Resolution, in her first ten voyages, procured six hundred or seven hundred tuns of oil above the average of the fishery during that period, if not more.

The usual expenses of a Greenland voyage, including outfit, when no cargo is obtained, may be stated at £2,200, exclusive of interest of capital and wear and tear. For every ten tuns of oil procured, there will be an additional expense of £80 or £90 for discharging and boiling the cargo, for oil money and fish money, and for other extraordinaries connected with a successful fishing. Thus the expense of a ship, with a cargo of two hundred tuns of oil, will be at least £4,000.

CHAPTER V.

METHOD OF EXTRACTING OIL AND PREPARING WHALE-BONE, WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THESE ARTICLES, AND REMARKS ON THE USES TO WHICH THE SEVERAL PRODUCTS OF THE WHALE-FISHERY ARE APPLIED.

On the margin of the river, wet dock, canal, or other sheet of water, communicating with that wherein the whale-fishing ship discharges her cargo, are usually provided the necessary premises for reducing the blubber into oil, consisting commonly of the following articles.

1. A copper vessel or boiler, three to six, or even ten or more tuns’ capacity, of a circular form in the horizontal view, and elliptical in the perpendicular section, is fixed at the elevation of six to ten feet above the ground, provided with an appropriate furnace, and covered with a tiled or slated shed.

2. On the same, or on a little lower level than that of the copper, is fixed a square or oblong back or cooler, built of wood generally, capable of containing from ten to twenty tuns of oil, or upwards. Adjoining to this is another back, sometimes a third, and occasionally a fourth or fifth, each placed a little lower than the one preceding it, so that the lowest shall stand with its base about two or three feet above the level of the ground. In some very modern works, the coolers are all fixed at the same elevation. Each of the backs is provided with one or more stop-cocks on the most accessible side, for convenience in drawing the oil off into casks.

3. Altogether above the level of the copper, and immediately adjoining it, on the side directed towards the river or canal, an oblong wooden cistern, called the “starting-back,” is usually erected, for containing blubber, which ought to be a vessel of equal, or nearly equal, capacity to that of the copper. It is generally provided with a crane, which, with a winch, or other similar engine attached, is so contrived as to take casks either from the quay, or from a lighter by the side of the quay, and convey them at once to the top of the starting-back. Over this vessel is extended a kind of railing or “gauntree,” on which the casks rest without being injured, and are easily movable.

4. The starting-back being elevated two or three yards above the level of the ground, occasionally admits of a “fenk-back,” or depository, for the refuse of the blubber, immediately beneath it; which fenk-back is sometimes provided with a clough on the side next the water, for “starting” the fenks into a barge or lighter placed below.

5. The premises likewise comprise a shed for the cooper, and sometimes a cooper’s, or master-boiler’s, dwelling-house; the inhabitant of which takes the charge of all the blubber, oil, whalebone, and other articles deposited around him.