involved with this country. These did more to promote and consolidate the British fishery than any thing else. The war entirely annihilated that of the Dutch: and our government having wisely offered to the fisheries of Holland all the immunities enjoyed by the citizens of Great Britain in the event of their settling amongst us, many availed themselves of the invitation, bringing with them their capital, industry, and skill. In consequence of this signal encouragement, the whale fishery of England was prosecuted with greater success than at any previous period: and at the termination of the late war, in 1815, there were 134 valuable ships and about 5,800 seamen engaged in the Northern fishery, and about 30 ships and 800 men in that to the South.

After peace was restored, the English capitalists and others became apprehensive lest the Dutch should engage anew with their ancient vigour and success in the whale fishery. But these apprehensions were without any real foundation. The Hollanders, during the 30 years they had been excluded from the sea, had lost all that practical acquaintance with the details of the fishery, for which they had long been so famous, and which is so essential to its success. The government attempted to rouse their dormant energies by the offer of considerable premiums and other advantages to those who embarked in the trade. Three companies were in consequence formed for carrying it on; I at Rotterdam, 1 at Harlingen, and 1 in South Holland. But their efforts have been very limited, and altogether unfortunate. In 1826, the company of South Holland was dissolved, while that of Harlingen despatched 4 ships, and that of Rotterdam 2. In 1827, Rotterdam sent only 1 ship, and Harlingen 2 : and in 1828, 1 solitary ship sailed from Holland-a feeble and last effort of the company of Harlingen!

Such has been the fate of the Dutch whale fishery. The attempts to revive it failed, not because the ships sent out were ill calculated for the service, but because they were manned by unskilful seamen. In the early ages of the fishery, this difficulty would have been got over, because, owing to the fewness of competitors, and the scanty supply of oil and whalebone, even a small cargo brought a high price; but at present, when the fishery is prosecuted on a very large scale and at a very low rate of profit by the English, the Americans, the Hamburghers, &c., no new competitor coming into the field could expect to maintain himself unless he had nearly equal advantages. The Dutch have, therefore, done wisely in withdrawing from the trade. Any attempt to establish it by the aid of bounties and other artificial encouragements would be one of which the ultimate success must be very doubtful, and which could lead to no really useful result. During the 20 years preceding the late French the fishery of Holland was gradually declining, and had, in a great measure, ceased to be profitable. It would be folly to endeavour to raise anew, and at a great expense, a branch of industry that had become unproductive at a former period, when there is no ground for supposing that it would be more productive at this moment.

war,

We have already noticed several changes of the localities in which the whale fishery has been carried on at different periods; within these few years another has taken place even more important. The seas between Spitzbergen and Greenland are now nearly abandoned by the whalers, who resort in preference to Davis's Straits and Baffin's Bay, or to the sea which washes the coast of West Greenland. The Dutch fishers first began to frequent Davis's Straits in 1719; and as the whales had not hitherto been pursued into this vast recess, they were found in greater numbers than in the seas round Spitzbergen. From about this period it was usually resorted to by about 3-10ths of the Dutch ships. It was not till a comparatively late period that Davis's Straits began to be frequented by English whalers; and even so late as 1820, when Captain Scoresby published his elaborate and valuable work on the whale fishery, that carried on in the Greenland seas was by far the most considerable. But within the last few years, the Greenland fishery has been almost entirely deserted. The various discoveries made by the expeditions recently fitted out by government for exploring the seas and inlets to the westward of Davis's Straits and Baffin's Bay, have made the fishers acquainted with several new and advantageous situations for the prosecution of their business. What further revolutions the fishery may be destined to undergo, it is impossible to foresee; but there can be little doubt that the same results that have happened elsewhere will happen in Davis's Straits, and that it will be necessary to pursue the whale to new and, perhaps, still more inaccessible haunts.

The sea in Davis's Straits is less incommoded with field ice than the Greenland and Spitzbergen seas, but it abounds with icebergs; and the fishery, when carried on in Baffin's Bay and Lancaster Sound, is more dangerous, perhaps, than any that has hitherto been attempted. The following Table gives a view of the produce of the Northern whale fishery during the 3 years ending with 1827:

It appears from this and the previous Table, that the number of ships sent out has declined nearly one half since 1820. The bounty was repealed in 1824, and the ships fitted out have since fallen off in the ratio of 112 to 88 or 90. This is a sufficient proof of the insecure foundation on which the trade had previously rested.

The whale fishery has for a lengthened period partaken more of the nature of a gambling adventure than of a regular industrious pursuit. Sometimes the ships do not get half a cargo, and sometimes they come home clean. The risk of shipwreck is also very considerable. It appears from Mr. Scoresby's Tables (vol. ii. p. 131.), that of 586 ships sent to the North during the 4 years ending with 1817, eight were lost. This period was, however, uncommonly free from disaster. It would seem, too, that the risk of shipwreck is greater in Davis's Straits than in the seas to the east of Greenland. In 1819, of 63 ships sent to Davis's Straits, no fewer than 10 were lost; in 1821, out of 79 ships, 11 were lost; and in 1822, out of 60 ships, 7 were lost. But 1830 has in this respect been the most disastrous.Of 87 ships that sailed for Davis's Straits, no less than 18, or 22 per cent. of the whole, were totally lost; 24 returned clean, or without having caught a single fish; and of the remainder, not I had a full cargo, only 1 or 2 being half fish d! If we estimate the value of the ships cast away, including the outfit, at 7,000 each, the loss from shipwreck only will be 126,000l. The following Table exhibits a detailed account of the fishery in 1832 :— Account of the Northern Whale Fishery in 1832; exhibiting the Number and Tonnage of the Ships sent out by each Port, with the Number of Fish taken, and the Quantity of Oil and Bone.

Estimated Value.-12,610 tuns of oil, at 201., 252,2001.; 676 tons of whalebone, at 1257., 84,5001,; making in all, 336,7001.

There has been a somewhat singular change in the ports from which the fishery is chiefly carried on. In London were undertaken all the discoveries which led to its establishment; and for some time a complete monopoly was enjoyed by the great companies formed in that city. Even between the years 1780 and 1790, the metropolis sent out 4 times the number of vessels that sailed from any other port. It was observed, however, that her fishery was, on the whole, less fortunate than that of the new rivals which had sprung up; and her merchants were so much discouraged, that in Mr. Scoresby's time they equipped only 17 or 18 vessels. They have since almost entirely abandoned the trade, employing in 1832 not more than 3 ships.

Hull early became a rival to London, having sent out vessels at the very commencement of the fishery. Although checked at first by the monopoly of the great companies, as soon as the trade became free she prosecuted it with distinguished success. In the end of the last century, that town attained, and has ever since preserved, the character of the first whale-fishing port in Britain. Whitby engaged in this pursuit in 1753, and carried it on for some time with more than common success; but her operations have since been much limited. Liverpool, after embarking in the undertaking with spirit, has now entirely relinquished it. Meantime the eastern ports of Scotland have steadily carried on, and even extended, their transactions, while those of the country at large were diminishing. The increase has been most remarkable at Peterhead; and indeed this town, as compared especially with London, must derive a great advantage from avoiding, both in the outward and homeward voyages, 600 miles of somewhat difficult navigation.

The following summary has been collected from Mr. Scoresby, as the average quantity of shipping fitted out in the different ports for 9 years, ending with 1818; and the comparison of it with the number sent out in 1832 will show the present state of the trade :

Hardly a ship now goes to Greenland.

We have already seen that, as a source of national wealth, the whale fishery is of exceedingly little importance. Neither does it seem to be of so much consequence as a nursery

for seamen as is commonly supposed. The number employed in the Northern fishery, does not exceed 4,500; and it may be doubted whether the casualties to which they are exposed do not, in a public point of view, more than balance the increased skill and hardihood they acquire in so perilous an occupation.

There seems no reason to apprehend any deficiency in the supply of oil from a falling off in the fishery. We have seen from the foregoing statements, that the fish oil imported in 1832 amounted to 12,610 tuns. But at present nearly half this quantity of olive oil is annually imported; and as olive oil is loaded with a duty of 81. 88. a tun, it is obvious that if this duty were reduced, as it ought to be, to 27. or 31. a tun, the increased quantity imported would go far to balance any falling off in the supply of train oil. When a coarser species is required, rape and linseed oil may be advantageously substituted for that of the whale. Tallow may also be applied to several purposes, to the exclusion of train oil. Although, therefore, the whale fishery should decline, we need not fear that any material injury will thence arise to the industry of the country; and it would be most impolitic to attempt to bolster it up, either by resorting to the exploded system of bounties, or by laying heavy duties on oil or tallow imported from other countries.

The South Sea fishery was not prosecuted by the English till about the beginning of the American war and as the Americans had already entered on it with vigour and success, 4 American harpooners were sent out in each vessel. In 1791, 75 whale ships were sent to the South Sea; but the number has not been so great since. In 1829, only 31 ships were sent out, of the burden of 10,997 tons, and carrying 937 men. The Macrocephalus, or spermaceti whale, is particularly abundant in the neighbourhood of the Spice Islands, and Mr. Crawfurd, in his valuable work on the Eastern Archipelago, (vol. iii. p. 447.), has entered into some details to show that the fishery carried on there is of greater importance than the spice trade. Unluckily, however, the statements on which Mr. Crawfurd founded his comparisons were entirely erroneous, neither the ships nor the men employed amounting to more than 1-5th or 1-6th part of what he has represented.

But errors of this sort abound in the works of those who had better means of coming at the truth. Mr. Barrow, in an article on the fisheries, in the Supplement to the Encyclopæ dia Britannica, states the number of ships fitted out for the Northern whale fishery in 1814 at 143, and their crews at 7,150; and he further states the number of ships fitted out for the Southern fishery in 1815 at 107, and their crews at 3,210. In point of fact, however, only 112 whale ships cleared out for the north in 1814, carrying 4,708 men; and in 1815, only 22 whale ships cleared out for the South, carrying 592 men! How Mr. Barrow, who has access to official documents, should have given the sanction of his authority to so erroneous an estimate, we know not. In the same article, Mr. Barrow estimates the entire annual value of the British fisheries of all sorts, at 8,300,000l. But it might be very easily shown that, in rating it at 3,500,000l., we should certainly be up to the mark, or rather, perhaps, beyond it.--(See FISH.)

We annex a detailed account of the progress of the Southern whale fishery, since 1814. An Account of the Number of Ships annually fitted out in Great Britain, with their Tonnage and Crews, for the Southern Whale Fishery, and of the Bounties on their Account, from 1814 to 1824, both inclusive.

An Account of the Number of Ships fitted out in the different Ports of Great Britain (specifying the same) for the Southern Whale Fishery, their Tonnage, and the Number of Men on board. during the Three Years ending the 5th of January, 1830.

American Whale Fishery.—For a lengthened period, the Americans have prosecuted the whale fishery with greater vigour and success than, perhaps, any other people. They commenced it in 1690, and for about 50 years found an ample supply of fish on their own shores. But the whale having abandoned them, the American navigators entered with extraordinary ardour into the fisheries carried on in the Northern and Southern Oceans. From 1778 to 1775, Massachusetts employed annually 183 vessels, carrying 13,820 tons, in the

former; and 121 vessels, carrying 14,026 tons, in the latter. Mr. Burke, in his famous speech on American affairs in 1774, adverted to this wonderful display of daring enterprise as follows:

"As to the wealth," said he, "which the colonists have drawn from the sea by their fisheries, you had all that matter fully opened at your bar. You surely thought these acquisitions of value, for they seemed to excite your envy; and yet the spirit by which that enterprising employment has been exercised ought rather, in my opinion, to have raised esteem and admiration. And pray, Sir, what in the world is equal to it? Pass by the other parts, and look at the manner in which the New England people carry on the whale fishery. While we follow them among the trembling mountains of ice, and behold them penetrating into the deepest frozen recesses of Hudson's Bay and Davis's Straits; while we are looking for them beneath the Arctic circle, we hear that they have pierced into the opposite region of polar cold; that they are at the antipodes, and engaged under the frozen serpent of the South. Falkland Island, which seemed too remote and too romantic an object for the grasp of national ambition, is but a stage and resting-place for their victorious industry. Nor is the equinoctial heat more discouraging to them than the accumulated winter of both poles. We learn, that while some of them draw the line or strike the harpoon on the coast of Africa, others run the longitude and pursue their gigantic game along the coast of Brazil. No sea, but what is vexed with their fisheries. No climate that is not witness of their toils. Neither the perseverance of Holland, nor the activity of France, nor the dexterous and firm sagacity of English enterprise, ever carried this most perilous mode of hardy industry to the extent to which it has been pursued by this recent people; a people who are still in the gristle, and not hardened into manhood."

The unfortunate war that broke out soon after this speech was delivered, checked for a while the progress of the fishery; but it was resumed with renewed vigour as soon as peace was restored. The American fishery has been principally carried on from Nantucket and New Bedford in Massachusetts; and for a considerable time past the ships have mostly resorted to the Southern seas. "Although," says Mr. Pitkin, "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.”— (Commerce of the United States, 2d ed. p. 46.) The following statement may not be uninteresting.

Account of Vessels at Sea, from the United States, employed in the Southern, or Sperm Whale Fishery on the 1st of January, 1833.

The produce in oil, of the sperm whale fishery, in 1832, was as follows:

French Whale Fishery.-France, which preceded the other nations of Europe in the whale fishery, can hardly be said, for many years past, to have had any share in it. In 1784, Louis XVI. endeavoured to revive it. With this view, he fitted out 6 ships at Dunkirk on his own account, which were furnished with harpooners and a number of experienced seamen brought at a great expense from Nantucket. The adventure was more successful than could have been reasonably expected, considering the auspices under which it was carried on. Several private individuals followed the example of his Majesty, and in 1790 France had about 40 ships employed in the fishery. The revolutionary war destroyed every vestige of this rising trade. Since the peace, the government has made great efforts for its renewal, but hitherto without much success. At present there are only from 12 to 15 ships engaged in the fishery.

(This article has been principally taken from the Foreign Quarterly Review, No. 14, to which publication it was contributed by the author of this work.)

(Whale Fishery (Southern.)-This consists of three distinct branches; viz.; 1st, the catch of the spermaceti whale; 2d, that of the common black whale of the southern seas; and, 3d, that of the sea elephant, or southern walrus.

The spermaceti whale (Physeter macrocephalus) is found in all tropical climates, and on the coasts of New Zealand and Japan. The ordinary duration of the voyage of a ship from England, employed in this department of the fishery, is about 3 years.

3 a 2

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The common black whale of the southern seas (Physeter microps) is met with in various places, but principally on the coast of Brazil; in the bays on the west coast of Africa; and in some of the bays in New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, &c.

Sea elephants (intermediate between the walrus of the northern seas and the seal) are principally met with in the seas around the Islands of Desolation, South Georgia, and South Shetland, the coast of California, &c. Vast numbers of these animals are annually captured; vessels frequently load entirely with them; and they are believed to furnish more oil than the common South Sea whale. The oil of the black whale and that of the sea elephant, are both known in the market by the name of southern oil; and they are so very similar, that those most versed in the trade can with difficulty distinguish the one from the other. Hence ships commonly engage indifferently in either fishing as opportunity offers. The usual duration of the voyage of a ship from England in either of the last two departments, or in the two combined, varies from 12 to 18 months. We subjoin a

Statement of the Southern Whale Fishery carried on from Great Britain since 1800; exhibiting the Total Number of Ships annually absent from Great Britain on Whaling Expeditions; the Total Number of Ships that annually returned to Great Britain; the Annual Imports of Sperm and Common Oil, with the Prices of each; the Average Tonnage of the Ships at Sea; and the Average Number of Men to each Ship.

*The ships for this and the succeeding years, as for the previous ones, do not include colonial ships, but those from Britain only. From this year commenced the Imperial Measure.

American sperm oil.

We are indebted for the above valuable table, the only one of its kind that has ever been published, to a gentleman connected with a house that has been largely engaged in the trade since its commencement. The details may, therefore, be safely depended upon.

The spermaceti and southern colonial oils are principally imported from New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. There used also to be a very considerable importation from the Cape of Good Hope; but that is now much fallen off. The imports of whale and seal oil from our North American possessions have been greatly augmented of late years. That, however, is mostly the product of the northern sea.

Whale Fishery (Northern).-We regret to have to state that additional experience has served to confirm the unfavourable view we took in the Dictionary of this branch of industry. The subjoined account exhibits its condition in each year, from 1815 to 1834, both inclusive. It is seen from it that the ships and tonnage sent out have fallen off about a half since 1821! The years 1835 and 1836 were peculiarly disastrous: the trade has since, however, somewhat improved. But the fishery has, in fact, been for several years past more akin to a lottery than to any thing else; and, latterly, the blanks seem to have predominated very decidedly over the prizes. Considering the profitless nature of the business, and the hazards to which the seamen engaged in it are exposed, it would seem to be high time to put an end to the existing temptations to embark in it, by reducing the duties on vegetable oils. A reduction of this sort would, besides, be of much advantage to several of our most important manufactures; and would, in no small degree, contribute to promote the commerce of the country.